Getting there!

I'm a newbee, so every Moth is a lifer for me! I am crawling to 30, with 28 species to date in my Midlands housing estate garden. Recent highlights include;

This fluffy Pale Tussock

A Light Brocade

And this sleeping beauty!

When Hawkmoths attack...

... well, not exactly, but we had what, by our standards, were a spectacular couple of catches of Poplar Hawkmoths on 4th and 5th June, three and two respectively: they're big beasts, and finding several of them in the trap is quite an experience!

Poplar Hawkmoths, 4th June

Otherwise, continued slow but steady progress: on the 5th, at least ten species (we're awaiting ID help with one) including our first Common Marbled Carpet and Buff Ermine of the year, and our first White-shouldered House-moths (two of them) ever. And last night, at least nine, again awaiting some ID, including our first ever Treble Lines.

Treble Lines, 6th June

Howick, Northumberland

Not a bad selection last night...

Taxa
0464 Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella) 1
0892 Mompha subbistrigella 2 NFY
1126 Ancylis badiana 1
1738 Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata) 2
1750 Water Carpet (Lampropteryx suffumata) 1
1759 Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata) 1 NFY
1760 Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1
1844 Ochreous Pug (Eupithecia indigata) 1 NFY
1902 Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata) 1
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 1
1918 Lunar Thorn (Selenia lunularia) 1 NFY
1920 Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata) 1
1981 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) 1
2006 Lesser Swallow Prominent (Pheosia gnoma) 1
2060 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) 4
2061 Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) 1
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) 1 NFY
2123 Small Square-spot (Diarsia rubi) 3
2158 Pale-shouldered Brocade (Lacanobia thalassina) 1
2173 Lychnis (Hadena bicruris) 2
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 1
2326 Clouded-bordered Brindle [melanic form] (Apamea crenata ab. combusta) 1 NFY
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens) 2
2450 Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita) 1

33 moths of 24 sp

Ochreous Pug

A couple more in Bucks

Another tiny catch in my garden last night, but it was nice at least that a couple of them were new for the challenge list if not for the year!

1 x Oak Hook-tip
1 x Scalloped Hazel
1 x Maidens Blush
1 x Grey Pine Carpet
1 x Treble Lines
1 x very faded pug which looked most like Brindled...

Slowly Picking Up in Oxford

It's great to read about everyone's catches here on the blog but its quite a contrast to compare all the lovely big moths that others are catching compared to my garden which tends to be a lot of small stuff - Carpets being a speciality. Still I've been soldiering on and trapping most nights now that the weather is at long last improving. This has resulted in a steady trickle of new moths and has finally brought up the fifty mark. New moths over the last week or so have been Common Marbled Carpet, Cabbage, Turnip and Lesser Treble-bar. I'm also catching plenty of Pugs which really do my head in as far as ID is concerned. I think that they're actually all Commons though I'm amazed at the variation in size.

 Lesser Treble-bar

 Turnip

Cabbage

Yet another mystery Pug - I assume it's just a Common
Please correct me if I'm mistaken

Latest Score: 45 moths + 7 butterflies = 52

Whetstone, Leics. Update

Things just about starting to pick up here in the center of the (English) midlands, helped along greatly by me finally getting around to bringing my Synergetic trap back into action. This uses a dual-band 'green' circle tube that is usually used in insectocutors, and works much better than a standard actinic and often matches or outperforms the 125W MV in the garden. It has been out of action for almost a year after my wife inadvertently smashed the previous version to bits whilst extracting a bike from the garden shed, during which the trap fell from height and the tube didn't bounce very well.

22W Synergetic ring in combo with 18W standard CFL (I always run any actinic style trap in combo with a standard CFL for visible light these days, seems to work better that actinic alone).

Whilst it's been fairly warm in the days over the weekend and today, it's getting cool in the evenings so overall catches still very much on the low side, but I've picked up 15 new for the year species (taking me up to 86). 11 of these picked up in the Synergetic trap, 4 in the 125W MV. Additions are:

	Taxon	Vernacular	Date Added
72	Tethea ocularis octogesimea	Figure of Eighty	31/05/2013
73	Argyresthia trifasciata		31/05/2013
74	Lomographa temerata	Clouded Silver	31/05/2013
75	Evergestis forficalis	Garden Pebble	31/05/2013
76	Drepana falcataria	Pebble Hook-tip	31/05/2013
77	Laothoe populi	Poplar Hawk-moth	31/05/2013
78	Apamea sordens	Rustic Shoulder-knot	31/05/2013
79	Cabera pusaria	Common White Wave	31/05/2013
80	Plutella xylostella	Diamond-back Moth	31/05/2013
81	Hydriomena impluviata	May Highflyer	31/05/2013
82	Aphomia sociella	Bee Moth	02/06/2013
83	Bryotropha affinis		02/06/2013
84	Calliteara pudibunda	Pale Tussock	02/06/2013
85	Bucculatrix nigricomella		02/06/2013
86	Perizoma flavofasciata	Sandy Carpet	02/06/2013

May Highflyer

Figure of Eighty

Sandy Carpet

Bucculatrix nigricomella

A Quick Bucks Update

A few more species for my challenge list over the weekend. I also have a pug and a couple of micros for id, so I'll add those at a later date if I get a positive id (pics of two are below if anyone here can help?). Those in bold are the new ones:

The aggregate weekend garden list is:

1 x Garden Carpet
2 x Brimstone
1 x Common Pug
3 x Common Marbled Carpet
1 x Pale Tussock
1 x Treble Lines 
1 x Spruce Carpet 
1 x Yellow-barred Brindle

 Common Marbled Carpet

 Treble Lines

 What pug is this?

Is this Caloptilia syringella?