Quite a Quiet August

The garden trapping during the whole month of August has been very poor, and in common with many others, it really hasn't been worth putting the trap out most nights.

Looking back,I've caught a total of 66 species over the entire month, the best being new-for-garden species Lime-speck Pug and Small Square-spot and a single example of the migrant micro Cydia amplana, which was being reported from a lot of inland sites at the time.

To put that in context, at the start of the month, I did an all-night session with a friend at one of my work places, which happens to comprise 40-odd acres of woodland, grassland and fields, which caught 107 species. Best of those was probably the out-of-place Brown-veined Wainscot and also the start of autumn species like Rosy Rustic and Six-striped Rustic.

Another session yesterday at the same site produced around 55 species, with autumn definitely dominating proceedings with Centre-barred Sallow, Feathered Gothic and Frosted Orange all featuring, and Large Yellow Underwing in overwhelming quantities.

 Blood Vein

 Frosted Orange

White Point

A Thorny Issue...

This week I have been mainly trapping in my garden, with reasonable results and a few new species for my year list, seeming to comprise of 2nd-generation moths.

This week's theme has been various "Thorn" species with Early, Purple, August, September, Dusky and Canary-shouldered varieties (the latter was actually in the bedroom, so a new one for the house list as well!)

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Other new moths for the year list include Orange Swift, Chrysoclista linneella (a lifer for me), Tawny-speckled Pug and Pine Hawk-moth (first for the garden).

Chrysoclista linneella

The regular Thursday-night session in nearby woodland with the 6w light has produced Large Emerald and Dark Spinach.

Dark Spinach

A Prominent Day!

I've been away again in Dorset, partly for drinking and partly for mothing. The latter activity took place on probably the best night of the year for moths down there, and the Portland Obs blog covers what happened pretty accurately.

However, I am only writing about South Bucks moths here, and I have been trapping in my garden with mixed results.

Last night, though, was pretty good and the title of this post covers the fact that amongst the 38 species in my trap were four beautifully fresh Prominent moths, namely Iron, Coxcomb, Pale and Pebble.

A couple of new species since the last post for my all-time garden list include Satin Beauty and Bright-line Brown-eye, but mostly it's been standard fare.

 Pebble Prominent

Pale Prominent

Back from Hols

I've been away for the last week in South Wales, where the mothing has been nothing short of excellent. I can catch as many individuals and species in the garden there with one light as two or three in woodland will catch round here. And out in the dunes... well there's a whole new level. Some brief reports are on the Glamorgan Moths blog.

Anyway, back to South Bucks, I've run the trap in the garden at home and although few species compared to the above, last night I pulled in 29 species which is by far the best night this year.

New species for the year have been Barred Red, Buff Footman and Least Carpet, and if I exclude what I saw in Wales, Heart & Club, July Highflier and Short-cloaked Moth were also new.

Barred Red

This weeks mothing

No big trips out this week; just what has turned up in my garden and the regular 6w woodland trap...

The best of the garden species have been Olindia schumacherana, Common Emerald, Small Dusty Wave, Dingy Footman and Purple Clay, which is new for my all-time garden list!

The woodland was quite active as well with Ghost Moth, Engrailed, Light Arches, Great Oak Beauty (not new or anything, just a great species :) ), Buff Tip and Satin Beauty (the first and last new for site).

Satin Beauty

Anther week of decent weather...

During the last week, I have managed to run my garden trap more frequently, spurred on by the muggy nights. My catches are still tiny compared to some, but a few species new for the year or new for the garden have appeared, most pleasingly a Red-necked Footman. Others included Small Magpie, Green Silver-lines, Treble Brown-spot, Grey Pug, Light Emerald, Large Yellow Underwing, Silver Y and a daytime Small Fan-foot.

Red-necked Footman

Also, a two-trap session on a private woodland/farmland site yielded just over 100 moths of just over 50 species, including male and female Ghost Moth (although not from the same part of the site; maybe they'll now meet!), Garden Pebble, Sandy Carpet, Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Green Arches, Light Brocade, White Point, Dark Arches and Burnished Brass. Later on the same site, I was able to add Burnet Companion to my year list.

Burnished Brass

Small Elephant Hawk-moth

Lots of Moths!

The last week or so has seen a dramatic increase in my moth sightings for the year, partly down to a large trapping session in my local woodland site, which added a couple of lifers to my list in the form of Mother Shipton and Alder Moth.

Even my normal 6W light in the same woods for GMS collected 14 species, including new for the site year list Pebble Hook-tip, Spruce Carpet, Green Carpet, Tawny-barred Angle, Lobster Moth and Buff Ermine.

Lobster

Over the last few days, and especially last night, my garden moth catch has improved a lot, although I expect this will be a blip, given the return of the wet weather from tomorrow. 

Anyway, a first-for-garden female Ghost Moth was a nice addition to my GMS trap, and last night several new for year species included White-spotted Pug, Green Pug, Middle-barred Minor, Heart & Dart, Ingrailed Clay and Buff-tip.

Ghost Moth

Another Week Goes By...

My South Bucks garden has continued to be quiet over the week, although the typical poor weather (mainly wind) has discouraged me from putting the trap out. I did run it last night for the GMS, netting Common Marbled and Silver-ground Carpets.

I've had better luck out and about, firstly with the regular 6W woodland trap and random sightings adding a few species to my year list; Birch Mocha, Light Brocade and Clay Triple-lines being the pick of the bunch.

Birch Mocha

I also ran traps at the "new site", partly for my own benefit, but also as part of a public event, which I hope from some of the feedback has inspired some people to try a moth sheet in their own gardens.

The new-for-year species from there were Chinese Character, Green Silver-lines, Small Magpie, Clouded Border, Scorched Wing, Coxcomb Prominent and Ingrailed Clay.

Scorched Wing

This week in South Bucks

I've had traps out in my regular woodland site, my new site and in my garden, and have had a few moths new for my year list. The garden has in fact been disappointingly poor, don't know if my new bulb is not as good as the old one, or if there are simply fewer moths in the area.

My regular woodland added Muslin Moth to the year list, and new species caught last night on my new site include Scorched Wing, Common Marbled Carpet, Sallow Kitten, Green Silver-lines,Knot Grass, Clouded Border, Pale Prominent, Ingrailed Clay, Treble Lines, Small Magpie, Crambus lathionellus and Epiblema cynosbatella.

 Ingrailed Clay

Muslin Moth

A good night and a new site

Having gained permission to trap on a new site, mixed woodland and farmland, believed to have been un-mothed before, I and a couple of others ran 4 MV and 1 Actinic traps, left out overnight in shelter from the predicted rain.

The list has 134 moths of 44 species and there were a few micros and pugs taken away for further examination.

The most common species were Flame Shoulder, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Marbled Brown, Orange Footman and Brimstone.

Species new for my year list at least were White-pinion Spotted, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Oak Nycteoline,Common White Wave, Yellow-barred Brindle, Pale Tussock, Oak-tree Pug, Oak Hook-tip, Spectacle, Green Carpet, Waved Umber, Clouded Silver, Pebble Hook-tip, Seraphim, Small Waved Umber, White Ermine, Common Wave, Pale Mottled Willow, Angle Shades, Pine Beauty, Common Pug, Pale Oak Beauty & Poplar Hawk-moth.

 Angle Shades

Poplar Hawk-moth

Some moths were seen...

Still very quiet both at home and in the woodlands, but over the last week I have seen a few species new for the year; Nettle-tap,  Marbled Brown, Common Carpet, and Cinnabar and trapped at home Dwarf Pug and Scalloped Hazel. Not a lot is it?!!

However, I am planning a big session tonight, hopefully before the rain starts, on a brand new site, so fingers crossed.

Random Moths

A couple of completely random sightings of nice fresh moths this morning, so no pics, and unrelated to any trapping effort; a Coxcomb Prominent amongst the leaves in a local wood, and a Small Phoenix on the wall of a friend's house.

Another Quiet Week

Continuing poor weather has reduced the amount of moths around to virtually none.

On Tuesday, I was treated to two indoor Bee Moths, and an early Orange Footman on a wall.

Last night, expecting a mild night, the garden trap went out but in the end it seems it rained pretty much all night and the only occupant was a Twenty-plume Moth.

The woodland trap fared slightly better, with Engrailed, 3 Nut-tree Tussocks, a fresh Pebble Prominent, and this Esperia sulphurella (below). There were also three very worn tinea-type moths.

Out and About

It's still very quiet in the garden; just an Emmelina monodactyla and Brindled Pug to show for my efforts last night, but the moon has been full, the skies clear, and the wind cold. I've evn scraped ice off the car windscreen on a couple of mornings.

Slightly better, though, in the woods where we ran a 40W Actinic trap, and caught Hebrew Character, Least Black Arches, Nut-tree Tussock, Grey Pine Carpet, Early Tooth-striped and this Lunar Marbled Brown.

All Gone A Bit Quiet

With the weather reverting to more normal conditions for the time of year, the moths in my garden have reduced in their numbers this week, although I have had a handful of new species for the year in the shape of Streamer, Double-striped Pug, Early Grey and Acleris cristana (the latter I found upside-down in a box of water, but luckily it was still alive and able to eventually fly away. It was a new specied for my all-time garden list, though!)

Early Grey

Streamer

Our little woodland trap has given up the ghost, or rather the battery charger has, although we have manged to run a 15W UV light - which needs to run off the mains, so is in a slightly less favourable location on the edge of the woods.

Nevertheless, we managed to add a few new species to the year list with Clouded Drab, Water Carpet and Early Tooth-striped plus an early Scorched Carpet on the security lights.

Scorched Carpet

The Moth Gods....

...have stopped scratching their nethers, got up and started releasing moths. For last night's GMS, I had more moths of more species than I've had so far in the whole year in the trap.

1 Common Quaker
1 Small Quaker (NFY)
2 Hebrew Character
1 March Moth (NFY)
1 Emmelina monodactyla (NFY)
1 Brindled Pug (NFY)
1 Shoulder Stripe (NFY):

The weather is looking pretty good for the next couple of nights as well, so let's see what happens.

(There was nothing at all in our little woodland trap yesterday, but this is probably down to the battery failing at some point in the night).

This Week's Catch...

...another quiet week on the mothing front, with my garden catch comprising 2 Hebrew Characters and the woodland holding another 2 Hebrew Characters, 1 Engrailed and 1 Diurnea fagella.

GMS Fail

In spite of the warm sunny weather yesterday and a realtively mild night, I caught nothing in my GMS trap last night. There was a pretty much clear sky and a full moon, though, so I guess that may have had an influence.

Meanwhile, in the local woods, 1 Dotted Border, and three new species for my year list in the shape of 3 Engrailed, 2 Diurnea fagella and 1 Agonopterix ocellana.

Looks like things are remaining mild for at least a bit, so hopefully some of the moths will move out of the woods and into the gardens...

Ah! Moths!

As last night was looking slightly milder, I thought I'd run the trap. In the end, it was pretty windy, but I was pleased to see my first Satellite of the year hiding in the boxes.

Also, at my local woodland site, 2 Chestnuts, 2 Hebrew Characters and 1 Small Brindled Beauty.

Nothing special

As a round-up of my winter GMS season I had a grand total of 4 Chestnuts. That is all. Last year, I had 9 moths all winter, which I thought was poor. Oh very dear.

Last night, I put the trap out in the garden on the promise of a mild night, even running the MV for a bit, but all I caught was 2 Tortricodes alternella and a Brown House Moth. I think the wind didn't help...

I've also been looking at security lights at my favourite local woodland park, which have been managing to attract a few Dotted Borders, with last Tuesday peaking at 4, plus a brace of Spring Ushers.

First Garden Moths!

For the first time since 1st Nov I had two whole moths in the trap, in the shape of these two Chestnuts. It's a start I guess!

Another indoor moth

My indoor mothing continues, with a White-shouldered House Moth in the bathroom this morning. Also had an Early Moth at my regular woodland.

Now that I'm in my third full season of mothing, and having checked my records, I'm not really expecting to see too much for another couple of weeks or so, but I would like to see some moths...!

Woodland Moths

After running a 6w actinic trap in a local woodland for the winter GMS scheme, my first outdoor moth of the year was a Winter Moth. Not at the trap, but nearby, were two Early Moths.

First Moth of the Year!

It's not very exciting, but I was pleased to find my first moth of the year, resting on the window blind on my landing. Not surprised to find nothing outside, given the amount of wind and rain we are having in these parts. In fact, I haven't trapped a singe moth at home for two full months. Let's hope things get underway soon...

Oh, the moth, it's a Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla).