First moth for December!

I'm still placing the MBT on the window ledge regularly and I finally got my first moth for this month but unfortunately it's not a December Moth it's a Dark Sword Grass but as it's the first macro I've seen for weeks it's more than welcome.

Mottled Umber

For the last 2 weeks the weather has been doing its very best to stop me from putting a trap out, I have managed to get a trap out for a few odd hours on various nights but I have mainly been stuck with just putting the MBT lamp on the window ledge. Apart from a few micros I haven't seen or caught anything until tonight when I was very pleased to see a Mottled Umber resting on the window...it wasn't so pleased to see me and it took 25 minutes to get it to 'pose' for the photo but well worth the effort if it means I have another moth to add to my list!! :0)

2009 best photos

I had a great time at the Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Entomological Society(DANES) annual insect show last Saturday, it was good to meet a few of the people who have been helping me with ID confimation etc.....it's always nice to put a face to an email address!!. I'm really looking forward to attending their trapping events next year as well as any other events I can get to, all the details are on their website http://www.danes-insects.org.uk/index.htm

Anyway as I haven't had anything apart from a rather lonely and sorry looking Silver-Y recently I thought I would share my favourite photos from my catches since I got back into 'serious' trapping 5 months ago, I'm guessing I wont be catching much between now and new year but I will be trying and if anything interesting does turn up I will be sure to share it with you.

Weekly update!

I'm getting such a small amount of moths now that I thought a weekly catch list would make better reading so until things pick up again I will only report once a week.....unless anything interesting turns up. The Brick is getting to be a regular visitor along with Spruce Carpet and several November/Winter/Autumnal moths which after consulting with Ian Kimber from UKMoths I have now decided to bunch together as 'Epirrita' because it's near impossible to tell them all apart.

In the last 7 days I have had the trap out 3 times and had the MBT lamp in the spare room window twice.....

7 Blair's Shoulder Knot

4 The Brick(see photo above)

4 Epirrita

5 Spruce Carpet

2 Silver-Y

2 Angle Shades

1 Grey Pine Carpet

1 Rosy Rustic

1 Black Rustic

1 Feathered Thorn

Feathered Thorn

I decided not to put the trap out tonight due to the poor weather conditions(wind & rain)but at 11pm I decided to put the MBT on the window ledge so I went out to the garage to fetch it and on the way back into the house a Feathered Thorn(see photo above) flew right past me and straight up to the kitchen strip-light!.....which was lucky because nothing else turned up!.

Winter Moth?

I put the home made MBT trap out tonight because I expected rain and this has much better lamp protection than my other traps, it rained quite heavily at 2:45am ending the trapping session but I'm pleased to say the lamp didn't suffer at all. In the trap I found the moth in the photo above, at first I thought it was a November Moth but I now think it's a Winter Moth which leads me to think that what I thought was a Northern Winter Moth in my previous posting was also a Winter Moth?.

The trap was out from 7pm to 2:45am

Tonight's Log

2 Blair's Shoulder-Knot

1 Winter Moth(see photo above)?

1 Angle Shades

1 Black Rustic

1 Spruce Carpet

What are you doing here?

I put the MBT on the window ledge again tonight and managed to attract a Red Green Carpet and a Blair's Shoulder Knot....not unusual for this time of year but then something else turned up and unless I'm mistaken it's a Heart & Dart which I would have thought was very unusual for this time of year....isn't it?. It looked quite fresh so is it a late brood or have I made a mistake with the ID?.

I rest my case...but not my trap

As mentioned last night....in my opinion the season is NOT over...it's just a different season and that's why I continue to put the trap out when possible and it's also why I continue to catch new species!. Tonight was cold but autumn/winter moths are ready for the cold and you'll never catch them if you don't do any trapping once the summer has ended, I only caught 7 moths tonight but they included 2 species new to my garden so added to last nights window sill finds I've had 5 confirmed new species in the last 2 days as well as that elusive November Moth which could still be hiding somewhere in my spare room?.

The trap was out from 6:40pm to 3:15am

Tonight's Log

3 Blair's Shoulder-Knot

1 Silver-Y

1 Grey Shoulder Knot(see photo above)

1 Barred Sallow(see photo above)

1 Pink Barred Sallow

101 not out!

I read a lot of blogs from people who say 'the season is nearly over' or 'I'm putting my trap away till next year' but surely with moths flying 365 days a year the 'season' is never over it's just a change of season?, tonight I have managed to catch 9 moths just by placing my MBT lamp in the spare room window then going out with a torch to see if anything has come to visit. I probably should have put a trap out but it seemed too cold, despite that I have had possibly 4 new species for my garden just tonight. Firstly I got a Northern Winter Moth and what I thought at first was a Grey Pine Carpet but I now suspect it's a Spruce Carpet?... if anyone can confirm this(photo above) then I will have reached 101 positively identified species of moths for my back garden. Annoyingly enough I also caught what I am 99.9% certain is a November Moth but it flew off when I was trying to get a photo and now it's hiding somewhere in the spare room....if I can find it I'm up to 102!!. I also still have a photo from a previous posting of a light brown carpet moth which I can't identify, this could bring me up to 103 so come on people help me out here...

Photos above are....

1 ????? I still don't know what this one is?

2 Northern Winter Moth

3 Yellow Line Quaker

4 Spruce Carpet?

Major developments, MV, Rosy Rustic and more...

Yes I know I've spent most of the last 4 months working on a home built moth trap but the trap or should I say traps I have ended up with aren't really small enough to fit in our car alongside all our camping gear and the other items needed for our regular camping trips so taking advantage of the fact that it's the end of the season and a bargain was likely to be had I contacted Paul Batty and purchased one of his amazing 'suitcase traps'(http://www.pwbelg.clara.net/mercury/case/index.html). I took the MV and the actinic option so that I can even use it on busy camp sites and I also got the cap fitted so I can use it with my generator. Despite the fact it folds up and I can get everything into the aluminium case it's a fairly large trap when it's set up so I now need to get some more egg crates!. I have never used a MV lamp so I was really pleased when tonight was mild enough to put the trap out, fortunately the lamp is the same size as the MBT so I can still use the cafetiere as a rain shield and it did rain very lightly so I'm glad I put it on. Early on I got around 20 micros in the trap but a few macros started arriving after 10pm, there were more than I expected for mid-October and they included a Rosy Rustic which is a new species for my garden.

The trap was out from 7pm to 4am

Tonight's Log

1 Blair's Shoulder-Knot
1 Silver-Y
1 Rosy Rustic(see photo above)
3 Grey Pine Carpet(see photo above)

1 Common Marbled Carpet
1 Setaceous Hebrew Character
1 Shuttle Shaped Dart
1 Willow Beauty

PS: If anyone wants to comment on the music I've added to my blog I would love to hear your thoughts!

Go figure....

I've had the trap out 3 or 4 times in the last 10 days and caught nothing apart from a few Blair's Shoulder Knot, I've even had a night when the trap stayed empty!.... so when tonight turned out to be the mildest evening for a fortnight I was a bit more confident that I would get a better haul and even though there weren't a lot of moths 2 of them are new ones for my garden a Figure Of Eight and a Green Brindled Crescent. I was hoping to get some of the more autumnal moths but I didn't take into account just how hardy they would be, I had to keep the Figure Of Eight in the fridge for a couple of hours before it calmed down enough for me to get a photo and even then it quickly started flapping its wings ready to make its escape.

The trap was out from 7pm to 4am

Tonight's Log

3 Blair's Shoulder-Knot

3 Silver-Y

1 Figure Of Eight(see photo above)

1 Green Brindled Crescent(see photo above)
1 Common Marbled Carpet

1 Brimstone

1 Common Wainscot

1 Angle Shades

Dark Sword-Grass...it turns out!

It stayed a lot milder than expected tonight and despite a few very light showers I ended up with a decent catch, Blair's Shoulder Knot are now taking over as most common garden visitor with no less than 10 of them in the trap tonight and it was nice to see another Black Rustic which gave me a chance to get a better photo. Among the catch was a moth I didn't recognise

which I have now been informed is a Dark Sword-Grass(ID Thanks to Karen and Ben).

The trap was out from 7pm to 3:30am

Tonight's Log

2 Lesser Yellow Underwing

10 Blair's Shoulder-Knot

1 Common Wainscot

1 Black Rustic(see photo above)
1 Garden Carpet

1 Common Marbled Carpet

1 Canary Shouldered Thorn

1 Silver-Y

2 Setaceous Hebrew Character

1 Dark Sword-Grass(see photo above)

Worth a try....

After a lovely warm day the temperature plummeted to around >5c so I didn't expect to catch a lot of moths tonight but I had to try the new trap out and I also wanted to try taking a photo of a moth using a halogen lamp as suggested by Ben from Essex Moths blog in response to me posting a forum entry asking if anyone could recommend a good light for photographing moths on the Back Garden Moths website(which I'm sure you're all aware of but just in case.... http://www.back-garden-moths.co.uk/index.php).

The catch wasn't very big or exciting but the photographic results with the tungsten lamp are a vast improvement I'm sure you'll agree.

The trap was out from 8pm to 3:15am

Tonight's Log

2 Large Yellow Underwing
1Lesser Yellow Underwing
3 Blair's Shoulder-Knot(see photo above)
1 Common Wainscot(see photo above)

1 Willow Beauty

Best night this month

The 'Skinner' trap has been out twice this week with very little to show for it but tonight proved to be somewhat better!!!, quite early in the evening I spotted a lovely Pink Barred Sallow in the trap which is a new species for my garden and there were a multitude of Carpet moths in there too....mainly Common Marbled Carpet with quite a bit of variation as well as at least one I didn't recognise and a very fresh looking Orthopygia Glaucinalis(is that a macro or a micro?). I was pleased enough at getting the moths I had seen through the perspex sheets but I wasn't expecting what I found when I came to empty the trap....a fantastic looking Black Rustic which is also a new species for my garden and oddly enough is one of the species I saw for the first time last Saturday night at Foremark Reservoir as was the Pink Barred Sallow so it's good to know that these moths turn up in my back garden eventually.

The trap was out from 8pm to 3:30am

Tonight's Log

2 Large Yellow Underwing

8 Lesser Yellow Underwing

5 Common Marbled Carpet(more new variations - see 2nd photo above)

4 Silver-Y

1 Shuttle Shaped Dart

1 Square Spot Rustic

1 Angle Shades

1 Brimstone

2 Grey Pine Carpet

1 ???? Carpet(see 3rd photo above)
1 Willow Beauty
1 Blair's Shoulder-Knot

1 Pink Barred Sallow(see 4th photo above)

1 Black Rustic(see top photo above)

Blair's Shoulder Knot

After the excitement of the past 2 nights and despite the fact that the temperature was down to below 8c I couldn't resist putting the trap out tonight just to see if there was anything about and I'm pleased to report there was....not much though!. The first surprise of the night was a Small Blood Vein which is only the second time I've caught that species in my garden, the second and nicest surprise was a Blair's Shoulder-Knot which is new to my garden.

The trap was out from 8pm to 3:15am

Tonight's Log

1 Large Yellow Underwing
2 Lesser Yellow Underwing
1 Common Marbled Carpet
1 Common Wainscot
1 Small Blood Vein(see photo above)
1 Grey Pine Carpet

1 Canary Shouldered Thorn

1 Willow Beauty

1 Lunar Underwing

1 Blair's Shoulder-Knot(see top photo above)(ID confirmation thanks to Ben)

National Moth Night - Addendum

Just last week I mentioned in a comment on the Essex Moths blog that I had never found a single caterpillar in my garden, then as I was tidying away in the garage tonight I noticed this hairy little creature crawling across the floor...unfortunately as it was on concrete and not feeding I don't know what it eats so I can't keep it but it was nice to finally find a caterpillar in - or at least very near to - my garden!! :0).

National Moth Night(Part 2 - Foremark Reservoir)

It turned out to be a surprisingly warm evening with plenty of cloud so ideal conditions for trapping, Foremark Reservoir is a Severn Trent Water nature conservation site with plenty of woodland surrounding the car park that everyone gathered in. I set up the 'Skinner' and quite quickly saw results with a lot of Carpet moths heading toward the trap within minutes, quite a few other species turned up during the night and 2 other traps with MV lamps were also being used not far from me one of which had attracted a couple of Black Rustic which I unfortunately didn't get in my trap but I did get to see one and very beautiful it was. Big thanks to Chris Burnett for running the event and big big thanks to the guy who jump started our car after the battery died(bloody Volvos!) I didn't get your name sorry but thanks!.

Observed or caught on the night were...

Large Yellow Underwing

Common Marbled Carpet

Grey Pine Carpet

Green Carpet

Brimstone

Copper Underwing

Common Wainscot

Gothic

Snout

Canary Shouldered Thorn

Pink Barred Sallow(see photo above)

Pine Carpet(see photo above)(ID thanks to Leigh)

Deep Brown Dart(see photo above)(ID thanks to Leigh)

National Moth Night(Part 1 - My Garden)

It was more like National Micro Moth Night for me with a dozen or so assorted micros in the kitchen before I'd even put the trap out, early on it was mainly micros in and around the trap including a few I don't remember noticing before(I got some photos to keep things more 'interactive). Most of the macros started turning up after midnight and oddly enough they included a couple of species I haven't seen for a few weeks(Burnished Brass & Brimstone), I also got a Lunar Underwing(ID Thanks to Ben) which is a new species for my garden so not a bad night and it was specially nice to see the lack of Large and Lesser Yellow Underwing(the chavs of the moth world!).

The trap was out from 8pm to 3:30am

Tonight's Log

2 Large Yellow Underwing

2 Lesser Yellow Underwing

3 Common Marbled Carpet

3 Setaceous Hebrew Character
2 Common Wainscot
1 Angle Shades

1 Burnished Brass

1 Brimstone

1 Lunar Underwing(see top photo above)

Keep trying

I've had the trap out a couple of times since my last blog but the amount of moths/species caught hasn't been worth writing about, I've made a few 'improvements' to my home made Skinner trap in readiness for taking it out to Foremark Reservoir this Saturday for their National Moth Night event so I put it out in the garden tonight to see if it does any better than the new trap. I've caught mainly Large and Lesser Yellow Underwing with a few Common Marbled Carpet and a couple of Common Wainscot over the last few nights but I still live in hope that something new will turn up in my garden to add to the list which is currently 'stalled' at 94 different macro species....with luck I will get that up to 100 before Christmas?. Tonight is the mildest night so far this week with a lot of cloud cover keeping the temperature up a bit and there were certainly plenty of flies around, early indications were that there aren't many moths but I did ok compared to the other nights this week. The photo is of a moth I regularly see in our front garden and on the local park but I've never seen one in the back garden nor have I found one in the trap....some type of Tortix at a guess?.

The trap was out from 8pm to 3:15am

Tonight's Log

6 Large Yellow Underwing
4 Lesser Yellow Underwing
3 Common Marbled Carpet
2 Setaceous Hebrew Character

2 Square Spot Rustic

2 Common Wainscot

1 Copper Underwing

1 Silver-Y
1 Angle Shades

Another newbie

It was much colder and windier tonight so I only put the trap out till 2:15am, I'm going to visit Attenborough nature reserve tomorrow so I thought an earlier night might be a good idea so we can get and earlier start. The weather conditions and the early finish meant I didn't get very many moths in the trap but I did get something new for my garden so it was a good night!. I'm not sure what it is but I'm sure someone will tell me....please!!.

The trap was out from 8pm to 2:15am

Tonight's Log

5 Large Yellow Underwing

11 Lesser Yellow Underwing

1 Common Marbled Carpet

1 Setaceous Hebrew Character
2 Square Spot Rustic
1 Copper Underwing
1 Grey Pine Carpet
1 Silver-Y
1 Canary Shouldered Thorn

1 Pale Mottled Willow(see photo above)(ID Thanks to Ben)

Unsure again

After 2 days away I was really looking forward to trapping again and it was a fairly mild evening with a reasonable amount of moths around early on, things got a bit windy later on and there were a few spots of rain but I still got a nice selection of moths. I got 3 Thorn moths which I took to be 2 Dusky Thorn and a Canary Shouldered Thorn but as I am still waiting to get assorted other Thorns I took a photo of one of them for confirmation.....the Canary Shouldered doesn't seem to have the right wing colour or 'pattern' to me so is that something else?. I also got a blue-ish carpet moth which is probably just another Common Marbled variation but it would be great to be proved wrong!.

The trap was out from 8pm to 3:45am

Tonight's Log

2 Large Yellow Underwing
9 Lesser Yellow Underwing
2 Common Marbled Carpet(possibly 3....see photo above)

2 Setaceous Hebrew Character

3 Square Spot Rustic

2 Copper Underwing

1 Common Wainscot
2 Willow Beauty

1 Garden Carpet

1 Green Carpet

1 Grey Pine Carpet

1 Angle Shades

3 Silver-Y

1 Flounced Rustic

2 Dusky Thorn

1 Canary Shouldered Thorn?(see photo above)

Two nights in Lincolnshire

I went camping for a couple of nights and got really lucky with the weather but there wasn't enough room in the car to take a trap, apart from the MBT I don't have any other form of mothing light yet and I'm guessing the MBT would have caused at least a few raised eyebrows.

I did find a couple of Brimstone moths hanging around the lights of the campsite toilet/shower block but there were more rabbits than insects on the campsite. I got 'up close and personal' with a fantastic assortment of Butterflies, Dragonflies and damselflies at Chapel Six Marshes and I imagine that place would be a wonderful place to take a trap to....maybe next year?.