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