Agonopterix alstromeriana & Caloptilia stigmatella

The temperature stayed at 9c till nearly 1am and by the time I cleared away it was still just above 5c, the biggest catch so far this year and I got a couple of new micros to add to my list....the first one I know is Agonopterix alstromeriana and the second one is a Caloptilia but I'm not sure which one(it's not Elongella this time).
 The trap was out from 8pm to 3:30am

12 Common Quaker
4 Small Quaker
12 Early Grey
5 Clouded Drab
2 Hebrew Character
2 Double Striped Pug
1 Emmelina Monodactyla
1 Amblyptilia Acanthadactyla
1 Early Thorn
1 Agonopterix alstromeriana
1 Caloptilia stigmatella(ID thanks Skev)

Grey Shoulder Knot

I spent a couple of hours today wandering from tree to tree at Elvaston Castle looking for Diurnea fagella in the hope that I might find Semioscopis avellanella or Semioscopis steinkellneriana but I was unlucky which is particularly annoying because last week I did find S. Avellanella but I didn't realise at the time what it was so I didn't get a photo....D'oh!. After the fantastic warm(16c) day we had it cooled down rapidly to 5c but I still got a reasonable catch which included my first Grey Shoulder Knot of the year, I got this species last year too so it's not a first for my garden.
 The trap was out from 8pm to 3:15am

6 Common Quaker
5 Early Grey
3 Hebrew Character
1 Clouded Drab
1 Diurnea Fagella
1 Light Brown Apple Moth
1 Twin-Spotted Quaker
1 Grey Shoulder Knot

Tawny Pinion

It was the warmest evening in Derby for quite a few months and things got off to an interesting start with a fly invasion closely followed by a micro stampede and eventually followed by an influx of macros. A few of the micros I recognise but 2 of them I'm not familiar with so some ID help will be needed(bottom 2 photos). I got my first Pug(Brindled?) of the year, first Carpet moth of the year(Red-Green) and what turned out to be my first Tawny Pinion ever as well as at least one of almost every different moth species I have seen in the last few weeks.
 The trap was out from 8pm till 3:30am

4 Emmelina Monodactyla
2 Amblyptilia Acanthadactyla
1 Double Striped Pug(ID thanks Ben)
7 Caloptilia Elongella(ID thanks Skev)
2 Epermenia Chaerophyllella.(ID thanks Skev)
1 Brindled Beauty
1 Early Thorn
1 Tawny Pinion(ID thanks Ben)
1 Red-Green Carpet
2 Hebrew Character
1 Clouded Drab
4 Early Grey
7 Common Quaker

Ready for the busy season?

Last year I started off with an energy saving light bulb, a few bits of broom handle and an old sheet...this was a similar set up to the one I used when I first trapped back in the early 1970s and it worked ok but things have moved on since then so I had to move on too. I made my own Skinner type trap and got some MBT electrics....the amount of moths I was trapping quadrupled, I now also have a MV and actinic system so I can keep up with the changing seasons BUT no matter how many moths I catch some of them have a habit of flying away the second I take the top off the trap(specially if there are a lot of over excitable Large Yellow Underwings in there too!). This obviously proved to be frustrating on many more than one occasion, 'losing' a moth before I had a chance to ID and get a photo of it meant that my records didn't really show the correct numbers or possibly all of the different species I had actually trapped so this year I have taken a few steps to try to avoid it happening again. I looked on eBay and found a freestanding tent style mosquito net(see photo above) which I will be setting up in my garage, I can go inside to empty the trap and even if something does escape it wont get far, this should lead to some interesting comedy moments if there's a wasp in the trap but that's a risk worth taking. If you think this is a good idea and want something similar I must point out that some mosquito nets are treated with a chemical which kills insects so be very careful when choosing!!. Another problem I have had is getting decent photos of the moths I trap with lighting being the main problem, after trying several different types of lighting combined with assorted camera settings and I've found that tungsten lights seem to do the best job but in order to get the moth in a suitable position for the light to work I have had to place it in a plastic tray so the photos don't exactly look 'natural'. In my local branch of B & M I found a small fish tank(see photo above) which I have placed a piece of tree bark in and I will find other 'backgrounds' as time goes on, I have fixed 2 250w tungsten lights to a block of wood behind the tank and made a makeshift lid to stop the moths escaping....results so far are promising now all I need are some moths!. I must also add a big thank you to Ben Sale from the Essex Moths blog(http://bensale-essexmoths.blogspot.com/) for all of his help over the last 10 months.

Early Thorn

I got quite a few Early Thorn last year but because I didn't start trapping till July I only got second brood examples which didn't quite compare to the one I trapped tonight, it's a shame it's so difficult to get them to open their wings and smile for the camera!.
The trap was out from 7:45pm to 4am

2 Early Grey
3 Common Quaker
1 Early Thorn

Small Quaker

It was down to 2c by midnight so not a perfect night for trapping even though it had sneaked back up to 5c by 3am but it was starting to rain by then too so the temperature rise didn't make much difference. Despite that I still found a few moths in the trap which included a Small Quaker, I got a moth late last month which I thought was a washed out Small Quaker but this one was much easier to ID so that's another new species for my garden.

The trap was out from 7:50pm to 3:15am

2 Clouded Drab

3 Common Quaker

1 Early Grey

1 Small Quaker

Brindled Beauty

It rained from 11pm to 1:30am so I didn't get many moths but I did get a Brindled Beauty to add to my garden list and what could possibly be a Red Chestnut?.
 The trap was out from 7:50pm to 3:30am

1 Brindled Beauty
1 Common Quaker
3 Early Grey
1 ??????(see top photo)
1 Diurnea Fagella(sat on the wall near the back door)