Mental Moth Night and Juv Yellow-legged Gulls

Had a trap out at Mum and Dad's last night, and this morning was greeted by probably my busiest ever moth trap!  Fog had descended on Seaton, presumably in the early hours of the morning, which I thought may have killed off any moth activity - but it seemed to have had the opposite effect! What a haul...

The inside of my moth trap this morning!

Every side of every egg box looked something like this!

Inside (and outside of) my trap were an outstanding 559 macro moths of 70 species!  And bear-in-mind this was from just one Skinner-type trap, my Robinson is still out of action and a Robinson will often hold a huge number more moths than any Skinner-type (maybe 50 - 70% more moths in my experience!).  Because it was such an impressive haul, I'm going make all your day's by listing them all and their numbers;

Large Yellow Underwing - 81
Heart and Dart - 63
Uncertain/Rustic - 39
Bright-line Brown-eye - 37
Dark Arches - 36
Common/Lesser Rustic - 33
Elephant Hawkmoth - 27 (so much pink!)
Common Footman - 22
Shuttle-shaped Dart - 17
Dingy Footman - 13
Willow Beauty - 12
Clay - 11
Mottled Rustic - 10
Four-spotted Footman - 9 (an incredible count and all males!)
Peppered Moth - 7
Buff Ermine - 7
Poplar Hawkmoth - 6
Buff Arches - 6
Rosy Footman - 6
Brussels Lace - 6
Lesser Yellow Underwing - 5
Coronet - 5
Knot Grass - 5
Swallow-tailed Moth - 4
V-pug - 4
Brimstone - 4
Ruby Tiger - 4
Nut-tree Tussock - 4
Double Square-spot - 4
Early Thorn - 3
Common Carpet - 3
Riband Wave -3
Buff-tip - 3 
Scalloped Oak - 3
Crescent Dart - 3 (my highest count of the local speciality)
Flame-shoulder - 3
Dot Moth - 3
Pug sp. - 3
Minor sp. - 3 
Privet Hawkmoth - 2
Light Emerald - 2 
Small Emerald - 2
July Highflyer - 2
Small Fan-footed Wave - 2
Smoky Wainscot - 2
Marbled Green - 2
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing - 2
Silver Y - 2 (yeah immigrants at last!)
Small Fan-foot - 2 
Spectacle - 2
Jersey Tiger - 1
Single-dotted Wave - 1
Clouded Silver - 1
Common Emerald - 1
Engrailed - 1
Yellow Shell - 1
Small Rivulet - 1
Scorched Carpet - 1 (always nice!)
Garden Carpet - 1
Ruddy Carpet - 1
Snout - 1
Black Arches - 1
Leopard Moth - 1 (not caught too many of these - stunning)
Pebble Prominent - 1
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing - 1
Herald - 1
Dog's Tooth - 1 (a bit worn but don't catch these all too often)
Green Arches - 1
Grey Dagger - 1
Poplar Grey - 1

And here's some more photo evidence...

Leopard Moth - must remember to photograph moths in the spot in future as love the look of the lichen!

Male Crescent Dart

Herald, Four-spotted Footman, Privet Hawkmoth (and Heart and Dart). A nice view!

Scorched Carpet - such a well named moth

Ruddy Carpet

Dog's Tooth (and Dingy Footman and Heart and Dart)

Marbled Green - the weakest marked of the two, but the other stayed high up on a wall!

.....and just when you thought this blog post couldn't get any better, you remember seeing "Juv Yellow-legged Gulls" in the title :-)  

Yes I saw my first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of the season last Friday, it was brief, distant and quickly flew off.  The weather was awful on Friday though, so I thought this was just going to prove my first one of the day, but I was wrong.  No more - well until tonight when this lovely big, long and pale brute stuck out like a flashing beacon north of Coronation Corner.  Again it was distant but it was crying out to be papped...

Juv Yellow-legged Gull from one angle

...and from another view point - which basically offered the same view just of the other side of the bird!

After writing all this I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to going to bed!  Night all.