Another Great Catch

First off, the two mystery moths in my last post have been identified, thanks (again) to Matt Knott. They are Small Square-spot and Brussels Lace - what a lovely name!

Last night's total comes to 74 moths plus micros. I had several 'new for the garden' species, shown here in no particular order...

Purple Thorn

Fern - I had two of these

Here's the other one

Engrailed

Swallow Prominet - this was a STUNNING beast!

Sycamore - I caught two of these, at first wrote them off as Grey Daggers!

Common Wave

Small Fanfoot

Double-stripped Pug, and look how small it is....

teeny!

And that's that! The rest of the haul was made up of: 8 Dark Arches, 7 Buff Ermines, 6 Elephant Hawkmoths, 6 Common Footman, 5 Bright-line Brown-eyes, 4 Scalloped Oaks, 3 Poplar Hawkmoths, 3 Riband Waves, 3 Peppered Moths, 2 Small Emeralds, 2 Early Thorns, 2 Small Square-spots and singles of Silver Y, Common Carpet, Grey/Dark Dagger, Buff-tip, Heart and Dart, Uncertain, Swallow-tail, Large Yellow Underwing, Willow Beauty, Spectacle, Brimstone, Clouded Border and a Rustic (prob Common).

Here's a few more picies....

Scallop Shell - a much smarter individual than the one I caught a few days ago

This is the first Silver Y I've caught in the garden.... but I have seen loads here

One of the Heffalump Hawkmoths after I let it free

There was a birdie highlight this morning too. Whilst photographing the Sycamore two Crossbills flew over calling. It would have been an even bigger highlight if they had been a year tick! The start of an autumn invasion?

Even More Mothing...

Had another good session last night, and it was the first time I put the trap in the back garden.

Had 78 moths in all, plus about 10 micro-things, of which only one I bothered to ID...

Small Magpie - easy enough!

There were lots of highlights, but I shall start with 'new for the garden' species...

Brown-tail

A tatty Large Emerald - though this one wasn't strictly in the trap!

Single-dotted Wave

A Royal Mantle - the most notable of my haul

Though this could well be a Wood Carpet - a very good record apparently!

A Light Arches - I think!

The rest of my collection was made up of: 16 Common Footman, 10 Bright-line Brown-eyes, 8 Buff Ermines, 6 Riband Waves (1 banded, 5 pale), 5 Dark Arches, 3 Scalloped Oaks, 3 Small Emeralds, 3 Poplar Hawkmoths, 2 Clouded Borders, 2 Large Yellow Underwings, 2 Willow Beauties, and singles of Elephant Hawkmoth, Peppered Moth, Grey/Dark Dagger (I think the former), Spectacle, Buff Arches, Brimstone, Heart and Dart, Flame Shoulder, Swallow-tailed, Coronet and Uncertain.

Here's a few more pics from this morning, all showing species mentioned in the paragraph above...


Now, time for the update on the catch from the other day. Thanks to Matt and Kevin for some ID help and confirmation, I can add some more species to the garden list...

This was my favourite - a Nut-tree Tussock

Though this one the rarest - a worn Scallop Shell

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Had two of these - Coronet

Common Carpet - nice!

Common Marbled Carpet - boring!

Still not quite sure what these are though, any ideas blog readers?...

Quite a dark thing

A very pretty thing!

I'm loving this learning curve, really REALLY enjoying it! Don't worry though, birds haven't totally been pushed out! Last night I twitched a juvenile Goosander on the river (year tick number 168!) and late this morning had a lovely Hobby low over Lower Bruckland Ponds.

More Mothing

Had the trap running last night in the front garden, and it was another total success! I caught c100 moths, and have so far identified 27 species.

I just have to start with my favourite of the catch...

A 1p - and more importantly - a stunning Rosy Footman

It's cousin was one of the most numerous species in the trap, there were eight of these...

Common Footman

Other firsts for the garden included....

A lovely Buff Arches

Two of these... Small Emerald

A very tatty Swallow-tailed Moth

There are at least nine more additions to my garden list to follow once they have been identified. Most of them are Beauty/Carpet-types.

Other highlights included....

A Clouded Border

Two Peppered Moths

Also a Buff Ermine, a Snout, two Early Thorns, two Dark Arches, two Flame Shoulders, two Uncertains, a Riband Wave, a Large Yellow Underwing, a Scalloped Oak, a Fanfoot, a Heart and Club, two Elephant Hawkmoths and a Popular Hawkmoth. As I have said, Common Footman was the most numerous moth, but Bright-line Brown-eyes and Spectacle Moths weren't far behind numbers wise. And if you wonder why the latter is called what it is...

Well named!

Other 'things' in the trap included a HUGE Cockchaffer and this 'flying T'...

Soooooooo cool!!! Even cooler is that it IS a moth, Emmelina monodactyla to be exact - thanks Dave : )

One more moth photo to finish this post with. A couple of days ago a neighbour popped round to inform me of two large moths mating in her back garden. They were these....

Poplar Hawkmoth porn!

My next post will include information on the rest of the catch, once they have all been identified!

What A Few Days!

What a weekend! The main event being my brothers wedding, which was held at Ford Abbey - a stunning place! I won't bore you all with loads of photos, but here's one...

My brother and I...

It was a total success, as was - surprisingly - my speech! This was amazingly the first wedding I've ever been too. I was thrown in the deep end, but enjoyed every minute of it! : )

Oh ok, one more photo then....

The bride and groom leaving Ford Abbey...

This was Saturday, the day before though I had another excellent experience. I had to pick my suit up in Exeter early on Friday, so stayed here to watch the Royal Marines and various other army types march through the city centre at 11am. I stood right opposite this man....

The Duke of Edinburgh

It was a surprisingly moving and emotional experience. They were heading for the Cathedral where a service was held for the men and women who didn't make it back...

It was fantastic!

Ok, now for a little bit about wildlife!

First of all, thanks to various people in the know, I can add several species to my big moth catch last week. Including Scalloped Oak, Willlow Beauty, Heart and Club, Uncertain and Riband Wave. I should also mention the interest my White Satin or FIVE caused. This species has been recorded only four times in the last 15 years in Devon, that's a result! : )

Secondly, this morning I had to go in to Exeter. After I did what needed doing I nipped up to Dunsford Woods hoping for High Brown Fritillary. Nearly as soon as I got out of the car it started raining, so my search for this species was thwarted. But there was stunning compensation when I found this Purple Hairstreak sheltering from the weather....

What an insect!

Thirdly, before I went to Exeter this morning I had time for a half hour sea watch. 15 Manxies flew west, but a year tick came in the form of a Balearic Shearwater which spent a couple of minutes loitering around a distant fishing boat. I was hoping for a Stormie or two but the boat wasn't quite close enough!

I might actually have to go out birding again today as there is a Goosander somewhere in the valley...can I make it a double year tick day?

Steve vs Moths part 2

What a night! Got up at 4am, collected all out-of-trap moths, then blocked the trap exits and switched the light off. It was a total success! A shame I had to go to work at 8 though...I could have stayed there all morning!

Now, I'm very much on the learning curve with moths. It goes without saying that there are several still unidentified moths from this morning, but so far I've Id'd 23 species - there were about 60 moths in all. Here's some of the highlights....I'll start with the big ones....

There were six Elephant Hawkmoths in all

And one Poplar Hawkmoth

A Lobster Moth

There were several of these - White Satin

A Ghost Moth

A Light Emerald

A Brimstone Moth

An Early Thorn

A Clouded Border

A Flame - not a Sword Grass like I first thought!

And this nice threesome, a Peppered Moth, a Grey Dagger and a Figure of Eighty

The most common ones were Heart and Dart and Buff Ermine. There were more than two of Bright Line Brown Eyes, Large Yellow Underwings, Spectacles and Dark Arches.

I'm going to stay clear of the micro-moths, but did note two each of Mini Magpie and Bird-cherry Ermine.

Lots of lovely moths! : )