Migrant Moths

I've seen a few migrant moths this week, presumably thanks to the warmer weather and the death of that horrible northerly wind.

First up was at work, with a Silver Y resting on a metal shipping container earlier this week...

Then came this Bordered Straw in the moth trap at Mum and Dad's on Wednesday morning. Usually quite an irregular migrant, but there seems to be an influx of them going on at the moment...

In the same moth trap was a much finer moth though, a first for the garden and a much rarer migrant species. This stunning Striped Hawkmoth...

I trapped again last night, and amazingly caught a second Striped Hawkmoth!  And how do I know it wasn't the same one? Well I gave the first to Karen who released it in Sidmouth, and it had some wear to the tips of its wings having spent a day in a pot. So two in two nights...

The eighth species of Hawkmoth for the garden, I just love 'em!

Both nights of trapping produced decent hauls of moths, with 104 moths of 35 species on Tuesday night and 118 moths of 42 species on Wednesday night.  As well as a couple more Silver Y's, I've mentioned the migrant species, but it was nice to see some of the locals again too...

Eyed Hawkmoth

Scorched Wing

Green Silver-lines

Figure of Eighty - so well named!

L-album Wainscot - a local speciality

Ruddy Carpet - another local speciality

Purple Bar

Alder Moth

Whilst on the insect theme, I had a look along the upper reaches of the Axe Estuary mid week.  Couldn't find any Scarce Chasers, but it was nice to see plenty of White-legged Damelflies...

And Banded Demoiselles...

Moth Mayhem

I said in my last post I was going to put the moth trap out on Monday night. I did indeed, and on Tuesday morning I had myself a whopping 266 moths of 56 species!  I wont list them all, just summarise..

Dark Arches were the most numerous, with 39 of these, followed by Heart and Dart (22).  The third most numerous species was Elephant Hawkmoth, with 19 in the trap! It was a good showing of Hawkmoth in fact, with four Poplar and three Eyed making a total of 26 Hawkmoths in the trap!

All three on this egg box

A better shot of an Eyed Hawkmoth

Some of the other highlights included:

True Lovers Knot

Green Silver-lines (had three of these)

Burnished Brass

Flame Carpet

Figure of Eighty

Lobster Moth

Common Emerald (with a Dot Moth to the left)

Plain Golden Y

The Plain Golden Y with a Silver Y

And these, although common species, were good to see for the first time this year...

Swallowtail

Light Emerald

Coronet - doesn't that look like a skull!

Even the small macros can be smart, like this Small Yellow Wave...

It's tiny but beautiful

And how about this Small Seraphim...

....what do you mean you can't see it? Try this....

...still struggling!? Well this is as close as I could get the camera...

How about that for camouflage!

I'll have the trap out again maybe tomorrow night. If not Friday night for sure. I might try a new trapping location too which is exciting!  

Since my last post about Black Hole Marsh autumn really has kicked off on the Axe. Although I've not seen any of it there's been a couple of Little Ringed Plovers, a Ruff and an Osprey.  Hopefully there's a biggy around the corner and hopefully I see it!

False Hope

I haven't been up Beer Head for weeks - but this morning's total cloud cover and lack of wind lured me up there after covering over my moth trap...

Literally the first bird I saw when I got out of my car was this...

Wheatear!

Now this filled me with hope that the whole of Beer Head was going to be dripping with late spring migrants and that this Beer Head visit was going to be one fantastic idea...... or not.

All that went into the notebook besides the Wheatear were a few passing Swifts, Swallows and House Martins, one Willow Warbler and three singing (so probably breeding) Whitethroats.

The only other birding I've done today was an early afternoon look along the Estuary and over Black Hole and Colyford Marshes. All I saw were five Dunlin, two Teal and....well actually - that was it of interest!

So back to my moth trap, and this morning I had 35 moths of 18 species...

3 Buff-tip
1 Cream Wave
1 Brown Silver-line
1 Brimstone
2 Muslin Moth
1 White Ermine
1 Eyed Hawkmoth
1 Poplar Hawkmoth
2 Flame Shoulder
1 Large Yellow Underwing
7 Heart and Dart
1 Shuttle-shaped Dart
1 Common Quaker
4 Vine's Rustic
1 Setaceous Hebrew Character
1 Lychnis
5 Treble Lines
1 Nut-tree Tussock

Eyed Hawkmoth

The first of many hundreds (if not thousands) of Large Yellow Underwing that I will catch this year!