Weeks mothing round-up

This week hasn't been too bad at all in my garden, with warmer nights and extremely mild days (19c at the top end is silly for October).

I ran my trap on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday here, but won't run it for the next couple of nights as its set to drop to low single figures.

The best night of the week was Monday night with 35 species jotted down, probably an October species record for here (without checking for sure).

Just the 2 new species for the year, with a superb glinting Green-brindled Crescent and a rather plainer (but scarcer) Brick, in fact it's a new species for the garden!

Last night, the only moth of note was a mint Satellite, the first of the season.

 

Common migrants are still in great supply, with regular Scarce Bordered Straw, Palpita vitrealis, Clancy's Rustic, L-album Wainscot & Delicate. The latter 3 species are probably resident here now.

 

Wrap up, it's getting cold now until Sunday night at the earliest.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 616 species

07/10/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Green-brindled Crescent 1 [NFY]
Angle Shades 1
Beaded Chestnut 1
Black Rustic 2
Blair's Shoulder-knot 1
Brimstone Moth 1
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 2
Burnished Brass 1
Clancy's Rustic 3
Dark Spectacle 2
Delicate 1
Grey-pine Carpet 1
L-album Wainscot 3
Large Yellow Underwing 10
Lesser Yellow Underwing 3
Light Emerald 1
Lunar Underwing 2
Pale Mottled Willow 1
Pink-barred Sallow 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 4
Silver Y 1
Vine's Rustic 1
Willow Beauty 4

Micro Moths 

Acleris rhombana 1
Acleris sparsana 1
Aproaerema anthyllidella 1
Carcina quercana 1
Emmelina monodactyla 2
Eudonia angustea 1
Musotima nitidalis 3
Nomophila noctuella 2
Palpita vitrealis 1
Plutella xylostella 1
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 1
Udea ferrugalis 1

08/10/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Brick 1 [NFG]

09/10/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Satellite 1 [Season First]

Palpita vitrealis

Carcina quercana

Green-brindled Crescent

Musotima nitidalis

From Pale to Dusky!

With a cracker of a Pale-lemon Sallow yesterday night, imagine my excitement of finding a Dusky-lemon Sallow in the garden trap this morning!

I have never caught both in one year let alone a day apart, incredible.

It was extremely satisfying photographing the pair side by side.

Other good moths included several Delicate's, Scarce Bordered Straws, a single Clancy's Rustic and Scarce Bordered Straw. 

 

The robinson trap is really working much better than my storage box at retaining, and the trap had plenty of moths inside this morning.

 

A tiny Phyllonorycter messaniella was new for the year and what I thought was late, isn't actually in certain parts of the country, the peak flight season for them is now! A species of Phyllonorycter that multi-broods and possibly overwinters during mild winters.

A welcome yearly addition having seen my last one on the 29th June 2022! 

 

Today whilst releasing the moths in my garden from last night, I spied a lovely Grey Dagger caterpillar, my first of this species in larval form.

Milder conditions are here now, but it could be windy and wet.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 614 species

05/10/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Dusky-lemon Sallow 1 [NFY]

 

Micro Moths

 

Phyllonorycter messaniella 1 [NFY] 

 

Delicate

Pale-lemon Sallow & Dusky-lemon Sallow

Dusky-lemon Sallow

Grey Dagger Caterpillar

Phyllonorycter messaniella

Scarce Bordered Straw

 

A new moth for the garden, what a little gem

Mothing has been rather hit and miss lately, with very wet days and nights, followed by some milder days upto 16 degrees, but then followed by colder nights. Infact some nights have dropped as low as 4 degrees.

I ran the trap twice this past working week, on Wednesday and again last night.

I was rewarded with 3 new species for the year, with a lovely Pink-barred Sallow on Wednesday, and two much scarcer moths last night, one being new for the garden and the other a nationally scarce A species.

The new garden moth was a male Gem, this species is sexually dimorphic, meaning that the males differ from the females in markings. Sadly it was a rather worn out specimen, but the all count! It is the 863rd moth to be recorded in my garden so far.

The second really good moth was a year first Pale-lemon Sallow, never a common moth anywhere and I haven't heard any reportefd yet this year. It is my 2nd garden record after my first ever in 2021, so it's been missing for two years.

Other moths of note were the presence of several Blue Underwings on both nights, and L-album Wainscot & Clancy's becoming a regular occurence here now.

I couldn't also resist taking a snap of a nice fresh Red-green Carpet with its wings open.

Tonight could be worth a punt as well, good luck.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 612 species

02/10/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Pink-barred Sallow 1 [NFY]

04/10/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Gem 1 [NFG]

Pale-lemon Sallow 1 [NFY]

 

Tommie and Clif

Beaded Chestnut

Pink-barred Sallow

 

Pale-lemon Sallow

Gem

Red-green Carpet

A flurry of inland migrant activity

Finally the temperature at night was ok on Sunday night, and with lightish winds I had hoped of something new for the year, and indeed there was.

2 new species were added to the year list including a flurry of Scarce Bordered Straw.

 

Other possible migrants included 2x Delicate, 1x Clancy's Rustic and a Turnip Moth.

The trap has been off at the start of this week due to the heavy rain and floods.

I will try again soon.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 609 species

29/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Barred Sallow 1 [NFY]

Beaded Chestnut 1 [NFY]

Scarce Bordered Straws

Barred Sallow

Beaded Chestnut

Scarce Bordered Straw

Scarce Bordered Straw

Latest from the garden moth trap, Sallows & Mallows

Very sparse lately, and once more we have entered a wet spell followed by a cold front which just isn't worth lighting up for in my garden.

Below are a few catches from last week, which included 4 new species for the year and Cambs latest ever Lilac Beauty on 23rd.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 607 species

22/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Brown-spot Pinion 1 [NFY]

Large Ranunculus 1 [NFY]

Double-striped Pug 1 (Unusual Looking Specimen)

23/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Sallow 1 [NFY]

Lilac Beauty 1 (Latest Cambs Record)

 

24/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Mallow 1 [NFY]

 

 

Large Ranunculus

Brown-spot Pinion

Double-striped Pug

Lilac Beauty

Sallow

Mallow

Best September Garden Catch Ever!

On Saturday night I was going to pop out for some mobile moth recording, but the threat of storms spreading up from the south was imminent, with pockets of torrential downpours on the cards from midnight, I safely wimped out.

So, not wanting to miss out on the very mild night, with lows of 17 degrees, I stayed up until half midnight, and rose at 5am.

I expected to be woken up by some rumbles and flashes, but nothing.... got up at 5, walked out to the trap and it was bone dry! Crazy, it must have skirted around us more westerly over Canbridge.

Even before I went to bed I was up to 40 species, adding a further 18 come the morning, a crazy good night for my garden.

Even better was the species cast! with 2 new species for the garden, 1 of which was a completely new moth for me, the titchy Cosmopterix pulchrimella.

Barred Red was the other newbie, a very uncommon moth on my spreadsheet over the last 18 years.

Whats more, 8 other species were added to the 2024 roster.

The full total was 122 moths of 58 species.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 603 species

21/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Autumnal Rustic 1 NFY
Barred Red 1 NFG
Blair's Shoulder-knot 1 NFY
Large Wainscot 1 NFY
Pine Carpet 1 NFY
Angle Shades 1
Black Rustic 3
Brimstone Moth 2
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 3
Common Wainscot 3
Delicate 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Dusky Thorn 1
Flounced Rustic 6
Garden Carpet 5
L-album Wainscot 1
Large Yellow Underwing 5
Lesser Yellow Underwing 2
Light Emerald 2
Lime-speck Pug 1
Lunar Underwing 2
Lunar Yellow Underwing 1
Marbled Beauty 1
Nutmeg 1
Pale Mottled Willow 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character 3
Silver Y 1
Small Dusty Wave 1
Snout 1
Spruce Carpet 1
Square-spot Rustic 1
Tree-lichen Beauty 1
Vine's Rustic 1
White-point 1
Willow Beauty 7

Micro Moths

 

Bucculatrix nigricomella 1 NFY
Coleophora hemerobiella 1 NFY
Cosmopterix pulchrimella 1 NFG
Udea ferrugalis 1 NFY
Ypsolopha sequella 1 NFY
Acleris variegana 2
Aproaerema anthyllidella 1
Blastobasis lacticolella 1
Caloptilia semifascia 2
Cameraria ohridella 10
Clepsis consimilana 2
Coleophora sp 1
Cydalima perspectalis 5
Epiphyas postvittana 4
Hypsopygia glaucinalis 1
Lyonetia clerkella 1
Monopis crocicapitella 1
Musotima nitidalis 1
Neocochylis molliculana 1
Nomophila noctuella 1
Plutella xylostella 2
Pyralis farinalis 1
Scrobipalpa ocellatella 12

 

Pyralis farinalis

Autumnal Rustic

Barred Red

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Bucculatrix nigricomella

Caloptilia semifascia

Coleophora hemerobiella

Cosmopterix pulchrimella

Large Wainscot

Nomophila noctuella

Pine Carpet

 

A huge improvement

Quite a few nights off recently, but with a warm front pushing in again once more from the east and the south simultaneously, the temperature at night rose.

Wednesday night it was definitely worth running the trap after a warm day and with lows of 16 degrees it certainly was warm enough for plenty of moths.

Still in that end of summer lull, but new species are returning after a year away, and old familiar faces are coming back for a 2nd or 3rd brood.

There were 3 new species for the year, 2 macros and 1 micro, very pleasing after very little lately. 

Things continued to ramp up and Saturday night was an absolute corker.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 593 species

18/09/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Black Rustic 1 [NFY]

Cypress Pug 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

 

Musotima nitidalis 1 [NFY]

 

Musotima nitidalis

Acleris schalleriana

Black Rustic

Burnished Brass

Cypress Pug

Lunar Underwing

 

 

 

A week of seconds

Mothing has been pretty rubbish this past week, so I haven't had much to post about.

Quality over quantity with garden second yearly records of Delicate, L-album Wainscot & Palpita vitrealis.

An Elachista was retained for dissection.

Just the one ne for year species all week! A massive drought ensues.

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 590 species

 

14/09/24 - Lunar Underwing 1 [NFY] 

Clancy's Rustic

Delicate

Elachista sp tbc

L-album Wainscot

Lunar Underwing

Palpita vitrealis