My best April catch..period!

Yesterday was warm and sunny and by mid-morning we were already in the low 20's.
By 3pm the thermometer read just under 26c, the warmest day of the year so far, I had a good feeling that we were in for a cracker of a night.
Humidity had also increased and with it some patchy cloud.. it almost looked stormy.

But as the evening went on the clouds disappeared and it was clear again, not ideal but with how warm it had been and with no wind at all, it had to be worth staying up late and getting up early.

I kept popping out to the trap every half hour or so and jotting down bits and bobs and potting up several new for year species.
Two species were very pleasing, firstly a lovely orange form of Oak Nycteoline, a moth I get sporadically here and usually of the silvery-grey form.
The second species was a Least Black Arches which I was super thrilled with! I'll explain... this is a rare species for my garden here in Stevenage, and only my second garden record (last seen in 2015!). 
I'm not sure why I struggle with this moth, as it is fairly regular in the County and on my field trips I go on.
At just after midnight we had a bit of rain, literally a few spots for a couple of minutes. With the increasing cloud cover, I reckoned it would be busy by the 'morrow.

Indeed it was, with lots of moths in and around the trap at 5am, up before the birds even had a chance to tie their shoelaces.

Highlight of the night was a new species for my garden, an Agonopterix subpropinquella, the form f.rhodochrella (with the black head and palps).
I've only seen this moth twice before. Once in Essex in 2008 and just last year at Chippenham Fen in Cambridgeshire.

I was also shocked at how many Pugs there were, 38 in total! a nightly record for here.

A very pleasing night indeed. 

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 55.

90 moths of 18 species to 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

Catch Report - 11/04/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Frosted Green 1 [NFY]
Least Black Arches 1 [NFY]
Oak Nycteoline 1 [NFY]
Brindled Beauty 2
Brindled Pug 27
Common Quaker 10
Clouded Drab 3
Double-striped Pug 11
Early Grey 2
Early Thorn 5
Hebrew Character 3
Small Quaker 3
Streamer 1

Micro Moths

Agonopterix subpropinquella f.rhodochrella 1 [NFY]
Aphomia sociella 2 [NFY]
Parornix sp 1 [NFY]
Dyseriocrania subpurpurella 7
Emmelina monodactlya 8

Agonopterix subpropinquella f.rhodochrella

Aphomia sociella - pair

Frosted Green

Least Black Arches

Oak Nycteoline

Parornix sp TBC