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