Nearing the end.. of June....

So, we are here, 28th June. 2 days time, June will be ending, and July will be starting. It's been an odd month, on the 16th I noted several Bluebells! Bluebells in mid-June!?!

Anyhow, best news of the last couple of weeks was a new for garden moth, in the form of Paracorsia repandalis, which for those who know their moths, is a kind of rarity. This is the 5th UK record (so I've been told, and it was confirmed by various people who are very reliable), so a pleasing moth for me. This was caught last Wednesday night, but only confirmed on the weekend (P. repandalis was my initial thought). Also from Wednesday night was a Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, a local rarity and new for garden. 2 new for gardens on Wednesday night this week, Common Wave and Callisto denticulella, which are both fairly common, but the latter has few Dorset records.

P. repandalis, 5th UK Record

 

Also in the garden in recent nights have been more Lime Hawk-moths, bringing the year total to 4, so are the most frequent garden hawk, which Is very odd. Current hawk statistics are as follows:

Elephant Hawk-moth: Usually the most common hawk, 2 so far this year, numbers in most years can reach above 10 per night.
Small Elephant Hawk-moth: Rare in garden, with 1 or 2 recorded in most years. 1 so far.
Eyed Hawk-moth: Usually 5 or 6 per year, none so far this year.
Poplar Hawk-moth: Usually about 10 per year, 2 so far.
Privet Hawk-moth: Usually about 10 per year, 2 so far.
Lime Hawk-moth: 1 record in 2012. 4 in 2013.

 

Hmmm.. What's the weather up to??

And that is the question, isn't it? With a pretty miserable weekend, I went for a walk on Sunday (16th) which proved more exciting that elsewhere of late, moths included a Blood-vein caterpillar, an Adela croesella (which happens to be rare in Dorset, with few records), and several other more common species (some were new for year for me though).

Blood-vein caterpillar

Adela croesella. There are very few records for this species in Dorset, and I think I know why. Firstly, it's a micro, and not just that, but a small micro, and I imagine some recorders don't focus on this little fella's. Secondly, it flies by day. Many moth-ers just focus on trapping, leaving a blank space for species like this to be ignored. Though, there are still many moth-ers out there who will record day-flying micros.

Anyhow, the first few days of the week were not fantastic, but then on Wednesday we had a fantastic day, sunny and very hot, which was followed by a warm night, and the best of the moths so far this year, with 4 new for garden, including Chinese Character (which I have seen on 3 occasions before), and a Pale Tussock (which I have been waiting to get for a long time!). A total of 249 moths of 63 species on Wednesday night (19th June). Last night was still good, but nowhere near as good, but again new for gardens in the form of 4 Bactra lancealana, 1 Bactra lancealana/lactana, and a Bactra furfurana. Also, 2 Lime Hawk-moths, a species which has only been in the garden once before. (no pics though yet, as they are still on camera).

Pale Tussock - Long awaited but well worth it!

Anyhow, what's the weather doing now?? Wind has picked up greatly in the last couple of hours, and rain is on it's way. Moth trap in the garage again...

I don't just do Moths!

You may not believe me, but I don't just do moths!
I started off my life being a birder, and though I'd happily say I've only been a proper birder these last few years, I've been a birder a lot longer than a moth-er. To prove it, here are some pics from the past.

A Cuckoo at Radipole Lake in 2011, I have a much better (in my opinion) photo here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/qwertyqwertyqwerty/5789281157/in/photostream/)

This little Snow Bunting took up residency at Ferrybridge in January this year, and though it took me several attempts to see him, I did finally manage him eventually.

 

 

I also do try to do other insects, mammals ect ect, so ought to be posting some other bugs n' stuff about. As proof for that, have a bug record from last year. Caught in the moth trap last year, it is the only leafhopper I have been bothered to identify, and I was rewarded with Zyginella pulchra. Anyhow, I sent the record in at the start of the year to DERC, and recently emailed with any proof of confirmation (which I sent 2 pics), and then told it was "as far as I'm aware this is the first record for Dorset". Not bad if I say so myself. Still, it was a tiny thing.

Zyginella pulchra - Weymouth 14th September 2012

 

 

 

Anyhow, looking back over the week. Not bad, mothing wise. After getting a Nut-tree Tussock as new for garden, managed 2 Shears and a Scalloped Hazel over the next few nights, both new for garden, and the Scalloped Hazel being new for me. Unfortunately, the wind did pick up nearing the weekend, but in the shelter of valley near Hardy's Monument, managed a Speckled Yellow, which was new to me. Much smaller than I thought it would be, being considerably smaller than a Brimstone Moth. Still, it was well behaved, and sat still on a log for me. Also of interest was the longhorn beetle Rhagium bifasciatum, which was new for me.

On Sunday, went to visit Morden Bog, where the wind dropped, and managed 2 'new for me' species, which were Small Purple-barred (larger than I thought it'd be, similar size as Speckled Yellow, and Ancylis apicella, which was nice.

Speckled Yellow - Hardy's Monument 7th June 2013

Small Purple-barred - Morden Bog 9th June 2013

 

13.. an unlucky number..

So here we are.. 2013.. Ok, yes, it's been 2013 for 6 months now (God! we're almost halfway through.. that's depressing!).

Anyhow.. for moths.. 2013's been shocking. Well, for all life it's been shocking, but noticeably for moths (on my part at least).

Anyhow, welcome to my new blog, I've tried blogs before, but they've just never started, and it all seems all very complicated. I will try to put a post up maybe every week, depending if anything exciting happens in that week.

So.. what's happened this year with the moths, not a great deal I'm afraid, with only 35 species in the garden. Of these 35 species, only one has been new for the garden, which was a nice Nut-tree Tussock this morning. (pic below)

But yeah, in the garden, even the common species are absent. No Clouded Drab, Small Quaker or Early Thorn in the garden so far this year, usually I get several spring specimens of these species.

Anyhow, mothing out & about (3 nights away) has proved more successful, causing a yearly total of 578 moths of 77 species, which considering the year, isn't too bad. The vast majority of these were from Alner's Gorse at the start of May, which produced almost 400 moths of 44 species, many were new to me.
Highlights from Alner's were Frosted Green (NFM), Streamer (NFM), Shoulder Stripe (NFM), Marbled Pug (NFM), Waved Umber, Purple Thorn, Brindled Beauty (NFM), Puss Moth, Great Prominent (NFM), Lunar Marbled Brown (NFM), Dark Sword-grass, Blossom Underwing (NFM), Pine Beauty, Grey Shoulder-knot, Tawny Pinion (NFM), Pale Pinion, Satellite, Acleris literana (NFM), and Dysteriocrania subpurpurella (NFM).

Great Prominent

Marbled Pug

Purple Thorn

Lunar Marbled Brown

 

 

So that's about it for now I'd say,

Cheerio,
Jack