A Week of Weirdness..

Right, let's start with the fact that I was tempted to make this post tomorrow, so then I'd have managed to get 4 posts per month, rather than 5 in August (and probably 3 in September), but my OCD isn't that bad (it's not too bad at all to be honest)

Anyhow, this week has been one of the best weeks for mothing this year, with every night (apart from last night, when I didn't run my traps) producing at least one new for garden.

So on the 25th, new for garden was Satin Wave, a nice little geometrid which is apparently classed as common, but like certain species classed as "common", can be pretty scarce in certain parts of the world.
On the 26th were two pyralids, Pyla fusca (synonym Matilella fusca), and Nephopterix angustella, the latter I was pretty pleased about, as it's a smart looking micro.
On the 27th I managed the first species which was new for garden, but not new for me, which was a Flame Carpet, which I've seen once before at Alners Gorse. Also, I managed the garden's best moth of the week, a Dotted Footman, a Red Data Book species in Norfolk, and a rare immigrant elsewhere, and is the 5th Dorset record! (incidentally, I almost lost it before I potted it! That would have been embarrassing!).
On the 28th new for garden were the small leaf-miner Calybites phasianpennella, which is quite a nice looking moth, and the odd looking macro, Oak Nycteoline (very weird looking thing!).
And to finish off the week, on the 29th numbers declined greatly, and the only new for garden was the orange tortrix Lathronympha strigiana.

Other species over the week include Four-spotted Footman, Jersey Tiger, Cypress Pug, Dark Sword-grass, Rush Veneer, Rusty-dot Pearl, Diamond-back, Silver Y, Feathered Ranunculus (summer is ending...), Gold Spot, Chinese Character, Sharp-angled Peacock (2nd garden record), Dog's Tooth (2nd garden record), as well as your usual mish-mash of late Summer species.
Not only were the species good, but the numbers were, with 600 moths in the MV on one of the nights! Admittedly, most of them were Shuttle-shaped Darts, Vine's Rustics, Large Yellow Underwings and Agriphila geniculea, but it's still nice.

Satin Wave

Dotted Footman - 5th Dorset Record

On one day of the week, I visited the local Bird Obs at Portland Bill, mostly for mothing matters, which picked up considerably. The species of great note were two Dorset's firsts, Shining Marbled and Tamarisk Peacock, plus a (new for me) Bedstraw Hawk-moth (which wasn't actually trapped at the Bill, but simply sent to be shown off there!).

Shining Marbled

Tamarisk Peacock - Sorry for bad shot, but I was willing to put this (or the Shining Marbled) out of the pots - as they'd probably fly off (I don't think I was allowed either..)

Bedstraw Hawk-moth - an impressive migrant hawk-moth. Also a Convolvulus Hawk-moth was also present that day (night?)

I decided to walk home (from Portland Bill to Weymouth, via the west cliffs coastal path). Not a great deal of bird life about (the day before, the Bill was full to the brim with nice birds - but not when I went), and so Yellow Wagtails, Wheatears and Swallows were the only migrant birds I saw heading South. (Plus a Sedge Warbler from the Bird Obs). Butterflies were also on the wing in numbers, with several Clouded Yellows about, as well as Chalkhill Blues, Small Tortoiseshells, Painted Ladies, Walls and Red Admirals amongst others.

A certain birdless spot from Portland Bill - came across the odd birder, who seemed surprised I was walking back!

Sedge Warbler - my best photo of one! ;-) Nice little bird I often see at Radipole Lake

 

So yeah, bring on the immigration which is Autumn is all I can say, I'm prepared for Autumn now... (maybe one more week of sunshine..)

Some Reedy Good Moths!

Bit late this week, being Sunday, and not the usual Friday, but I've only just uploaded my photos to laptop.

So yeah, started the week by a trap session at Broadmayne, at a friends place, which managed to produce about 350 moths of 86 species, with 3new species for me: Scorched Carpet (2), Maple Pug (2), Ptocheuusa paupella (I have no idea whatsoever on how to pronounce that!). Also, good numbers of Four-spotted Footman, and my first females of the species, and the usual species which I don't get at home often (Black Arches, Oak Hook-tip ect)

Scorched Carpet - New for me, quite a nice moth too!

Female Four-spotted Footman - Nationally Scarce A (defo breeding here, whereas a migrant back home)

So yeah, continuous trapping in the garden (not every night though) produced some nice species this week, with 9 species being new for garden, which the highlights were Old Lady (which I first saw only a week or two ago), Black Arches, Crescent, and Scrobipalpa suaedella (a Nationally Scarce micro).

The Old Lady - rarely attracted to light, and one I've been after for a while now.

 

The week ended with a moth event at Radipole Lake with the Dorset Moth Group. With 8 traps (5 MVs and 3 Actinics) running till about midnight, we managed to get 109 species, with 10 species new for me. The highlights were the Wainscots for some, with Webb's, Southern, Brown-veined, Twin-spotted, Smoky, Common, Bulrush and Small Wainscots all being present. Being my first proper trapping session on reeds, Brown-veined, Twin-spotted and Bulrush were all new to me, but someone else took the only Bulrush to photograph (I'm fine with this though, I live local to Radipole Lake and can trap there, and will probably get a Bulrush wonder into the garden at some point), and while Brown-veined were more common than Twin-spotted, apparently I only took 2 TS to photograph (and a very, very dark Brown-veined).

Twin-spotted Wainscot  - Named for the two white spots on the wing (surprise surprise!)

There were some nice macros which I have seen before, albeit infrequently, with Gold Spot, Oblique Carpet, Narrow-winged Pug and many Drinkers being nice ones for me. Have a pic of a female Drinker

Female Drinker - a big moth that laid some eggs on ye old moth trap.

Some nice micros too, with Limnaecia phragmitella and Calamotropha paludella being new reedbed micros, and Epermenia falciformis and Prochoreutis myllerana being of note (all new to me). Also a Scrobipalpa suaedella (another of the nationally scarce micros, a different individual to the last (mine was still in pot)).

Limnaecia phragmitella - pretty much the only non-colourful member of the Cosmopterix family. Much bigger than I'd expected.

Calamotropha paludella - A reedbed crambid, one of the micros I've been hoping to see.

 

 

Moths, Sweat & Beers

National Moth Night 2013. And it's all in the title really.

So yeah, I attended 2 events, both bringing my traps - one I organised and one I was just helping out with.

Lankham Bottom - 9-10th August

So, as it was NMN, the weather decided it would be awkward. Better than last year, which I seem to remember was strong winds and heavy rain, but cold. Very cold in fact. A cloudless night, staring at the stars, having a good chat with a glass of wine in my hand. One of the best things of NMN is the public event, you meet other people into moths, but who are also a good laugh!

So yeah, a cold night, and in 5 traps (4 MVs and an Actinic), there were 76 species identified, and of the macros, only one was new for me (as this is my 3rd year of moths, I feel I should have got more than one new macro, but hey, what can you do?), but it was a nice one - Grass Emerald. There were a couple of Grass Emeralds, including a nice brown form (possibly worn? It just had the markings pretty well intact)

Grass Emerald - New for me

Grass Emerald - the hindwings show a tinge of green, but the forewings want nothing of it!

Broadcroft Quarry - 10-11th August

So yeah, this was my event, with only 2 traps running (1 MV, 1 Actinic), and again conditions weren't fantastic. The clouds had gathered, and it was warm, with a scatter of light rain, but the wind had picked up, and Portland was naturally windy. Anyhow, found a fairly windless spot, and decided to put the traps there, not far from each other.
I must admit, the micros that night were better, so with the traps running, we netted for a couple of hours, and there were masses of the colourful pyralid Oncocera semirubella about, as well as a couple of Chalk Carpets and a Vapourer, and then a Bordered Sallow appeared (which was very nice, and about 2 minutes after one member of our party said "It's too late for Bordered Sallow" - I was pleased to prove him wrong!).
Anyhow, went back to get a beer before going to bed (can't go to many moth events without a good beer).
Morning came, and managed 86 species between the traps, which was petty good going I thought, with the Actinic having only slightly less species than the MV. Nice macros were good numbers of Small Waved Umber, 2 Oak Eggar, 2 Drinker, 3 Annulet, several Chalk Carpet, Kent Black Arches, and 2 macros new for me (both pretty common, but nice moths - Dusky Sallow & Brown-line Bright-eye).

Oak Eggar - a very nice large Lasiocampid.

 



 

 



 Micros come next, with many species new for me, and many new for site, and some being very rare in Dorset.
So yeah, let's start on the rare ones, there were 2 Gynnidomorpha luridana, which is a nice little tortrix, 45 or so Oncocera semirubella, Agonopterix rotundella, Dolichartria punctalis, 2 Syncopacma taeniolella, Mecyna asinalis, and Acompsia schmidtiellus, which were the micro highlights. (lots of common names there!). Also, the rare Portland form of Eudonia mercurella was there! A total of 9 species of micros new to me (not all of the ones above are on that list)

O. semirubella - a fairly common rare micro. A very nicely coloured moth.

Eudonia mercurella form portlandica - Restricted to Portland

Acompsia schmidtiellus - a rare gelechiid.

The weekend was finished off with a quick trip to Portland Bird Obs, where they had 4 moths I'd like to see - Great Dart, Tree-lichen Beauty, Four-spotted, and an Antler Moth (quite a irregular migrant in Dorset - though I had one in the garden the other night too).

Great Dart - a rare migrant.

Four-spotted - a rather nice macro

Alner's Moths.

I didn't know what to call this post, so I went with what it was, Moths at Alner's Gorse.
So, we had 5 traps out, 4 MVs and an Actinic (the actinic and one MV was mine), plus I tried my sugaring out for the first time.
All in all, had over 1100 moths of 130 species, so was pretty good, but nothing too notable (not been many exciting immigrant moths anywhere, just the usuals (saying that, I had a Jersey Mocha the other night) such as Diamond (had over 60 in one night!), Dark Sword-grass, Palpita vitrealis (one)), but at Alner's got some species I've not seen before.

Let's start on the sugaring. I did two patches, one which I checked once near the tent, and one which I checked multiple times during the night. So the repeatedly checked trap produced 8 Copper Underwing (agg), which were new for year for me, and the one I checked once had a little more variation. So I approached the sugar-beer covered tree, and there were 3 Copper Underwings, a Dun-bar, 2 Common Rustic agg., and 2 Dark Arches. I was slightly disappointed, until I looked down slightly, there, chilling out on the sugar which had run down the tree, was an Old Lady, which was new for me! (actually I lie, I saw one once in 2011 while gardening, but I discount this record, as I have no idea of the date)

Old Lady - New for me, a bit battered after spending a night in a pot.

Ok, the traps now, let's start with the actinic (which was the one we finished on on the day), it had 38 species in it, and had the majority of the Brussels Lace (6 - only one MV had one other), as well as Double Kidney, Coxcomb Prominent, and several Black Arches, but the highlight of the actinic was a lone Mocha, and was the only trap that had one.

Mocha - new for me, and a very nice moth to get.

The rest of the traps had some nice stuff, but nothing too notable, Blackneck, Small Wainscot, Small Dotted Buff, and Minor Shoulder-knot.  Also, when getting the traps in (I was very sleepy at this point in time), I did also manage to find a Mother Shipton larva, which I've not seen before.

Drinker - An impressive moth which I've only had in the garden once

Peach Blossom - one of two attracted to the same MV, another very nice moth which I've only seen once before.

Blackneck, a rather smart moth, only seen the larva before (same location, 3 months earlier)

 

And now.. I'm preparing.. for National Moth Night is beginning.. Good Luck All.

A Post All About Moths!

Afraid this post is only about moths.
This post is a look back on this year - what's done well, and what hasn't. Let's start with the positives! What's done well this year, well both Heart and Dart and Heart and Club have done fantastically, with 895 Heart and Darts and 325 Heart and Clubs (almost all in my garden), but some other common species haven't done too well. Common species doing badly include the Large Yellow Underwing, with only 114 to date. This is a moth which in 2011 had about 1500 or so in the garden, and in 2012 about 700. Not good for them. Admittedly, August is usually the month to pop numbers up, but things are still pretty low at the moment, as they are will Lesser Yellow Underwing, with only 23 records for the garden this year. Vine's Rustic, with 2 peaks in my area, had a poor start, with only 50 of what is usually hundreds. In 2011, I'd get about that in a night in May! Another poor goer has been the Shuttle-shaped Dart, which, being my favourite moth, I am most upset with. The second generation is just starting up now, so let's hope for a bumper one!
Geometrids have no idea on what to do, with some geometrids doing well, some not. Swallow-tailed Moths are doing pretty decent, best year for them with me, while Scalloped Oaks are doing badly, with about 1/2 the usual numbers for this time of year, despite being fairly similar to the Swallow-tailed. Riband Waves did well this year, with 222 as the year total so far, probably raise a tinsy bit in the coming weeks though. Garden Carpets too are doing well, but there are drops in numbers in Treble Brown Spot and Common Carpet.
Buff-tips, many people's favourite moths, have had a fantastic year this year, with double my usual numbers in the garden. Very pleased with that, though other similar species aren't doing too well. This year, I've only seen 1 Swallow Prominent in the garden, no Iron, Pebble, or Pale Prominents about this year, oh no! Hopefully again, they will pick up again soon.

A rather nice Heart and Dart abb.

Micros now. This is my second year of micros, so I can't say as much as I can about macros, but let's start with my most common micros (usually). Tachystola acroxantha and Light Brown Apple Moth, both species which in 2012 I had about 500 of each in the year - this year, just passed 100 Tachys, and just under 100 for the LBAMs! Some micros have done well though, with Endotricha flammealis in good numbers, better than last year, as well as Anania coronata and Small Magpie. Bryotropha terrella and Blastobasis adustella are both doing pretty miserably this year, and Beautiful Plume and Leek Moth are both doing shockingly!

There has been a few nice additions to the garden on both the micro and macro front, with new macros including Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, True Lover's Knot, Beautiful Hook-tip, and Muslin Footman. New micros for the garden have been a bit more plentiful, with highlights being Callisto denticulella, Piniphila bifasciana, and Grapholita lobarzewskii (What a fantastic name!!).

Some pics now. Some completely irrelevant.

Beautiful Hook-tip - new for garden and 2 in one night! Great moth

Bordered Sallow - 3 so far this year, 2 previous garden records.

Ghost Moth, female - 2nd garden record. One of several species which avoided me last year, including Miller, Least Carpet and Phoenix.

Grey Arches - apparently common, but rare where I am. New for garden.

Scarlet Tiger - 2 in the garden traps two nights apart (same individual, maybe? Didn't trap on the night in between though). Didn't think they came to light, but, apparently they do!

And a True Lover's Knot - managed to find about 150 while trapping at Morden Bog, but managed 3 in the garden since.