Autumn Moths..

In my suburban garden, mothing in Autumn is pretty dire. With few species being about, and fewer still in good numbers.
The most common species are species which I see for most of the year, Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Setaceous Hebrew Character, and on the micro front, Light Brown Apple Moth.
But there are still some Autumn specialities which others away from the coast probably won't get, but are frequent here.
Let's start with one we all should get in the Autumn though, the Lunar Underwing. Had my first 3 of the Autumn last night, much later than I'd expected, as I was getting them at the start of the month last year. Anyhow, one of the most common Autumn species in the garden, with about 220 recorded in 2011, but considerably less in 2012. Hopefully a fair few this year, despite the late start. Quite a nice little macro, which is very variable, and one of my favourites of the Autumn moths in the garden.

Lunar Underwing - Autumn 2012.

Living on the South coast, I do get a lot of migrants in the Autumn, with one of the most frequent in September being the Dark Sword-grass, which is mildly variable, but you can get some stunning examples. Other migrants in the Autumn are Vestal, White-speck, & Scarce Bordered Straw, but none of them are nearly as frequent as the Dark Sword-grass.

Dark Sword-grass - Autumn 2012.

 

The next two are coastal specialities, and we will start with the plainer one. Almost certainly one of the best marked Wainscots, the L-album Wainscot is a garden species which occurs in some numbers in the Autumn (if weather is good), in far greater numbers than the first (summer) generation. Other wainscots of the Autumn include White-point (almost certainly breeding here now) and Common Wainscot, which is less frequent here.

L-album Wainscot - Autumn 2012.

The next one will one day not just be a Autumn speciality, in my eyes at least. Being recorded in the Summer the last few Autumns (I had one in mid-July this year - within a month than one of this year's Common Quaker!). This species is the most colourful of today's four species, and without a doubt my favourite, and one of my overall favourite moths - The Feathered Ranunculus. This rather fantastic species is variable, but always a fantastic green.

Feathered Ranunculus - July 2013.

 

So, with Autumn full in swing now, it won't be long till Winter arrives, bringing with it cold weather, snow, and my favourite birding season. Bring on the winter birding I say, boy, have I missed you!

So yeah, we've had a fantastic summer for moths, so let's have a good winter for the birds! Cheers to that!!