Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Moth Trapping 28/03/2010

Last night was much better in the garden, with two garden firsts for the year. The improvement was no doubt due to the mild and fairly still conditions with cloud cover until the early hours when the forecast rain eventually arrived. The total catch was 45 of 7sp. (125W MV 26 of 6sp., 80W actinic 19 of 7sp.).

Diurnea fagella 1 [first for year]
Agonopterix heracliana 2
Emmelina monodactyla 2
Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 17
Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 13
Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 8
Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 2 [first for year]

Whilst an improvement, there was no comparison to the results from taking traps into decent woodland. The total list (629 of 24sp.) from Pickworth Great Wood last night was:

Ypsolopha ustella 1
Diurnea fagella 2
Agonopterix ocellana 1
Tortricodes alternella 2
Acleris ferrugana/notana 3
Yellow Horned (Achlya flavicornis galbanus) 8
March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) 14
Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 37
Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 1
Small Brindled Beauty (Apocheima hispidaria) 2
Oak Beauty (Biston strataria) 12
Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 2
Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 61
Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa) 4
White-marked (Cerastis leucographa) 4
Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 96
Lead-coloured Drab (Orthosia populeti) 1
Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 147
Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 101
Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 39
Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 67
Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 11
Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 7
Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 6

Agonopterix ocellana

Engrailed

Lead-coloured Drab - sadly a slightly worn individual

Twin-spotted Quaker

Small Quaker

Red Chestnut

Sadly, I ran out of time/patience to get a White-marked shot - I'll try again in the morning.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cracking haul & pics there, Mark.

Stewart said...

How on earth do pick out a Lead coloured Drab from 101 Clouded Drabs! A bit like finding a Med Gull I suppose.... Great trip Mark, try and post a pic of that White Marked....

Skev said...

Thanks Dean - it was certainly good to be out in mothing mode again (just in time by the way the weather has turned again).

Stewart - ironically picking Lead-coloured out from Clouded Drabs is not the problem. On the sheet or in a trap, they are actually more like Common Quakers or depending on how strong the markings are they can look like small Twin-spotted Quakers (like the one we took). Once they are potted and you get a good look though they are usually straight-forward to ID. If you are not quite sure, it's more than likely a Clouded Drab - a real case of you'll know it when you see it.