From the garden trap ..

Here's the long-overdue garden trapping summaries from the last week. No trapping on Saturday night whilst I was away at Ketton, or last night as I didn't want to be getting up early!

22/06/2010
Total catch 217 of 70sp (125W MV 109 of 50, 80W actinic 108 of 50)

FIRST FOR GARDEN:
1168 Gypsonoma sociana 1

First for year in garden:
0125 Emmetia marginea 1
0246 Tinea semifulvella 2
0263 Apple Leaf Miner (Lyonetia clerkella) 3
0905 Blastodacna hellerella 2
1120 Ancylis mitterbacheriana 1
1169 Gypsonoma dealbana 1
1245 Grapholita janthinana 1
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 2
1708 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) 1
1922 Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria) 2

Latest ever for garden:
1778 May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata) 1
(Previous latest 16/06/2008)

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 32
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 15
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 11
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 9
1860 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata) 9
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 6
0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 6
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 6


23/06/2010
Total catch 202 of 65sp (125W MV 110 of 49, 80W actinic 92 of 42)

FIRST FOR GARDEN:
1146 Epinotia rubiginosana 1

First for year in garden:
0450 Hawthorn Moth (Scythropia crataegella) 2
1390 Udea prunalis 1
2000 Iron Prominent (Notodonta dromedarius) 1
2443 Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota) 3

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 31
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 15
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 10
0647 Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella) 7
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 7
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 6
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 6
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 6

Best of the rest:
0409b Argyresthia cupressella 1
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 3
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 3
2434 Burnished Brass (Diachrysia chrysitis) 1
2489 Fan-foot (Zanclognatha tarsipennalis) 3
2492 Small Fan-foot (Herminia grisealis) 1


24/06/2010
Total catch 160 of 53sp (125W MV 109 of 41, 80W actinic 51 of 24)

First for year in garden:
1669 Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria) 1
1765 Barred Yellow (Cidaria fulvata) 1
2008 Coxcomb Prominent (Ptilodon capucina) 1
2077 Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella) 1
2170 Varied Coronet (Hadena compta) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 24
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 14
2333 Large Nutmeg (Apamea anceps) 9
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 8
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 7
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 7
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 7
1076 Celypha lacunana 6
2061 Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) 6
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 6
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 6

Best of the rest:
1981 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) 1
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 1
2443 Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota) 1


25/06/2010
Total catch 161 of 48sp (125W MV 96 of 48, 80W actinic 65 of 28)

First for year in garden:
0441 Paraswammerdamia nebulella 1
0765 Teleiodes vulgella 1
0873 Blastobasis adustella 1
1150 Epinotia abbreviana 1
1178 Epiblema roborana 1
1336 Eudonia pallida 1
1640 Drinker (Euthrix potatoria) 1
1652 Peach Blossom (Thyatira batis) 1
1702 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) 1
2050 Common Footman (Eilema lurideola) 1
2198 Smoky Wainscot (Mythimna impura) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 28
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 11
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 10
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 10
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 8
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 7

Best of the rest:
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 3
1765 Barred Yellow (Cidaria fulvata) 1
2384 Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 1
2443 Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota) 1


27/06/2010
Total catch 190 of 61sp (125W MV 112 of 49, 80W actinic 78 of 30)

FIRST FOR GARDEN:
1876 Small Yellow Wave (Hydrelia flammeolaria) 1

First for year in garden:
1331 Water Veneer (Acentria ephemerella) 1
1654 Figure of Eighty (Tethea ocularis octogesimea) 1
1792 Dark Umber (Philereme transversata britannica) 1
2293 Marbled Beauty (Cryphia domestica) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 28
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 13
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 9
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 8
1076 Celypha lacunana 7
1293 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) 7
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 7
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 7

Best of the rest:
1652 Peach Blossom (Thyatira batis) 1
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 2
1669 Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria) 3
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 1
2443 Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 3

Drinker - a big female

Marbled Beauty

The traps are back on tonight, but the 80W actinic has now got an additional bolt-on tungsten bulb - a similar trap did pretty well at Ketton on Saturday night.

Ketton Quarry - People, Pubs and Moth Porn

Still a lot of work to complete before the Ketton list is ready for comment - a fair few bits in pots to ID and about an hour's worth of digital dictaphone to transcribe! Before all that though, here's a couple of bits from the daytime and other stuff.

Saturday afternoon
Very warm though a bit cloudy with sunny spells. First up, there were loads of these flying about the reserve ..

Six-spot Burnet

I really like the burnets - they are the complete antithesis to the widely held view that moths are boring brown things that fly at night. There were a few pairs in-cop around as well.

Moth Porn 1

Also zipping about was this, offering companionship to the burnets - a good few years since I last saw one.

Burnet Companion

I tried the API lure for Six-belted Clearwing - it worked but not in the deluge of moths that I expected. Only the odd single turned up at different spots - must have been the wrong time of day or not sunny enough - I was expecting a good 30 or so to suddenly appear.

Six-belted Clearwing inspecting lure

Other than moths, the main highlights for me in the afternoon were a big female Adder alongside a big female Grass Snake underneath a tin sheet; a manic alarm calling Green Woodpecker flying out of trees being hotly persued by a Sparrowhawk; a few Marbled Whites - always good to see, and The Beast with Chris Lythall - as ever a good crack with conversation occasionally veering into the surreal ....


Saturday evening
Meeting up at the geology trail carpark, the Melton crew (headed up by Mark Rossell and Oscar Orridge) were preparing to send a runner out to Stamford for chips. I'd already met up with Adrian Russell and we felt a pint was in order instead - Andy Llama Mackay and Dave Tea-boy Orchid Man Gray concurred and we set off to the nearest pub. As it happens, the Northwick Arms was boarded up so we went to Tinwell instead. The Crown Inn was old and quiet, but we ordered a refreshing pint and enquired about food. It went a bit Royston Vasey at that point, with the barman being overly keen to keep us in the pub and offering to make us home make steak and home made chips or home made pie (though he'd let the cook have the night off).

We finished the beer and headed off to South Luffenham to try The Coach House. It looked a bit more hospitable, but we made the mistake of ordering beer before checking on the food situation. Feck - bookings only! By now we were two pints in and feeling more than peckish. We The Boot & Shoe around the corner. More beer and bar meals available - result. Apart from the handful of drunken locals - one of whom was a c50 year old bloke with tattoos on his belly, wearing shoes and socks with denim 'hot pants' and a white shirt fully unbuttoned but tied up at the bottom, and constantly laughing like a window-licker. What a mentalist. The food was okay though, but maybe the Melton boys had a premonition as the chips would have been quicker and a lot less distressing.


Sunday morning
After the marathon mothing session, we headed back to the geology trail car park stopping along Pit Lane on the way. We knew we'd already missed the peak time for Hornet Moth emergence, and the Melton boys had seen numerous individuals, but we were lucky enough that there was a pair in-cop plus a single male and female.

Hornet Moth - superb clearwing

Moth Porn 2

Despite seeing these, I felt the need to try my HOR lure to see how well it works - pretty quickly up to five males were showing interest, although they then ignored the lure and started buzzing frantically around my hand whist I held the lure bag. There is some video courtesy of John Drunkbirder Hague who'd turned up - hopefully it will see the light of day sometime soon.

Ketton Quarry 26/06/2010 - The Build Up

Got home from KQ late this morning after a marathon trap emptying session, a few bacon sarnies, plenty of coffee and a couple of hours kip in the car. It's going to take a fair while to compile the list - but I reckon we'll be pushing 200 species. It was mega even without the hoped-for cloud cover.

There were plenty of highlights - macro and micro. Just as a tease whilst you wait for the detail, here's a quick pic of perhaps the best moth of the night:

Ruddy Carpet - a VC55 mega.

A few pics

I was overly optimistic last night about how much time I'd have this morning. I was up before 5am to empty the garden moths traps, but I was completely knackered and went back to bed for a 'lie in' at 05:45 but didn't wake up again until gone 9.

I've got the boxes and vanes for two new traps coming thanks to Adrian Russell (a 250W MV & a 160W MBT) so I needed to sort out a control box for the former and egg trays / sheets for both. I also had a fridge full of moths from the the last few days to photograph quickly, I needed to load up the car, I've had to clear out some memory cards etc - all in preparation for this afternoon and tonight at Ketton. If the building heat and humidity we currently have holds it will be a monster list in the morning.

Anyway, I've still got four nights garden trapping to enter into MapMate and summarise - but it's going to have to wait now. In lieu of the data, here's the pics instead.

Peach Blossom - smart

Buff Arches - ditto

Blood-vein - pretty in pink

Barred Yellow - high-vis

Common Emerald - still green when fresh

Varied Coronet

Tawny Marbled Minor?? Probably

Marbled Minor?? Probably - but I always aggregate these unless gen detted

Eudonia pallida - pleased to take this again after it being a garden tick last year

Plum Tortrix

Epinotia abbreviana

And last but by no means least - a garden tick!

Epinotia rubiginosana

Clearwing Tick

Strong warm sunshine when I got home from work today. I decided to get the lures out and nip off in search of a couple more species.

First up, I went south to Misterton Marsh near Lutterworth. It was c17:15 when I got there - out with the FOR lure, and I didn't have to wait long before I'd potted my first target ..

Red-tipped Clearwing - a sallow feeder, usually has two complete antennae

I netted at least 10 within a few minutes - great stuff. With this success, I decided to try a local pick you own just down the road from where I live. It was 17:45 when I got there. I'd tried this site a few times when I first had lures a few years ago but without any joy. This time I decided to just hang the TIP pheromone on the nearest hawthorn to the PYO and see what happened.

I hadn't finished tying the lure onto the stem before the first clearwing turned up, and by the time I'd got my net and pot ready there were loads zooming about, at least 40. in less than a minute!

Currant Clearwing - a currant feeder (obviously!)

Superb - and especially so as this is the first time I've recorded it making it a British and County Tick for me.

Tomorrow morning I'll post a summary of recent garden trapping including some micro-firsts. Then tomorrow I'm joining others for an impromptu Bio-Blitz at Ketton Quarry including an overnight trapping effort and more clearwing-ing.

This week, I have mostly been listening to ..

Further - the absolutely fecking awsome latest release from The Chemical Brothers. I've been listening to it incessantly - definitely a move back to their best. Here's a selection (at least whilst they are still up on You Tube - I see that more and more of what I embed in here ends up being pulled.

Escape Velocity

Horse Power

Dissolve

Nibbling at my Nuts

It's not often that I get any mammalian action at my bird feeders, and then it's either a grey bushy tailed tree rat eating nuts or a big instinct driven feline trying to eat the birds.

Whilst checking the moth traps last night though I spotted something hanging on my nuts. I nipped in for the point and shoot and luckily it stayed there - at least until the flash went off and then it scarpered pretty quickly.

Wood Mouse

At least I'm pretty sure it's a Wood Mouse - smallish, big ears, as happy up a tree as on the ground ... let me know if I'm wrong.

Big Garden Trap, 21/06/2010

Conditions looked very promising last night. Despite the clearing skies the warmth of the late afternoon lingered into dusk and there was hardly a breeze. I decided to try something different with the traps.

I usually run the 80W actinic by the house and the 125W MV in the middle of the garden. They are only c10M apart, though the MV is screened off to stop the light shining on the house. My theory has been that the actinic simply picks up anything that gets the 'wrong' side of the screen out of sight of the MV and would otherwise be lost for the night. I wanted to run an MV in the same position as the actinic usually sits, and have the usual MV running as normal. I also ran the actinic, but right at the bottom of the garden behind the shed.

The usual MV picked up 109 of 51sp - pretty much in line with expectations (93 of 49sp the previous night).

The actinic picked up 62 of 36sp - again not to far off of the previous night for species (81 of 34sp), slightly down on numbers.

The MV by the house picked up a whopping 149 of 71sp ....

Total catch was 320 of 93sp despite the early morning attentions of up to 3 Robins and c6 Frogs loitering in the night.

For a change I'll bore you with the whole catch.

First for year in garden:
0271 Bucculatrix albedinella 1
0420 Cherry Fruit Moth (Argyresthia pruniella) 1
0658 Carcina quercana 1
0977 Large Fruit-tree Tortrix (Archips podana) 1
1002 Lozotaenia forsterana 1
1033 Green Oak Tortrix (Tortrix viridana) 1
1109 Lobesia littoralis 1
1201 Eucosma cana 1
1210 Pine Shoot Moth (Rhyacionia buoliana) 1
1212 Spotted Shoot Moth (Rhyacionia pinivorana) 1
1634 Lackey (Malacosoma neustria) 1
2193 Clay (Mythimna ferrago) 1
2322 Light Arches (Apamea lithoxylaea) 2
2382 Rustic (Hoplodrina blanda) 1
2489 Fan-foot (Zanclognatha tarsipennalis) 1

The rest:
0017 Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus) 1
0247 Tinea trinotella 2
0409a Argyresthia trifasciata 1
0409b Argyresthia cupressella 4
0414 Argyresthia curvella 1
0647 Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella) 4
0648 White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella) 2
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 3
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 8
0989 Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana) 1
0994 Clepsis consimilana 3
0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 10
1063 Celypha striana 2
1076 Celypha lacunana 11
1082 Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana) 4
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 10
1115 Ancylis achatana 2
1175 Bramble Shoot Moth (Epiblema uddmanniana) 3
1176 Epiblema trimaculana 6
1261 Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella) 2
1293 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) 4
1294 Crambus pascuella 2
1301 Crambus lathoniellus 1
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 9
1338 Dipleurina lacustrata 1
1376 Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata) 4
1392 Udea olivalis 2
1428 Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) 3
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 1
1707 Small Dusty Wave (Idaea seriata) 2
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 3
1727 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) 2
1728 Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) 2
1742 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata) 2
1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) 8
1808 Sandy Carpet (Perizoma flavofasciata) 1
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 4
1827 Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata) 2
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 7
1837 Grey Pug (Eupithecia subfuscata) 4
1860 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata) 8
1862 Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata) 1
1906 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 4
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 6
1941 Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata) 1
1956 Common Wave (Cabera exanthemata) 1
1958 Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata) 3
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 3
1979 Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae) 1
1980 Eyed Hawk-moth (Smerinthus ocellata) 1
1981 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) 1
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 2
2011 Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) 1
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 40
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 1
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 4
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) 1
2107 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 7
2126 Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum) 2
2128 Double Square-spot (Xestia triangulum) 1
2136 Gothic (Naenia typica) 1
2155 Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae) 1
2160 Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) 2
2302 Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea) 3
2306 Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) 1
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 12
2330 Dusky Brocade (Apamea remissa) 1
2333 Large Nutmeg (Apamea anceps) 3
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens) 5
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 14
2340 Middle-barred Minor (Oligia fasciuncula) 3
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 5
2387 Mottled Rustic (Caradrina morpheus) 4
2389 Pale Mottled Willow (Paradrina clavipalpis) 1
2441 Silver Y (Autographa gamma) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 2
2474 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis) 5
2477 Snout (Hypena proboscidalis) 7

From the garden trap, 20/06/2010

The moth traps were out again last night, nothing spectacular but a pretty good overall catch in terms of species diversity. Total catch was 174 of 65sp (125W MV 93 of 49sp, 80W actinic 81 of 34sp).

First for year in garden:
0332a Firethorn Leaf Miner (Phyllonorycter leucographella) 1
0518 Coleophora mayrella 1
0779 Bryotropha affinis 1
0993 Cyclamen Tortrix (Clepsis spectrana) 1
0994 Clepsis consimilana 2
1294 Crambus pascuella 1
1338 Dipleurina lacustrata 1
1344 Eudonia mercurella 1
1707 Small Dusty Wave (Idaea seriata) 1
2136 Gothic (Naenia typica) 1
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 3

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 39
1860 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata) 14
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 10
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 7
1076 Celypha lacunana 6
1428 Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) 5

Best of the rest:
0409b Argyresthia cupressella 1
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 1
1808 Sandy Carpet (Perizoma flavofasciata) 1
1979 Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae) 1
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 1
2384 Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 1

No photos I'm afraid - I need to concentrate on a bit of revision for an exam on Thursday and there is enough distraction with improving mothing conditions and the World Cup .....

A-lure-ing

A very quick post. Out at Bradgate Park with family today. Managed to enjoy the sunshine and scenery by keeping some distance between us and the masses (at least until we got to the ruins and ice-cream!). Anyway, in amongst the oaks and out with the VES lure. Five minutes patience and then at least five of these little beauties ...

Yellow-legged Clearwing - superb!

From the garden trap - 14/06 to 17/06

A bit delayed as I've been busy, distracted or completely wasting my life watching the England game. Here's trapping summaries from the last few nights including a garden tick Argyresthia curvella from last night.

14/06/2010
77 of 35sp (125W MV 47 of 25, 80W actinic 30 of 15)

First for year in garden:
0937 Agapeta hamana 1
1011 Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 1
1302 Crambus perlella 1
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 2
1742 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata) 1
1941 Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata) 1
2087 Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum) 1
2434 Burnished Brass (Diachrysia chrysitis) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 26
1376 Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata) 5
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria) 3
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 3

Best of the rest:
1778 May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata) 1
1817 Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata) 1
2384 Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 1

Burnished Brass

16/06/2010
45 of 24sp (125W MV 25 of 14, 80W actinic 20 of 15)

First for year in garden:
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 1
1115 Ancylis achatana 1
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 1
2128 Double Square-spot (Xestia triangulum) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 15
2107 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 3

Double Square-spot

Large Nutmeg

17/06/2010
114 of 48sp (125W MV 48 of 29, 80W actinic 66 of 31)

FIRST FOR GARDEN:
0414 Argyresthia curvella 1

First for year in garden:
0409b Argyresthia cupressella 1
0989 Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana) 1
1175 Bramble Shoot Moth (Epiblema uddmanniana) 2
1293 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) 1
1392 Udea olivalis 2
2330 Dusky Brocade (Apamea remissa) 2
2389 Pale Mottled Willow (Paradrina clavipalpis) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 31
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 5
1076 Celypha lacunana 5
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 5
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 4
1860 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata) 4

Best of the rest:
1808 Sandy Carpet (Perizoma flavofasciata) 1
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 1

Bramble Shoot Moth

Buff Ermine

Sandy Carpet

Elephant Hawk-moth

And here's one of the Dichrorampha spp. from Wednesday evening. Given the profusion of Oxeye Daisy at Huncote Embankment where I netted it, I expect it will turn out to be Dichrorampha alpinana.

api-ness, api-ness

Warm sunshine, light breeze, June - perfect conditions for clearwing lures. Only problem being that it was very late in the afternoon (or early in the evening depending on how you feel about 18:30 in late spring!). I nipped up to the plateau of Huncote Embankment where there is a lush carpet of trefoil. Out with the API lure, simply pegged onto some grass stalks low down between trefoil patches, and wait with net to hand.

After c10 minutes I was about ready to move and try another spot, but - hang on - isn't that a ......

Six-belted Clearwing - get in!

Only the one, but given the time of day and perhaps still early in the flight season I was pleased. Even more so as this was a site-first record. I reckon a late morning / early afternoon visit in a week or so would produce a lot more individuals - certainly when I tried other known sites a few years ago this species goes mad for the lures and I've had upto 20 knocking about with first individuals arriving in seconds.

Trefoil Carpet

A Lure In grass

Aside from the clearwing, I also netted a few tortricids around Oxeye Daisies and Common Vetch - including a Pea Moth and at least two, possibly three different Dichrorampha spp. (which will need gen detting).

Ebony and Ivory

No - don't worry. This is not a post about the appalling piano-based collaboration between McCartney & Wonder. It's a reference to the colour-way of the two moths I photographed from Saturday night.

Dot Moth - not very colourful

Peppered Moth - this one is referable to the intermediate form insularia

From the garden trap, 12/06/2010

Fourth and final post of the evening.

I ran the garden traps last night for the first time in about a week. Conditions were not great, and there was light rain by early morning. Overall catch was a very modest 93 of 35sp (125W MV 40 of 22, 80W actinic 53 of 21).

First for year in garden:
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 1
1063 Celypha striana 1
1931 Peppered Moth [intermediate form] (Biston betularia f. insularia) 1
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 3
2120 Ingrailed Clay (Diarsia mendica) 1
2155 Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae) 1
2340 Middle-barred Minor (Oligia fasciuncula) 1
2477 Snout (Hypena proboscidalis) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 30
1376 Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata) 7
1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) 4
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 4
2441 Silver Y (Autographa gamma) 4

Best of the rest:
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 1
2028 Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda) 1

I've potted a couple for photos, but they'll have to wait. It's raining heavily here now so no trapping tonight. Flaming June my arse!

Rearing Success

Third post of the evening ... just a quick update on rearing successes.

Firstly, yet another species from hawthorn collected on 11/05/2010 ...

Paraswammerdamia nebulella, emerged 11/06/2010

The other success was actually a bit of a disappointment - this was reared from larvae found feeding on white clover. Trouble is, it is pretty much unidentifiable without gen det ...

Cnephasia sp., emerged 10/06/2010

The Emperors are starting to pupate. I've separated the smaller ones as I expect these are males. If all goes to plan I'll have 11 females for assembling next spring.

Glow Worm & bombylans

Second post of the evening as I catch up.

Whilst out mothing, there is often something of interest aside from the moths. Out in Rutland and east Leicestershire, one of these things is Glow Worm beetles.

You try photographing a naturally bright green neon light in the pitch dark!

I've seen plenty of glowing flightless females over the years, but for some strange reason I've never actually bothered to have a closer look. Part of the reason I suppose is that when they are glowing, it is absolutely pitch-black and difficult to see them properly as they are usually partly hidden away with just the abdomen showing. I decided to pot one up for a closer look.

Glad I did - they are pretty superb looking even by daylight whilst not glowing. Hadn't expected the red markings on the side of the abdomen and was surprised how big they actually are.

To cap it all, we also had a male Glow Worm to the actinic trap - a whole lot less impressive though. Much more interesting was this bee-mimic hoverfly that was one one of the MV traps..

Volucella bombylans - I think.

Ketton Quarry / Grange Top Quarry 11/06/2010

A combination of fatigue, kids school gala, kids parties and (shockingly bad) football has meant that this is a day late.

With the crappy weather last week, a planned mothing venture on Friday night was starting to look a bit optimistic. But things brightened and warmed up on the Friday afternoon and we decided to go ahead. The site was the Grange Top working quarry which is the big active quarry immediately adjacent to the old workings which are now part of the Ketton Quarry reserve. Back in 2005 Four-spotted was discovered on the working quarry, and this prompted a few visits to the site after being duly health and safety inducted. Aside from the Four-spotted, we recorded some great species at this site (mainly interesting micros like Epiblema grandaevana, Aethes tesserana and Celypha rosaceana). It was some time since the last visit so we were keen to check on the Four-spotted colony.

After being let in by the security guard we headed into the quarry to check out the sites we'd previously worked. That's when the original plans fell by the wayside. Firstly, an area I'd previously worked with great success was now a big freshly quarried hole. Absoloutely no way to access it even with a 4x4, let alone my Vectra estate. The next problem was that the area where the Four-spotted colony was (is?) was also inaccessible as the new routes through the quarry were flooded. Of course these issues do not affect the huge quarry tippers that were parked up at the quarry entrance.

I opted for the backup which was to run traps along the boundary track that runs between the old and new quarries. However even this was impacted as a new gate across the access point meant that I had to lug everything manually - bloody hell, haven't had to resort to that for a fair while. Unfortunately by the time we'd fannyed about and eventually got set up it was too dusky for any site shots.

Conditions were much better than in the week, but still not great. In fact whilst it stayed dry and the temps were okay to start, the light breeze progressively developed into strong wind. We ran a sheet, 4 x 125W MV traps and the 80W actinic in the boundary area from dusk to c01:00. Temps were c15°C - 11°C. The clear highlight was a superb Netted Pug.

Netted Pug

The other main highlight was Grass Wave (Ketton Quarry is the only site in VC55 where this species has been recorded), backed up by the increasing but still appreciated Coronet, Pale Oak Beauty, Treble Lines and Marbled White Spot. Plenty of firsts for the year, and good to see a few more micros on the wing. The overall catch of 252 of 80sp. was not too bad considering the wind.

Grass Wave

Yearticks:
0014 Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli) 1
0726 Metzneria metzneriella 2
0770 Carpatolechia proximella 1
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 2
0936 Cochylimorpha straminea 1
0937 Agapeta hamana 1
1133 Epinotia bilunana 1
1168 Gypsonoma sociana 1
1201 Eucosma cana 2
1219 Lathronympha strigana 1
1293 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) 4
1294 Crambus pascuella 1
1392 Udea olivalis 3
1742 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata) 1
1752 Purple Bar (Cosmorhoe ocellata) 1
1823 Netted Pug (Eupithecia venosata) 1
1867 Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata) 6
1941 Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata) 8
1944 Pale Oak Beauty (Hypomecis punctinalis) 3
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 2
1970 Grass Wave (Perconia strigillaria) 4
2069 Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae) 1
2087 Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum) 5
2291 Coronet (Craniophora ligustri) 3
2380 Treble Lines (Charanyca trigrammica) 8
2422 Green Silver-lines (Pseudoips prasinana britannica) 2
2442 Beautiful Golden Y (Autographa pulchrina) 1
2477 Snout (Hypena proboscidalis) 4

Highest counts:
0017 Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus) 26
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 17
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria) 12
1301 Crambus lathoniellus 11
1727 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) 11
1176 Epiblema trimaculana 9
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 7
1958 Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata) 6
2410 Marbled White Spot (Protodeltote pygarga) 6

Best of the rest:
0883 Mompha raschkiella 1
1501 Platyptilia gonodactyla 1
1652 Peach Blossom (Thyatira batis) 1
1904 Scorched Wing (Plagodis dolabraria) 1
1979 Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae) 1
1980 Eyed Hawk-moth (Smerinthus ocellata) 1
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 2

Adrian also ran a couple of 125W MV traps in the main quarry, albeit in fairly open and unpromising situations. Yearticks for me from these traps were:

1302 Crambus perlella
2216 Shark (Cucullia umbratica)
2322 Light Arches (Apamea lithoxylaea)
2330 Dusky Brocade (Apamea remissa)

Once we decided to pack up, things again started to go awry when Adrian's Discovery decided to go AWOL. The remote key fob packed up and the car would not disarm the immobiliser when opening the car using the key - blaring horn, flashing lights and no ignition. Feck. After an hour or so of this in between pulling in my traps, it was clear that the car was going nowhere. We had to drive out onto the main quarry in my car to retrieve the 2 traps and gennie. Luckily they were in fairly accessible spots so no getting stuck or trying to negotiate ridiculous inclines etc - however my car is now absolutely caked up in concrete-like limestone slurry. Proper hardcore mothing! It meant a late night though; I dropped Adrian off on the way home and by the time I'd checked a few IDs, fridged a few bits in pots and had cup of tea it was starting to get light. 03:45 - time for bed ......

Epinotia bilunana

Gypsonoma sociana

Lathronympha strigana

Eucosma cana

Coronet

Treble Lines

Beautiful Golden Y