Autumnal moths

After a generally crap August, early September mothing kicked off with a great session over at Warren Hills on Saturday night with Adrian Russell. The total catch from a sheet, two traps and a bit of sugaring was a very respectable 368 of 46 species. No sign of the hoped-for Heath Rustic, but a very enjoyable few hours nonetheless. I'll post the last separately with a garden trapping update, but aside from a knackered Galium Carpet, these were the main highlights:

Grey Chi

Autumnal Rustic

Narrow-winged Pug

Hedge Rustic

Antler Moth

Black Rustic

Small Wainscot

Dark Sword-grass

Sallow

Cossington Meadows, 07/08/2010

Here's another belated list - from an excellent last-minute decision visit to the Leics. & Rutland Wildlife Trust reserve Cossington Meadows with Adrian Russell.

We left in until late in the day to decide where to go, and as the conditions seemed less than ideal we opted for a closer to home option than heading all the way over to the east of Rutland. With the late summer / early autumn wainscots on the wing we decided to see which we could add to the Cossington list - with less than a handful of previous mothing sessions at this site we were bound to add dots to the map. As it happens, we inadvertently set up literally around the crosslines between four tetrads so we added rather more dots than we'd expected!

Traps/lights at the red dots - ish.

We ended up having a pretty good night in the end, running the lights until c01:00 with temperatures staying up at c15°C. We ran 1 x 125W MV light over a sheet, 4 x 125W MV traps and 1 x 80W/100W actinic/tungsten combo trap. The total catch was a very respectable 711 of 90sp. I'll post the full list, split into the usual yeaticks, high counts, other highlights and then the rest:

First for year:
0481 Epermenia falciformis 2
0969 Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis corylana) 2
1104 Endothenia quadrimaculana 2
1914 Dusky Thorn (Ennomos fuscantaria) 1
2133 Six-striped Rustic (Xestia sexstrigata) 4
2176 Antler Moth (Cerapteryx graminis) 1
2303 Straw Underwing (Thalpophila matura) 1
2353 Flounced Rustic (Luperina testacea) 2
2368 Crescent (Celaena leucostigma) 3
2369 Bulrush Wainscot (Nonagria typhae) 2
2370 Twin-spotted Wainscot (Archanara geminipuncta) 5

Epermenia falciformis

Endothenia quadrimaculana

Bulrush Wainscot

Twin-spotted Wainscot

Crescent

Antler Moth

Six-striped Rustic

Highest counts:
2343x Common Rustic agg. (Mesapamea secalis agg.) 129
1304 Agriphila straminella 76
1303 Agriphila selasella 74
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) 48
2111 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua janthe) 23
1405 Mother of Pearl (Pleuroptya ruralis) 20

Agriphila selasella

Other highlights:
0609 Elachista maculicerusella 14
0898 Limnaecia phragmitella 6
1290 Chilo phragmitella 2
1292 Calamotropha paludella 17
1336 Eudonia pallida 1
1348 Ringed China-mark (Parapoynx stratiotata) 1
1997 Sallow Kitten (Furcula furcula) 6
2197 Southern Wainscot (Mythimna straminea) 2
2289 Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis) 2
2361 Rosy Rustic (Hydraecia micacea) 1
2384 Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 1

Sallow Kitten

The rest:
0294 Aspilapteryx tringipennella 1
0422 Argyresthia albistria 2
0516 Large Clover Case-bearer (Coleophora trifolii) 4
0658 Carcina quercana 4
0873 Blastobasis adustella 3
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 1
0937 Agapeta hamana 12
0966 Cochylis atricapitana 1
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 1
0972 Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis heparana) 5
1010 Red-barred Tortrix (Ditula angustiorana) 2
1036 Acleris forsskaleana 1
1076 Celypha lacunana 1
1108 Lobesia abscisana 3
1126 Ancylis badiana 1
1197 Eucosma campoliliana 1
1205 Bud Moth (Spilonota ocellana) 1
1305 Agriphila tristella 18
1331 Water Veneer (Acentria ephemerella) 1
1362 Pyrausta purpuralis 1
1378 Phlyctaenia coronata 1
1388 Udea lutealis 7
1439 Trachycera advenella 18
1452 Phycita roborella 1
1470 Euzophera pinguis 2
1640 Drinker (Euthrix potatoria) 1
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 3
1708 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) 1
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 2
1724 Red Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia) 3
1725 Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe ferrugata) 1
1738 Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata) 7
1742 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata) 1
1759 Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata) 1
1811 Slender Pug (Eupithecia tenuiata) 1
1825 Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata) 7
1883 Yellow-barred Brindle (Acasis viretata) 2
1906 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 5
1913 Canary-shouldered Thorn (Ennomos alniaria) 1
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 1
2007 Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula) 1
2011 Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) 8
2044 Dingy Footman (Eilema griseola) 1
2064 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa) 5
2087 Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum) 1
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 1
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 6
2107 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 19
2109 Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) 18
2110 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua fimbriata) 5
2112 Least Yellow Underwing (Noctua interjecta caliginosa) 3
2126 Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum) 18
2173 Lychnis (Hadena bicruris) 1
2198 Smoky Wainscot (Mythimna impura) 11
2284x Grey Dagger / Dark Dagger (Acronicta tridens/psi) 2
2297 Copper Underwing (Amphipyra pyramidea) 2
2318 Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina) 8
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 10
2341 Cloaked Minor (Mesoligia furuncula) 4
2441 Silver Y (Autographa gamma) 2
2450 Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita) 2
2474 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis) 5

Charnwood Lodge 08/08/2009

I ran a couple of traps overnight at Charnwood Lodge on Saturday, around the bomb rocks near to main site entrance. I ran the 250W metal halide and a 125W MV in the hope of picking up early emerging late summer noctuids. No success on that score, but an Angle-striped Sallow was nice, and otherwise there were good numbers of expected species, especially Antler and Dotted Clay. Main highlights though were a Ling Pug (smaller, greyer moorland form of Wormwood Pug), and a couple of Chocolate-tips - new to the site. Total catch was 449 of 63sp. Ling Pug Chocolate-tip Angle-striped Sallow Dotted Clay (greyer form) Antler Moth Rosy Minor Orange Swift (big female)

Charnwood Lodge - 29/08/2008

After a week of heavy numbers in the garden, and with conditions looking as good as or better than previous nights, I decided to leave trap running around the open grasslands at the entrance to Charnwood Lodge. I placed traps up on the bomb rocks and along the dry stone wall, hoping that the gennie would run all night and the cattle wouldn't shit on everything. My only targets as such were late summer noctuids associated with this habitat, and species I'm unlikely to see in the garden. Arriving back in the morning I was pleased to see traps still in situ and devoid of sloppy pats, and the gennie was still running. In fact, by the time I switched it off the gennie had run 3 x 125W MV traps along with 200M of cable for 10.5 hours! The catch was pretty good in terms of range of species, but surprisingly low on numbers considering the 500+ I'd had a few times in the garden. Total catch 536 of 63sp. Main highlights were: Brown-dotted Clothes Moth (Niditinea fuscella) 1 (county tick for me) Teleiopsis diffinis 14 Galium Carpet (Epirrhoe galiata) 1 Autumnal Rustic (Eugnorisma glareosa) 9 True Lover's Knot (Lycophotia porphyrea) 1 Antler Moth (Cerapteryx graminis) 25 Hedge Rustic (Tholera cespitis) 22 Grey Chi (Antitype chi) 1 Angle-striped Sallow (Enargia paleacea) 2 Gold Spot (Plusia festucae) 11 Only expected species I missed was Feathered Gothic, and no sign of hoped-for enigmas Neglected Rustic and Golden-rod Brindle. Angle-striped Sallow - a Nationally Scarce species, one of VC55s specialities Autumnal Rustic - I think these are smart, a Charnwood speciality True Lover's Knot - a heather feeder, no idea where the name comes from Galium Carpet Grey Chi Hedge Rustic Antler Sallow - normal form, compare to the one from my garden