Wha'ppen?

Where the hell did the time go? Feels like I've been cheated, short changed or robbed. I've barely posted bugger all this year, and it appears nothing since early June. But, for a change, that's not because there was nothing to post about. But between bouts of activity I've been pretty busy and work and, you know, stuff. I'll have a bit of catch up one way or another, though not chronologically (or indeed following any logic). For a starter, here's a few new for garden moths and one or two highlights that haven't been posted.

Black Arches - new for garden, 29/07/2023

Bordered Straw - 27/07/2023, third garden record

Bordered White - 12/06/2023, the first here since 2002

Box-tree Moth - 30/06/2023, surprisingly the first here since adding it to the VC55 list in 2017

Crescent - 27/07/2023, fifth garden record

Dewick's Plusia - 28/07/2023, a return after adding to garden list last year

Obscure Wainscot - 12/06/2023, another return after adding to garden list last year

Small Elephant Hawk-moth - new for garden, 24/06/2023

Small Rufous - 27/07/2023, fourth garden record

Toadflax Brocade - 19/07/2023, recorded for fourth consecutive year here

Apotomis lineana - new for both garden and me, 09/08/2023

Lesser Treble-bar - new for garden, 15/08/2023

White-point - an overdue new for garden, 20/08/2023

Reedbed and Damp Meadow

Here in VC55, we have to maxmise our mothing efforts to get the rewards. We don't have the luxuries of more southerly counties with loads of plush ancient woodland, or any coastal sites, nor for that matter any proper heathland or moorland. Hence the multi-light overnight approach, or the other trick as employed last night - covering two sites on one night.

I headed straight to Watermead CP South and set up a 125W MV over a sheet, 3 x 125W Mv traps and 1 x 20W/11W actinic/CFL combo covering the reedbad around the southern lake. Meanwhile, Adrian was over at Cossington Meadows deploying 3 x 125W MV traps to run unattended before he then joined me at the sheet. We ran the WCPS traps until c01:00, and then both headed over to Cossington to empty the traps there meaning that we were done, packed up and heading home by c02:30. It's not ideal as a few bits get missed emptying by the trap and torch light, but nevertheless we scored with a few target species and added a number of dots to the maps for both sites. I'd also forgotten what a complete pain in the arse running a sheet by a reedbed is - we were absolutely overrun with caddisflies including a number that landed on the bulb and immediately got welded into place. The smell of masses of roasting caddisflies reminded me of the 2001 foot and mouth cow burning.

As ever you'll have to wait for the summaries, but here's a couple of shots to give an idea of what we were seeing:

Crescent - Watermead CP South

Southern Wainscot - Watermead CP south

Double Dart - Cossington Meadows (actually a pretty scarce moth in VC55 these days, and one I've not seen here since 1999)

More abuse for the new car - parked in a reedbed

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