Smart Trapticks

I'll be making an effort to remember to have the camera on hand from now on whilst I empty the moths traps through the summer. The traps are starting to pull in a few bugs and other bits and quite often I get better shots of them on the eggboxes than afterwards!

Very early in the morning on Friday whilst emptying the traps, I noted three mirid bugs. All looked familiar but I had no idea of a name for any of them. Subsequent checking of the photos revealed that two of them were actually a male and female of the same species and complete British tick for me - so either I've seen but ignored them in the past (possible) or they were just superficially similar to one I have seen. Either way, just as well I bothered grabbing the camera!

Stenotus binotatus - male

Stenotus binotatus - female

The other was one that I've recorded from the garden traps before:

Stenodema calcarata

There was also a chunky leafhopper that I see in the traps quite frequently ...

Iassus lanio

And to cap all that, there was also a small weevil that looked interesting enough to pot up (which was just as well as the photos I took were actually complete crap!). It looks like this is going to be another British tick, and more importantly another good beetle record for VC55 with only three previous and none for c21 years.

Dorytomus ictor

I'll round off with a few moths that have been left to one side during the photo catch-up - the decks are now clear for whatever tonight and the week ahead brings.

Possible Argyresthia glabratella - pending gen det
post-script - got this one completely wrong, confirmed as Tineola bisselliella by gen. det. which is a completely new British Tick for me!

Ptycholomiodes aeriferanus

Chrysoteuchia culmella

Catoptria falsella

Small Fan-footed Wave

Using bins & photographing moths ....

.... two things that as a moth recorder and supposed birder I should be doing a lot more of than I have been doing lately! So, to buck the trend I headed over to Watermead CP South after work to add a couple of yearticks to the long-ignored City Yearlist. A juv Black Tern was still knocking about from yesterday and showing extremely well - a really smart bird. Also, a nice Little Egret was milling about in the far corner of Birstall Meadows, actually viewable from the weir at Watermead. Thanks to Dave for the heads-up on both of these. I'm a long way behind both Dave and John now, though there are a good few I could still catch up on and I could always resort to competitive stringing ........

When I got home, I promptly set up the old CoolPix and Macro Cool-light and snapped a few from the fridge - nothing too exciting but these are the first adult moths to feature on this blog for nearly two weeks!

Catoptria falsella

Epiblema foenella

Swallow Prominent

Straw Underwing

Single-dotted Wave

From the garden trap & Hazleborough Forest

From the garden trap 07/09/09 Numbers in the MV picked up with a fresh bulb fitted, and the trap immediately scored a garden tick - nice! Cochylimorpha straminea Total catch 137 of 29sp. (125W MV 58 of 21sp., 80W actinic 79 of 17sp.) First for garden: Cochylimorpha straminea 1 First for year in garden: Black Rustic (Aporophyla nigra) 1 Frosted Orange (Gortyna flavago) 1 Highest counts: Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 36 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 28 Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) 17 Other highlights: Eudonia angustea 1 Gold Spot (Plusia festucae) 1 Hazleborough Forest 08/09/09 Last nights session at Hazleborough was with a particular target in mind - a species that is extremely scarce/local in VC55. We were hopeful of getting one or two - turned out to be the commonest moth of the night! Oak Lutestring Total catch was a relatively low 138 of 40sp., however we only trapped for a couple of hours or so and were somewhat distracted by the Lutestrings and bastard Hornets. British Tick: Oak Lutestring (Cymatophorima diluta hartwiegi) 27 Other highlights: Argyresthia semitestacella 1 Epinotia maculana 1 Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1 Centre-barred Sallow (Atethmia centrago) 12 Orange Sallow (Xanthia citrago) 1 Barred Sallow (Xanthia aurago) 2 Small Wainscot (Chortodes pygmina) 1 Frosted Orange (Gortyna flavago) 1 Barred Sallow - superfresh Centre-barred Sallow Catoptria falsella From the garden trap 08/09/09 Better numbers but no major excitement. Total catch 176 of 33sp. (125W MV 91 of 22sp., 80W actinic 85 of 21sp.) First for year in garden: Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1 Highest counts: Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 51 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 41 Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) 17 Other highlights: Eudonia angustea 1 Centre-barred Sallow (Atethmia centrago) 1 Rosy Rustic (Hydraecia micacea) 2 Frosted Orange (Gortyna flavago) 1 Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 2 Red-green Carpet