Blue, Grey, Dark

I've not posted for a few weeks. It's not because I've done nothing - I've done lots, just none of it interesting for this blog although that wouldn't normally stop me posting it. I've enjoyed some Football matches home and away, I've been down to that there London for a fantastic long weekend that included seeing the Moulin Rouge! musical and some historical structures that I've not been arsed to go to before, been out for drinks and meals, and I've been out to see to Light Up Leicester festival. But I've been feeling massively despondent about a lot of things. I can't believe we still have the same Government; I can't believe how far we are all being screwed over whilst energy and oil companies turn over stupid profits, and I can't believe that our 'response' to Putin is so lame (and don't get me wrong: I mean the slow pace of muted sanctions and the reticence to open up to refugees).

If I'm really honest with myself; I'm normally quite a resilient bloke, healthily cynical of a lot of things, but just lately I feel a bit defeated. We are spiralling to hell in a handcart on all fronts, yet my Twitter feed seems full of arguments with, reference to and blatant support of complete fucking arseholes. I should just ignore social media, but tucked in and around all the nonsense are pieces about things I am interested in. I could just try to mentally and technically start blocking out the shite, but then I'm just being a bit Ostrich about it all. My go-to respite would normally be getting out and looking at something but weather, fatigue and a lack of energy is holding me back. I just need to shake myself down and force myself out.

I ran the garden moth trap for the first time in a while on Thursday night and ended up with a decent number and range of early season moths, albeit nothing exciting or unexpected except perhaps this Grey Shoulder-knot ....

Far from annual here, with the last being in November 2018.

I also found a box of desiccated Daggers, Minors and Common/Lesser Common Rustics that I put aside in June/July last year and then forgot about. I had a quick go at one (no intention of properly setting, just need to see the relevant bits to ID) - Dark Dagger. This is definitely annual here, but given that I don't check them normally I can't prove it. The last time I checked the bits of anything here myself was back in 2013.

" ... difference between a small nuclear explosion and a large one by a very simple method; the calling card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that is far more dazzling than any light on earth. Brighter even than the sun itself. And it is by the duration of this flash that we are able to determine the size of the weapon. After the flash a fireball can be seen to rise sucking up under it the debris, dust and living things around the area of the explosion. And as this ascends, it soon becomes recognizable as the familiar mushroom cloud. As a demonstration of the flash duration test, let's try and count the number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very small bomb, then a more substantial medium sized bomb, and finally one of our very powerful high yield bombs ...."

Foggy Moths

So yeah, I've been busy/distracted and done nowt worthy of bothering the blog about.

I have sorted out all of my 2017 garden moth records (381 species including 17 additions, garden list up to 684). I'm also just about finished putting together a garden moth report, quite some time since I last bothered. I've not run the garden traps since November, but I have stuck a 20W actinic CFL into an old outdoor light fitting that was still live and conseqently I've had one or two moths so far this year. Mostly Winter Moths, but also a Scrobipalpa costella and then last night a couple of surprises.

Conditions were far from good, not too cold but certainly not unseasonably warm, fairly still but a quite dense fog early in the night. Quite a surprise then to find two Early Moths and a Grey Shoulder-knot resting on the wall under the pale blue glow of the actinic. Trouble is that it is pitch black when I go to work and the same when I get home, so these are compromised shots using the daylight bulbs I have. Doesn't help when both moths were not playing ball ..... not much use putting winter-flying moths in the fridge!

Early Moth

Grey Shoulder-knot

A few more shots

A few more from yesterday, trying out my new Nikon CoolPix P600 bridge camera. One of the things I was keen to check out as soon as possible was that it worked okay with the Raynox macro conversion lens that I've been using with good results on the Lumix. Almost as soon as I started walking along Kinchley Lane alongside Swithland Reservoir (if you came for the Crag Martin all those years ago, it's the lane where you parked and then got blocked in ...) I found a small spider on the stone wall. An excellent subject to try it out, and all the better when I sussed out that it was new for me.

Textrix denticulata

I took this using exactly same technique as I've been using with the Lumix: autofocus set to macro, aperture priority and aperture wound up as high as possible (f7.6 for this shot), flash forced on, WB set to flash at -1, no exposure compensation, ISO fixed at slowest (100 on this camera) and this shot was 1/60 sec. Snap. Images looked okay on back of camera and I'm pleased with this one.

I then found some leafhoppers on oak whilst checking for galls on the underside of the leaves. Again, same technique, and unbelievably another tick. I can't credit the camera for two ticks in quick succession!

Eurhadina concinna

Had to zoom in a bit more for this one which makes holding the focus whilst hand-held a bit more hit and miss, especially out in the field, but this is okay.

So far so good - camera at least comparable to the Lumix with the Raynox in use using usual technique. One of this things that I don't like though is using the flash all the time. Tends to work okay for most inverts, but not good for lots of flowers. So with the cleaner image at higher ISO than I get from the Lumix I am hoping I can ditch the flash more often, especially for flowers and moths. Here's a couple of shots taken using the Raynox with flash off and WB set to cloudy.

Taleporia tubulosa at ISO 400 with 1/60 sec exposure.

Sycamore Tar Spot at ISO 400 with 1/50 sec exposure

A fly at ISO 400 with 1/200 exposure

I think with compliant subjects in the right conditions, there is more scope for useable shots without flash from this camera than I got with the Lumix.

The last thing I wanted to try out was the in-built macro without the Raynox. With the Lumix, this is only really useable with the macro zoom facility with creates a noisy image unless you are photographing something butterfly sized and bigger. I was lucky enough to find a Grey Shoulder-knot settled on the stone wall, albeit in a pretty shaded spot so I would have to use flash. Moth photos are sometimes rubbish with flash; it does depend on the lighting conditions you are in but it's the reflectivity of the scales on some moths that screw it up.

Grey Shoulder-knot

Not the best moth shot I've ever taken but certainly gives confidence that I should be able to get useable macromoth photos using this camera without the Raynox - something that I can't do with the Lumix.

All in all a good testing session, and obviously more time spent using it will improve the techniques and results.

From the garden trap 16/04/2013

Another three year-ticks last night, and an increase in overall numbers.

16/04/2013 : 44 of 11sp.
(125W MV trap 24 of 7sp., 80W/11W Actinic/CFL combo trap 20 of 9sp.)

Taxa
0435  Zelleria hepariella  1 (NFY)
0663  Diurnea fagella  2
0688  Agonopterix heracliana  1
1047  Acleris schalleriana  1
1054  Acleris cristana  1 (NFY)
1524  Emmelina monodactyla  5
2187  Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)  15
2188  Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)  4
2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  10
2237  Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis)  1 (NFY)
2243  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  3

Grey Shoulder-knot

Acleris cristana

Haven't put the traps out tonight. The temps are really good but it is absolutely blowing a gale and I doubt the traps would stay put - I've already had to retrive and manage the recycling bin, and the roof felt on my shed is flapping about again.

Exluding larval records, I've recorded 23 species in the garden so far this year of which 16 have been added during April in the last week or so. On a like for like basis, this is 5 species less than in 2012. Odd thing is though that within the 23, I've recorded 8 species that were not in the 2012 records for the same date range with 13 in 2012 that I've not recorded so far this year.

01/01/2012 - 16/04/2012	01/01/2013 - 16/04/2013
Acleris cristana	Acleris cristana
Acleris hastiana	Acleris schalleriana
Agonopterix alstromeriana	Agonopterix alstromeriana
Agonopterix heracliana	Agonopterix arenella
Amblyptilia acanthadactyla	Agonopterix heracliana
Caloptilia stigmatella	Apple Leaf Skeletoniser
Chestnut	Clouded Drab
Clouded Drab	Common Quaker
Common Quaker	Diurnea fagella
Dark Chestnut	Dotted Border
Diurnea fagella	Early Grey
Dotted Border	Early Moth
Double-striped Pug	Emmelina monodactyla
Early Grey	Grey Shoulder-knot
Early Moth	Hebrew Character
Early Thorn	March Moth
Emmelina monodactyla	Satellite
Hebrew Character	Shoulder Stripe
Herald	Small Quaker
Light Brown Apple Moth	Tawny Pinion
March Moth	Twenty-plume Moth
Mompha subbistrigella	Twin-spotted Quaker
Oak Nycteoline	Zelleria hepariella
Pale Brindled Beauty	23 Species
Satellite
Shoulder Stripe
Small Quaker
Tortricodes alternella
28 Species

Huge Pickworth List

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I expected the Pickworth total from last night to be fairly big. It is. The grand total of our efforts from c3.5hrs of running light traps was a whopping ......

4355 of 26 sp.

0461 Ypsolopha ustella 1

0663 Diurnea fagella 5

1025 Tortricodes alternella 138
1044x Acleris ferrugana/notana 4
1054 Acleris cristana 2

1659 Yellow Horned (Achlya flavicornis galbanus) 399

1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) 43

1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 67

1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 3

1925 Small Brindled Beauty (Apocheima hispidaria) 149

1926 Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) 7

1930 Oak Beauty (Biston strataria) 14

1932 Spring Usher (Agriopis leucophaearia) 1
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 11

1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 48

2139 Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa) 1

2179 Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea) 1

2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 2893

2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 284

2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 135

2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 45

2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 66

2237 Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis) 1

2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 2

2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 2
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 33

Most of the above are yearticks of course (blue text). Small Brindled Beauty is still scarce in VC55, and is pretty much confined to decent woodland over in the far east (at least as far as current records show). Whilst it is to be expected at Pickworth, these number are complete unprecedented with the previous highest total from there being 39.

Small Brindled Beauties

Oak Beauty

Yellow Horned

Grey Shoulder-knot

Small Quaker (1 of 2893!)

Twin-spotted Quaker

Common Quaker ab. confluens

This aberrant form has the orbicular and reniform stigma conjoined

Or, if you are puerile like me, it looks like someone has drawn a comedy penis on it.

Aside from the moths, I also noted a couple of large beetles which looked interesting. Same size, shape and jizz to 'Violet Ground Beetle' but clearly different. I think It is Carabus nemoralis - thanks to Mark Telfer for confirmation.

01/04/2011 Mothing

Following on from the post this morning, here are the summaries and photos from mothing on Friday night.

First up, the result from 3 x 125W MV traps operated at Gisborne's Gorse within Charnwood Lodge from dusk till dawn. The mild conditions with partial cloud cover and no rain were good, with most of the wood sheltered from the strong breeze that was in force in open areas. It was just about constant at 11°C from lighting up until first light this morning. The total catch was 1075 of 23sp. Not bad eh? The catch included 8 yearticks as indicated in the list.

0006 Eriocrania subpurpurella 4 (NFY)
0461 Ypsolopha ustella 1 (NFY)
0663 Diurnea fagella 31
1044x Acleris ferrugana/notana 4
1054 Acleris cristana 2
1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 1
1775 Mottled Grey (Colostygia multistrigaria) 11 (NFY)
1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 406 (NFY)
1930 Oak Beauty (Biston strataria) 8
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 1
1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 5
2139 Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa) 5
2179 Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea) 2 (NFY)
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 171
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 226
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 19
2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 60
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 47
2236 Pale Pinion (Lithophane hepatica) 1 (NFY)
2237 Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis) 1 (NFY)
2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 5
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 61
2423 Oak Nycteoline (Nycteola revayana) 3 (NFY)



Most numerous moth of the night - Brindled Pug


Mottled Grey - a species I've only ever seen at Charnwood Lodge


Pine Beauty - Ben's favourite .....


Pale Pinion - nowhere near as rare as it used to be


Grey Shoulder-knot - ditto the above


Red Chestnut - not sure why but this is a favourite of mine


Oak Nycteoline - another favourite


Once I got around to emptying the garden traps it highlighted how different the results can be when trapping in the garden versus trapping in prime habitat in the same general conditions. The garden is not sheltered from the wind, but was maybe a degree warmer. The total catch was pants - just 22 of 11sp. This did however include a couple of garden yearticks, including an Acleris hastiana. It was only last week that I mentioned to Adrian that I hadn't seen one in the garden for a few years (last one was 2006).

0663 Diurnea fagella 2 (NFY)
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 1
1053 Acleris hastiana 1 (NFY)
1054 Acleris cristana 1
1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 1
1862 Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata) 1
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 2
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 1
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 2
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 9
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 1


Acleris hastiana

Rare Bug / Garden Mothing

I'll kick off with some belated news - I posted a photo on the VC55 Wildlife blog of a random bug that turned up in my garden trap on 18th July. Whilst I don't take a great deal of notice of everything non-lepidopteran in the trap - this did not look familiar.

Recently I was given an ID for it - Miridius quadrivirgatus. Apparently a mainly southern and coastal species which has started turning up more frequently inland - see here. Better still, it is only the third record and second site for VC55. The slight downside is that both of the previous records came from the same Sapcote moth trap on - the two nights previous to mine! Oh well.

Last night was very mild but very breezy. I decided to give the traps their first airing for c20 days. Surprisingly they pulled in a few moths and the catch (14 of 8sp.) included two garden firsts for the year:

(125W MV 4 of 4, 80W/100W actinic/tungsten 10 of 6)
1041 Acleris sparsana 1
1042 Rhomboid Tortrix (Acleris rhombana) 11771 Juniper Carpet (Thera juniperata) 1
2107 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 1
2237 Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis) 12240 Blair's Shoulder-knot (Lithophane leautieri hesperica) 2
2262 Brick (Agrochola circellaris) 1
2264 Yellow-line Quaker (Agrochola macilenta) 5
2306 Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) 1

I've updated the moth yearlists as well:
Garden - 9907 of 387sp.
Total - 20038 of 565sp.

Pale Pinion, Martinshaw, Butterbur

First up, the garden traps last night (Friday 23rd) were shite for numbers but I was very pleased to find another Pale Pinion nestling in one of the egg trays making the effort worthwhile. Total catch was just 9 of 4sp. (125W MV 5 of 3, 80W actinic 4 of 2).

1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 1
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 2
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 5
2236 Pale Pinion (Lithophane hepatica) 1

Pale Pinion

The brief session at Martinshaw Wood with Adrian Russell ended up with a reasonable list, considering the still cool conditions and a relatively early finish. We ran 1 x 125W light over a sheet and 4 x 125W MV traps up to c22:30. The total catch was 257 of 17sp., including 4 yearticks for me.

Martinshaw Wood is mainly coniferous plantation interspersed with some remnant broadleaved wood including Oak, Aspen, Birch and Sallow. Also a reasonable mix in the understory. One of the main benefits of this site is that the rides afford excellent vehicular access - always a major bonus for moth trapping.

Not quite so usual is the fact that the wood is bisected by a rather larger track, as seen in this map which also shows the central point where we ran the sheet (2), the access track entrance (1), plus the four trap locations.

0006 Eriocrania subpurpurella 99 [yeartick]
0461 Ypsolopha ustella 2
0663 Diurnea fagella 14
1750 Water Carpet (Lampropteryx suffumata) 3 [yeartick]
1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 29
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 2
1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 1
2015 Lunar Marbled Brown (Drymonia ruficornis) 20 [yeartick]
2179 Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea) 2
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 7
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 21
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 3
2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 5
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 32
2237 Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis) 1 [yeartick]
2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 10
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 6

I've checked back and it was 2002 when I last moth-trapped at Martinshaw Wood - must try and get in more through this year. Here's a few of the highlights:

Lunar Marbled Brown - darker form

Lunar Marbled Brown - regular form

Eriocrania subpurpurella

Water Carpet

Grey Shoulder-knot - a worn three-legged individual

Pine Beauty - can't see enough of these smart moths

Finally, I mentioned Butterbur at Misterton Marsh the other day - here's a couple of quick snaps showing how prolific it is at this site.

As far as I know, there are not too many sites in VC55 with Butterbur - I'm going to make a concerted effort to check this one for The Butterbur (moth) later in the spring by cutting a few stems to check for larvae.