Sweltering humidity

With highs of 30 degrees here last Thursday and with the minimum temperature being noted at 18.6c, it was a bit of a special night to say the least.
I set my alarm for 4am in anticipation.
In short, I wasn't disappointed, moths were everywhere and I had to quickly pot them up, and remember what ones would be new for the year. 

A big influx of Cydia pomonella to the trap, strangely none have come to my pheromone lure for said species, maybe it's a duff lure? who knows.

It was such a good night, that I even attracted a year first day-flier, Nemophora degeerella! A female sitting quietly I the bottom of the trap.

The best moth was a new species for my garden, Vitula biviella, a species very similar to the Ephestia group, although when fresh the difference is clear.
It is moth species no.744 for the garden, and the first entry under the letter V in my micro moth species spreadsheet!

To add 21 new species for the year, was one of the best nights in 8 years here.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 324.

250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 18.6c at 4:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 25/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Broad-barred White 1 [NFY]
Buff Arches 1 [NFY]
Cloaked Minor 2 [NFY]
Clouded Brindle 1 [NFY]
Dun-bar 1 [NFY]
Lesser Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Short-cloaked moth 1 [NFY]
Small Emerald 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Ancylis achatana 1 [NFY]
Batia lunaris 1 [NFY]
Batrachedra praeangusta 1 [NFY]
Bryotropha domestica 1 [NFY]
Crassa unitella 1 [NFY]
Cydalima perspectalis 2 [NFY]
Cydia pomonella 5 [NFY]
Eana incanana 1 [NFY]
Epiblema costipunctana 1 [NFY]
Grapholita janthinana 1 [NFY]
Hedya salicella 1 [NFY]
Pleuroptya ruralis 1 [NFY]
Vitula biviella 1 [NFG]

Batrachedra praeangusta

Broad-barred White

Bryotropha domestica

Cydalima perspectalis

Short-cloaked moth

Small Emerald

Vitula biviella

Garden mothing ticking over nicely

Around a week behind with reports, but i'll catch up soon! The recent nights have been awful and some nights I haven't even run the trap at all.
This is extremely rare for the end of June, the wind and rain and low temperatures just haven't helped.

Last Tuesday however, it was another bustling trap with a nice variety.

Highlights were two garden second's, both Brown Scallop and Cnephasia longana only trapped once before here.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 303.

250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 14c at 5:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 23/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Brown Scallop 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acentria ephemerella 1 [NFY]
Anarsia innoxiella 1 [NFY]
Cnephasia longana 1 [NFY]
Ditula angustiorana 1 [NFY]
Eudemis profundana 1 [NFY]
Pammene fasciana 1 [NFY]
Yponomeuta evonymella 2 [NFY]

Acentria ephemerella

Anarsia innoxiella

Brown Scallop

Cnephasia longana

Ditula angustiorana

Eudemis profundana

Pammene fasciana

Yponomeuta evonymella

Another great garden catch

Another good catch last Monday night, around 40 species which is pretty good for here.

Warm days continued with temperatures peaking at around 25 degrees and lows of 14, perfect for mothing!

10 new for years was pleasing indeed, two confirmed by dissection, using my basic kit and a 20x hand lens and a bit of patience.
I picked out a jet black Rustic out of 5 in total, it was indeed a typical Lesser Common. Tawny Marbled is another that is fairly doable just brushing the end of the abdomen with a fine paint brush, another species added to the year list. 

Best moth of the night was a third garden record of Small Clouded Brindle, a bit of a shabby specimen unfortunately.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 295.

250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 14c at 5:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 22/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Common Rustic 4 [NFY]
Lesser Common Rustic 1 [NFY]
Scalloped Oak 1 [NFY]
Small Clouded Brindle 1 [NFY]
Tawny Marbled Minor 1 [NFY]


Micro Moths

Anania coronata 2 [NFY]
Eudonia lacustrata 2 [NFY]
Lozotaeniodes formosana 1 [NFY]
Spilonota laricana 1 [NFY]

Daytime

Anthophila fabriciana 1 [NFY] Found on Nettle patch in alleyway

Anania coronata

Common Rustic

Eudonia lacustrata

Lesser Common Rustic

Lozotaeniodes formosana

Scalloped Oak

Small Clouded Brindle

Friday night, out on the town?

Not quite, my garden is on the edge of town...
And that's about as near as I've got to the town besides driving past it on my way to work.

I can't remember the last time I went to Stevenage town to have a mooch around and do some shopping, not that i'm missing it too much mind! the shopping trip usually involves socks and lampshades (for the moth traps).

Back to the whole point of this blog before I career off into the sunset.

The Friday before (the 19th) was another warm day and there was plenty of moth action around the trap after rolling out of bed at 4am to get the jump on the bird predation.

A slightly reduced catch compared to recent nights, but still several new species added to the year list.

Pick were two fresh Rustics and a slightly aberrant Treble Brown Spot which was really yellow in appearance with reduced central markings in the band.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 285.

250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 13c at 4:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 19/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Barred Yellow 1 [NFY]
Pebble Hook-tip 1 [NFY]
Rustic 2 [NFY]
Swallow-tailed Moth 1 [NFY]
Treble Brown Spot 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acrobasis repandana 1 [NFY]
paraswammerdamia nebulella 1 [NFY]

Acrobasis repandana

Barred Yellow

Paraswammerdamia nebulella

Pebble Hook-tip

Rustic

Swallow-tailed Moth

Treble Brown Spot

Catch report - 17/06/20

Starting to work through my catch reports from the last ten days here in Stevenage, North Herts.. some really great catches and even new species for the garden.

I start way back on the 17th of June!

An array of usual suspects graced the 250w lighthouse trap (owing to how bright the damn thing is).

Best moth of the night was a stunning Leopard Moth, a species that isn't annual here.

Less stunning, was a really Battered Burnished Brass, usually such a pretty species...poor thing.

Another notable moth was a form of Heart & Club that I've never seen before.

And to finish, two forms of Spilonota ocellana were trapped and were compared with a specimen of Spilonota laricana beaten from Larch out in woodland last week.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 278.

250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 12c at 4:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 17/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Beautiful Hook-tip 1 [NFY]
Burnished Brass 1 [NFY]
Fan-foot 1 [NFY]
Leopard Moth 1 [NFY]
Scarce Footman 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Hypsopygia glaucinalis 1 [NFY]
Spilonota ocellana 2 [NFY]
Zeiraphera isertana 1 [NFY]

Beautiful Hook-tip

Burnished Brass

Fan-foot

Heart & Club aberration

Hypsopygia glaucinalis

Leopard Moth

Scarce Footman

Spilonota ocellana

Spilonota ocellana

Zeiraphera isertana

Best catch of the year and then a big drama!

Pick of just over 300 species out at Chippenham Fen last night, with several still to check (My highest ever species count in one night), Flame Wainscot (new for me) and Gelechia muscosella (The 2nd time I have trapped this rare species here). The bad news, these were the only photos I could take. My camera is now dead, got extremely hot and maybe overheated...threw loads of errors and won't turn on now :( replacement expected on Tuesday.

Flame Wainscot

Gelechia muscosella

I have some catching up to do!

A catch from last Tuesday here in my garden, was pretty damn good! and another load of year listers were added to the 2020 garden list.

Highlights for me were, Red-necked Footman (Never annual here), Poplar Grey (Again, an uncommon moth in my garden with just a handful of records over the last 8 years), and Coronet, a species that is becoming much more frequent in my garden in recent years, such a lovely looking moth.
Scrobipalpa costella had not been seen here since 2015!

There is one Cnephasia sp to check which could be a new species for the garden. All in due course!

9 new species were added to the running total.

Garden species count for 2020 now upto 270.

250w Clear MV Robinson Trap min 13c at 4:00am

Only New For Year Species Reported

Catch Report - 16/06/20 - Back Garden - Stevenage - North Herts

Macro Moths

Common White Wave 1 [NFY]
Coronet 1 [NFY]
Poplar Grey 1 [NFY]
Red-necked Footman 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Crambus perlella 1 [NFY]
Euzophera pinguis 1 [NFY]
Gypsonoma dealbana 1 [NFY]
Scrobipalpa costella 1 [NFY]
Tischeria ekebladella 1 [NFY]

Common White Wave

Coronet

Crambus perlella

Euzophera pinguis

Gypsonoma dealbana

Poplar Grey

Red-necked Footman

Scrobipalpa costella

Tischeria ekebladella