Muggy days and humid nights

That's the flavour of most of the mothing nights here recently (with only last night and the night before feeling cool and between 9 and 12 degrees).
Tuesday night was just right and the trap was very busy indeed come the morning with well over 70 species.

Some great species were seen, including scarce species for my garden, Poplar Lutestring, Scarce Silver-lines and Slender Brindle.
Limnaecia phragmitrella was only my second garden record.

The most interesting moth was a very dark Agonopterix sp, which could be ciliella or a long shot...cnicella.
Specimen retianed for dissection.

Garden species count for 2019 now upto 334.

Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

16/07/19

Macro Moths

Dusky Sallow 1 [NFY]
Maple Pug 2 [NFY]
Poplar Lutestring 1 [NFY]
Scarce Silver-lines 1 [NFY]
September Thorn 1 [NFY]
Slender Brindle 1 [NFY]
Vapourer 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Agonopterix sp TBC
Limnaecia phragmitrella 1 [NFY]
Mompha propinquella 1 [NFY]
Yponomeuta sedella 1 [NFY]

Agonopterix sp

Dusky Sallow

Maple Pug

Poplar Lutestring

Scarce Silver-lines

September Thorn

Vapourer Moth

Yponomeuta sedella

Field Trip - Croxley Common Moor - 12/07/19

I was invited to help out at a public event at Croxley Common Moor.

It was a privilege to run some traps on this unique habitat (particularly for Hertfordshire).

I was joined by David and Roger and Graham whom is the secretary for the reserve.

We setup 7 traps in the centre of the reserve and waited for the general public to arrive.

The moths were quite slow to respond to the lights and there weren't many big moths at all to show the masses, we did however did pot a few nicely coloured moths, Agapeta zoegana (or Zoe) was a hit with many of the guests, owing to its bright yellow colours. Kent Black Arches was nice and intricately marked and a good one to show around.
It was nice to share my enthusiasm with others.

Once everyone had left at around 11:30pm, it was down to the business of recording the moths and seeing what specialities were around.
Although numbers and species were low due to the unfavourable mothing conditions (cool, clear and a bit windy) we did manage a few goodies! 
The site is full of Broom, Gorse and Dyer's Greenweed... hence the special species represented moths that feed from these foodplants

Agonopterix assimilella, Trifurcula immundella and Leucoptera spartifoliella were all new moths for my records and all associated with the above foodplants.

We also managed another two great species both Caryocolum fraternella and Sophronia semicostella are not common in the County, and another two new ones for me.

Once again, thanks to Graham for allowing us access to this site.

Here is the total list.

Catch Report - 12/07/19 - Croxley Common Moor - Hertfordshire - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 250w MV Clear Robinson Trap, 1x 30w Actinic Trap & 1x 160w Mercury Blended Robinson Trap - 4 traps in total + 3 extra traps provided by Roger Prue & David Kirk

Macro Moths

Beautiful Hook-tip
Black neck 
Bordered Beauty 
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Brown-line Bright-eye 
Buff Ermine

Buff-tip
Burnished Brass
Campion 
Cinnabar 
Clay 
Cloaked Minor

Clouded Border
Clouded Silver
Common Emerald 
Dingy Footman
Double Lobed
Double Square-spot
Dwarf Cream Wave
Ear Moth
Early Thorn
Elephant Hawk-moth
Fan-foot
Flame
Flame Shoulder
Ghost Moth
Grey Pug
Heart & Club
Heart & Dart
Kent Black Arches
Large Yellow Underwing
Lesser Yellow Underwing
Light Arches
Marbled Minor

Mottled Beauty
Mottled Rustic 
Oak Nycteoline
Peppered Moth
Purple Bar
Riband Wave
Ruby Tiger
Rustic
Sallow Kitten
Scalloped Oak
Scarce Footman 
Shears 
Short Cloaked Moth 
Shoulder-striped Wainscot
Small Elephant Hawk-moth
Small Emerald
Small Fan-footed Wave
Small Rivulet
Smoky Wainscot
Snout

Tree-lichen Beauty 

Willow Beauty

Micro Moths  

Adaina microdactyla
Agapeta hamana
Agapeta zoegana

Agonopterix assimilella
Anania coronata 
Anania perlucidalis
Ancylis achatana
Aphelia paleana

Batia lunaris
Brachmia blandella
Bryotropha terrella

Caryocolum fraternella
Catoptria pinella
Celypha lacunana
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Clepsis spectrana
Cnephasia sp
Cochylis atricapitana
Crambus perlella
Crassa unitella
Eana incanana
Endotricha flammealis
Eucosma campoliliana
Eucosma cana 
Eucosma hohenwartiana

Gillmeria pallidactyla
Grapholita funebrana
Hedya nubiferana
Homoeosoma sinuella

Leucoptera spartifoliella
Lobesia abscisana
Mompha ochraceella
Monochroa tenebrella
Notocelia trimaculana
Oncocera semirubelaa
Pammene fasciana

Pediasia contaminella
Phycita roborella

Phycitodes binaevella
Plutella xylostella
Ptherochroa inopiana
Pyrausta purpuralis
Recurvaria leucatella

Sophronia semicostella
Spilonota ocellana

Stenoptilia pterodactyla
Teleiopsis diffinis

Trifurcula immundella 
Udea prunalis

Agonopterix assimilella

Caryocolum fraternella

Leucoptera spartifoliella

Pediasia contaminella

Recurvaria leucatella

Sophronia semicostella

Stenoptilia pterodactyla

Tree-lichen Beauty

Trifurcula immundella

Fining down a little under clear skies and less muggy conditions

After the last two weeks deluge of moths, things were back to normal for my garden and species and numbers were down quite a bit.
It was nice to confirm another Lesser Common Rustic for the garden, from the ones i've dissected. Most black one have been Lesser, but some still shock me and turn out to be just a Common Rustic.


Garden species count for 2019 now upto 324.
Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

13/07/19

Macro Moths

Brown-line Bright-eye 1 [NFY]
Buff Arches 1 [NFY]
Dot Moth 1 [NFY]
Lesser Common Rustic 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Eucosma hohenwartiana 1 [NFY]

Brown-line Bright-eye

Buff Arches

Dot Moth

Eucosma hohenwartiana

Lesser Common Rustic

One new moth and one new garden moth!

Thursday night was again a busy night in the garden moth trap, and another 6 new for year species were added.
Of the 6, one was a completely new moth for me! A Dotted Rustic, and never really a moth that I would have expected to see in my garden, let alone Herts, I think it's only the 4th modern record for Herts (post-2000).

Copied from an email from Colin Plant 

''I can confirm this ID. Unsure is this is a Scottish one starting to recolonise again (they do this every 50 years or so – it was common in Herts in the 1970s and 1980s – so getting on for 40 years ago), or if it is a Continental immigrant?''

Just where it came from I don't know, but I was just glad I spotted it amongt the 80% of brown moths in the trap at the moment.

I also recorded a garden first Cnephasia longana, one of the easier Cnephasia to identify.

Herald was rather a late addition to the yearly roster, a moth I see usually in Spring each year.

Garden species count for 2019 now upto 319.
Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

11/07/19

Macro Moths

Dotted Rustic 1 [NEW!]
Herald 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acleris forsskaleana 1 [NFY]
Cnephasia longana 1 [NFG]
Rhopobota naevana 1 [NFY]
Yponomeuta sp 1 [NFY]

Acleris forsskaleana

Cnephasia longana

Dotted Rustic

Herald

Rhopobota naevana

Yponomeuta sp

Garden Trapping - 10/07/19

Well I thought I was further behind than I am (a slight relief).
This time last year I was around 3 weeks behind, so 4 days is nothing...I blame my new born son for last year's crazy behindness :D

On Wednesday it was another warm and muggy day, and the night was set to be much of the same, I was also very tired at 5am on Thursday morning going through the catch and probably missed a few bits and bobs.
Over 60 species once again, seems to be the average here for Summer and a fair few were newbies for the yearly list. 

For starter's I got a new moth for the garden, the pretty white Eucosma campoliliana. I've taken this moth many times before out on grassland. This is moth no.711 for my garden.

Coronet came in with a bang, 3 examples (and several more than that now) This use to be non-existant in the County, bar the far West around the Hemel area. It can now be found in most areas of Herts now.

Cydalima perspectalis showed up for the 3rd year running, it's increase is very apparent here.

Garden species count for 2019 now upto 313.
Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

10/07/19

Macro Moths

Coronet 3 [NFY]
Small Emerald 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Cydalima perspectalis 2 [NFY]
Eucosma campoliliana 1 [NFG]
Pammene fasciana 1 [NFY]
Pyralis farinalis 1 [NFY]

Coronet

Coronet

Cydalima perspectalis

Eucosma campoliliana

Pammene fasciana

Pyralis farinalis

Field Trip - Bramfield Woods - 09/07/19

We returned to Bramfield Park Woods last Tuesday... well the other's did. 
My car broke down on the way, a mere mile away from the site, and so hoping my father-in-law would be able to fix it, he was called and on his way to rescue me.
Unfortunately he wasn't quite fully equipped for the job, and so a trip back to Wheathampstead and then back again with a drill and some bolts to secure the intake pipe and luckily the car survived to live another day.
I arrived at the site at 10:30pm and it was already dark under cloudy warm and humid conditions, the moths were everywhere and it took seconds for the moths to respond to each light as I fired them up, one after another.
The temperature was still 24 degrees and not set to get below 17 all night, crazy... and yes it was a bit.
With an estimated 1500 moths over 6 traps it was a busy night and we had to decide to start packing up at around 1am for fear of still being on site at 4am.
I left at 2:45am and felt frazzled after the drama of earlier and the frantic action around the moth traps.

Below is the list, it's rather lengthy and features a mammoth 270 species, one of my highest species count in one night.

One moth was new to me (Acleris logiana) and another was my first Hertfordshire record and only my second ever record (Carpatolechia alburnella).
Other ood species were, Gelechia nigra (4th County record, having caught the previous two from my garden), Capperia britanniodactyla, Kent Black Arches (3 examples( and Small Angle Shades (rare this end of Herts).


Here is the total list.

Macro Moths : 136 species
Micro Moths : 134 species

Total : 270 species

Catch Report - 09/07/19 - Bramfield Park Woods - Hertfordshire - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 250w MV Clear Robinson Trap & 1x 160w Mercury Blended Robinson Trap - 4 traps in total + 3 extra traps provided by Trevor

Macro Moths

Barred Straw
Barred Yellow
Beautiful Carpet
Beautiful Golden Y
Beautiful Hook-tip
Bird's Wing
Black Arches
Black neck
Blotched Emerald
Blood-vein
Bordered White 
Brimstone Moth
Bright-line Brown eye
Brown line bright eye
Brindled White spot
Brown Rustic
Brown Silver lines
Buff Arches
Buff Ermine
Burnished Brass 
Buff Footman
Buff-tip
Cinnabar
Clay 
Clay Triple-lines
Clouded Border
Clouded Brindle
Clouded Silver
Common Carpet
Common Emerald
Common Footman 
Common Swift
Common Wainscot 
Common White Wave
Common Wave
Coronet
Coxcomb Prominent
Dark Arches
Dingy Footman
Double Square spot
Double-striped Pug
Dun-bar
Dusky Brocade
Double Square-spot 
Dwarf Cream Wave
Elephant Hawk-moth
Engrailed 
Fan foot 
Flame Shoulder
Gold Swift
Grey Arches
Great Oak Beauty
Green Carpet
Green Pug
Green Silver-lines
Haworth's pug
Heart & Club
Heart & Dart
Ingrailed Clay
Iron Prominent
July Highflyer
Kent Black Arches
Large Emerald 
Large Nutmeg
Least Carpet
Leopard Moth 
Large Yellow Underwing
Lesser Yellow Underwing
Light Arches
Light Emerald
Lobster Moth
Maple Prominent
Marbled Brown
Marbled Minor sp
Marbled White spot 
Middle-barred Minor
Miller 
Minor Shoulder-knot 
Mottled Beauty
Mottled Pug
Oak Hook-tip
Orange Footman
Pale Oak Beauty
Pale Prominent
Peach Blossom
Peppered moth  
Peacock Moth
Poplar Hawk-moth
Poplar Lutestring
Privet Hawk-moth
Pine Hawk-moth

Pinion-streaked Snout 

Purple Clay
Purple Thorn
Red-necked Footman
Riband Wave

Round-winged Muslin 

Ruby Tiger
Rosy Footman
Rufous Minor 
Rustic 
Silver-Y
Single-dotted Wave 
Scalloped Oak
Scarce Footman 
Scarce Silver-lines
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Scorched wing 
Shaded Broad-bar
Shoulder-striped Wainscot
Silver-ground Carpet
Slender Brindle
Slender Pug

Small Angle Shades 

Small Dotted Buff
Small Fan-foot
Small Fan-footed Wave 
Small White Wave
Small Yellow Wave 
Smoky Wainscot
Snout 
Straw Dot
Swallow-tailed Moth
Sycamore
Tawny-barred Angle
Tawny Marbled Minor
Treble Brown Spot
Vapourer
Vine's Rustic
V-pug
White Ermine
Willow Beauty
Yellow tail 
White-point
Uncertain 
Waved Black 

Micro Moths  

Acrobasis consociella
Acleris forskaleana

Acleris logiana 

Acrobasis repandana
Agapeta hamana
Agonopterix arenella
Aleimma loefligiana
Alucita hexadactyla 
Anacampsis blatteriella
Anacampsis populella
Anania hortulata
Anania lancealis
Anarsia innoxiella
Ancylis diminutana
Aphomia sociella

Apotomis betuletana 

Apotomis capreana
Apotomis turbidana
Archips craetagana
Acleris schalleriana
Archips podana
Acrobasis repandana
Aphelia paleana
Archips xylosteana
Argyresthia conjugella
Argyresthia goedartella
Argyresthia brockeella
Argyresthia pruniella
Assara terebrella
Athrips mouffetella
Blastodacna hellerella
Bactra sp
Batia lunaris
Batrachedra praeangusta
Blastobasis lacticolella 
Brachmia blandella
Brown China Mark
Caloptilia alchimiella/robustella
Calomotropha paludella

Capperia britanniodactyla 

Carcina quercana
Carpatolechia alburnella
Carpatolechia fugitivella
Catoptria falsella
Celypha cespitana
Celypha lacunana
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Clepsis consimiliana
Crambus lathoniellus
Crassa unitella
Cochylis atricapitana
Cochylis nana
Coleophora paripennella
Coleophora sp
Cydia fagiglandana
Cydia pomonella
Cydia splendana
Ditula angustiorana
Ectoedemia sp
Elophila nymphaeata
Epagoge grotiana
Epermenia falciformis
Ephestia sp

Epinotia abbreviana 

Epinotia bilunana
Epinotia brunnichana
Epinotia demarniana
Epinotia fraternana
Epinotia immundana
Epinotia signatana
Epinotia tedella
Emmetia marginea 
Eucosma cana 
Eucosma obumbratana
Eucosma hohenwartiana
Euspilapteryx auroguttella
Exoteleia dodecella
Euzophera pinguis
Eudonia lacustrata 
Eudonia pallida
Gelechia nigra
Gypsonoma dealbana
Gypsonoma sociana
Hedya nubiferana
Hedya pruniana
Hedya salicella
Hypsopygia costalis
Homo sinnuella 
Lathronympha strigana
Limnaecia phragmitrella 
Lobesia abscisana
Marasma lunaedactyla
Metzneria lappella
Metzneria metzneriella
Mompha ochraceella
Morophaga choragella
Notocelia cynosbatella
Notocelia trimaculana
Notocelia uddmanniana
Parachronistis albiceps
Pandemis cerasana
Pandemis heparana
Parachronistis albiceps
Paraswammerdamia nebulella
Parornix sp
Phycita roborella
Phycitodes binaevella 
Phyllonorycter coryli
Plutella xylostella
Prays fraxinella
Pseudosciaphila branderiana
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
Ptherochroa inopiana
Recurvaria leucatella
Rhodophaea formosa
Scoparia ambigualis
Scoparia pyralella
Scoparia subfusca
Scythropia crataegella
Spilonota ocellana
Stephensia brunnichella
Swammerdamia caesiella
Syncopacma sp
Teleoides luculella
Teleoides vulgella 
Tinea semifulvella
Tortrix viridana
Udea olivalis
Udea prunalis
Yponomeuta evonymella 
Yponomeuta padella/malinellus
Ypsolpha ustella
Ypsolpha dentella

Zeiraphera isertana 

Small Angle Shades

Acleris logiana

Apotomis betuletana

Kent Black Arches

Limnaecia phragmitrella

Pinion-streaked Snout

Athrips mouffetella

Capperia britanniodactyla

Slender Brindle

Carpatolechia alburnella

Gelechia nigra

A brief post from the garden moth trap

A distinct lack of new for year species on Monday night, but still a big catch for here.

There were two new for year macros, and two others that had already been recorded but were worthy of photographing, a jet black, but a bit tatty Peppered Moth, a colour form I see very often.
The other moth was an aberrant Vine's Rustic.

One Coleophora is still to be checked

The only other new one was a Hedya salicella, unfortunately it took flight before I got a pot on it! Luckily I photographed a much better specimen from last weeks field trip.

Garden species count for 2019 now upto 307.
Catch Report - Back Garden - Stevenage - 250w Clear MV Robinson Trap

08/07/19

Macro Moths

Common Emerald 1 [NFY]
Single-dotted Wave 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Hedya salicella 1 [NFY]

Coleophora sp

Coleophora sp

Common Emerald

Peppered Moth

Single-dotted Wave

Vine's Rustic