Thursday October 25

I fluffed my lines this morning.

The moth trap went out, and I noticed a Light Brown Apple Moth and a geometer sp last night. This morning cloud had rolled in and two Wasps were running along the actinic strip lights at the top of the trap until I turned the light off. The Geometer sp was still present resting on the side of the box. I had three options: a. photograph it in poor light, b. get the book to work out what it was, or c. pot it and photograph it and identify it in better light. Unfortunately I chose c and it escaped before I could get the lid back on the pot. It was some kind of dark carpet moth, but beyond that I cannot say. Stupid!

Anyway inside the trap I found a November Moth ag (which I tried to photograph before attempting to pot it and watching it fly off mid process), and a Shuttle-shaped Dart. That at least was co-operative.

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Also in the trap were three Wasps and a caddis-fly.

Thursday October 18

A sunny morning with very little breeze was good for witnessing overhead movements, a fairly casual look at the sky revealed about 150 Woodpigeons and 70 Starlings heading west, while several Siskins called overhead.

But I was looking at moths. I had put the moth-trap out for the first time since our Cornish holiday, and the first part of last night had suggested it could be a waste of time. Too cold? I had just seen one Light Brown Apple Moth on the trap.

This morning my mood improved by the second as I first found a November Moth ag clinging the the electrical supply pipe, and then discovered no fewer than four Merveille du Jour in and around the trap. This beautiful species is one I had been hoping for, having seen images posted of other people's captures. Neither of these moths appears particularly uncommon, but as we never leave the bathroom window open after September, I have never seen them before.

November Moth ag - Epirrita ag

Merveille du Jour - Dichonia aprilina

The reason November Moths are called November Moth ag is that there are four very similar species which can only be safely identified through dissection and examination of their genitalia. They are November Moth, Light November Moth, Autumnal Moth, and Small Autumnal Moth.

I then noticed a Red-green Carpet (moth) clinging to the brickwork. But only spotted my last "tick" when I showed the egg-box containing one of the Merveille du Jour to Lyn. On turning it over I discovered that in my excitement I had completely overlooked another unfamiliar moth. This turned out to be a Green-brindled Crescent.

Green-brindled Crescent

Again, this seems to be a fairly common moth in the county.

My only other moth was a dowdy Large Yellow Underwing. The light also attracted two species of caddisfly, a Daddy Long-legs sp, and a Harlequin Ladybird.

Thursday October 4

A rather cool night, initially clear, but cloudy when I got up.

Inevitably as the nights get longer the moth lists get shorter. Including a couple of micros I caught on the windows last night my grand total was a paltry 16 moths of 10 species.

At least one of them was new for the year, a Snout. This is a species I have caught in the bathroom during the last few years though.

Snout

It was smaller than the main illustration in Waring, but they have a smaller second generation which this moth fits nicely.

The full list was: one Clepsis consimilana, one Carcina quercana, one Codling Moth, one Light Brown Apple Moth, six Large Yellow Underwings, one Lunar Underwing, two Shuttle-shaped Darts, one Square-spot Rustic, one Snout, and two Lesser Yellow Underwings.

The Light Brown Apple Moth looked different to most I have caught, but I eventually decided it could only be that species.

Light Brown Apple Moth

They are very variable.