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.