Thursday May 24

I had always been planning to put the moth trap out last night, but the hint that there could be thundery showers did cause me to consider aborting. In the end I decided it would be OK, and within a minute of turning the thing on a Common Wasp was buzzing around it. A good sign?

So this morning I was slightly relieved to find no trace of the wasp. Instead I could immediately see that the overnight cloud cover had done the trick and there were several moths in the trap.

However, as usual I checked the wall of the house first. A pair of Pale Tussocks had obviously experience a steamy night.

Pale Tussocks

In fact I eventually counted five Pale Tussocks (only one of which was actually in the trap) and seven Heart and Darts, making them the best represented species.

However, another moth on the side of the house was a bit of a puzzle and turned out to be my first Knot Grass.

Knot Grass

Turning to the trap itself I could immediately see a couple of belters. A Buff-tip was a garden tick, while a Peppered Moth was another lifer. This is a species I can remember featuring in Biology lessons about genetics rather more years ago than I'd care to admit. The pale ones were prevalent when the air was clean, and dark ones wherever it was polluted. The air in Redditch must be pretty good.

Buff-tip

Peppered Moth

I lifted the perspex out to get a good look, and then noticed a ridiculously tiny micro dwarfed by the raindrops now appearing. I love my bridge camera, but I have to admit it struggles with very tiny insects. After one shot the moth took off, but landed immediately on the side of the trap where I got a second chance.

I believe it is some kind of leaf-miner, and my research points vaguely in the direction of Ectoedemia argyropeza. It may well be impossible to be certain on the basis of this photo, but I will update later if I get any feedback from JS.

More moths were found as I lifted each egg-box. Two Tachystola acroxantha, one of the easier micro-moths and one I have seen here before. Then another micro. This one caused much head scratching but eventually decided it must be a Codling Moth (another I have seen before).

A rather late Early Grey was a bit of a surprise, and on the other side of the same egg-box a Green Carpet.

Green Carpet

The bottom of the box revealed a May Highflyer. This was another tick, but since I heard that the species existed and was reasonably common, I had been half expecting one.

May Highflyer

Another egg box revealed a Flame Shoulder. I'm pretty sure I have seen this common species on moth-trapping events, but it was definitely a garden tick.

Flame Shoulder

Finally a micro in the trap looked like some kind of tortrix, but I couldn't find anything that matched it and eventually concluded it was just a variant Light Brown Apple Moth.

However, this identification may yet be overturned.

I plan to get the trap out again on Friday night.