Thurs 7 Jun to Fri 8 Jun

A cloudy night with some rain was chosen for my latest mothing session.

Even before I got out of the shower I could tell there would be plenty to see, a Heart and Dart and a Marbled Minor agg were clinging to the walls in the bathroom.

As soon as I went outside to release them I found there were moths resting on the side of the trap, on the walls of the house, and even on the folded garden parasol. Several flew off before I could look at them, so in the end the 62 moths of 31 species probably underestimates the true number attracted.

This is a summary of the new ones, starting with macros.

A particularly nice one on the side of the box was a Scorched Wing. I later found a second one on the side of the house.

Scorched Wing

It was one of those moths I recognised immediately from having seen photographs of them, but couldn't immediately put a name to.

I began examining the contents of the trap, and among the familiar species was one which would cause me a few headaches and confusion, not least because I muddled its name on the plate in Waring et al with a scarcer species in the text of the same book. With the help of Mike Southall it became clear that I was indeed looking at a Pale Mottled Willow.

Pale Mottled Willow

Not the most exciting looking species, but one which I should get to know, as I think Mike put it. In other words they are fairly common at this time of year.

Next up was one which was even commoner, but was still my first of the year. A Dark Arches. I only know they are common because the books say so. My only previous experience was identifying one in the bathroom in 2008. Although I think I may have been shown one on a moth-trapping event somewhere.

Dark Arches

One thing my photographs struggle to convey is a sense of scale. This is quite a large moth, as measured against the rim of the moth pot. The earlier two featured were relatively smallish, as measured against brickwork or egg cartons. Peaking out from behind my last carton I could see something that was very big indeed. On turning it over I could see a hawkmoth, and I thought I knew what it was before even checking the books. But I was wrong. Later on I was startled to see its underwing and realised I was actually looking at, not a Poplar Hawkmoth, but an Eyed Hawkmoth.

Eyed Hawkmoth not showing its "eyes"

All is revealed

At the other end of the size scale was a pug resting on the canvas parasol. I knew I hadn't seen the species before, and also that I was running out of time as I had to head for the hospital to see my mum. I ended up sending off an email to Mike S suggesting, as it turned out, the wrong species. When I got back I found I had in fact seen my first Freyer's Pug.

Freyer's Pug

This is actually quite an easy pug to identify (or so the books say), and is quite big for a pug.

I found the next notable species on our stairs. It had either flown in during the night or had attached itself to my clothing and then dropped off when I went indoors. It was one I had seen before this year, when it had been posing in a relaxed state (asleep), but looked like something completely different when it was awake clinging to the stairs. It was a Chocolate-tip.

Chocolate-tip

From the look of it, it had had a hard life. It's head was burnt from bashing against a hot light (the actinic light in the trap is cool so it doesn't damage them). In fact it was slightly outside the first flight period, April - May.

Back to nice fresh moths, I found a Light Emerald resting against the fascia of the utility room. I think this was a new one for me, and it was certainly a large moth.

Light Emerald

A quick search of the wall to it's left revealed two Peppered Moths and a Marbled Minor agg.

When I returned from the hospital in the late afternoon I flushed a Blood-vein which I pursued but failed to photograph. New for the year, but a common moth I have seen before.

The trap also contained numerous micros, and I spent much of the evening trying to work out what they were. Some may have to wait for John S to identify and maybe to correct my errors. For the time being here are some captioned photographs.

Post script: I am adding this several days later, and let me tell you as far as micro moths are concerned there were errors aplenty.

Unidentified (by me or JS)

Small Magpie Moth

Crambus pascuela

Ancylis achatana

Hedya nubiferana

Eucosma cana  Celypha striana

Agriphila straminella Chryosteuchia culmella

Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix

A very worn unidentified moth

Bryotropha domestica

As well as the above amendments I also sent JS a photograph of what I thought was a second A Achatana, and have had it reidentified as Celypha lacunana.

Celypha lacunana

The affect of wear on some of the moths render them virtually unidentifiable. This "white" pug could be just about anything, for example.

Pug sp

Finally the trap also contained several non-moths. These included an orange Ladybird sp, a Mayfly sp, a few Caddis-fly sps, and weirdest of all a tiny Water-boatman sp rowing its way around the bottom of the box.

"orange" ladybird

Mayfly sp

I suppose I should find something to say about birds. The only remotely interesting thing I have seen are the young Goldfinches which have fledged and are joining their parents on the feeders.

Juvenile Goldfinch

So micro-moths are clearly hard for the beginner to master, and I am very grateful to JS and MS for steering me through the tricky subject.