Saturday July 14

As usual its taken me a few days to figure out what the moths I caught on Wednesday night were; a total of 86 moths of 36 species. JS is on holiday in Wales, so his response to my identifications, whilst generally positive, is also a work in progress.

I had been waiting for an array of pots to arrive (for calming moths in the fridge...they apparently don't mind, making it easier to photograph them) but by Wednesday there was no sign of them so I decided, half way through the England match, that if England won I would wait another day.

So I got on with it with my original stock. Peering into the box I could immediately see a species of Thorn, and on extracting it managed to identify it as a Dusky Thorn. Further examination of the egg boxes turned up two more. A quick look at my moth book told me that this species needs to be looked at closely to rule out similar species. This was to become a theme of the morning.

Dusky Thorn

Among several Common Footman moths in the trap I noticed a couple that were obviously paler and browner. I suspected they were something different and further research led me to identify them as Buff Footman. Once again there is an array of similar Footman species which need to be eliminated.

Buff Footman

A well patterned carpet moth turned out to be Common Carpet, also new for the year.

Common Carpet

Turning over one egg box I found myself looking at another carpet moth-type, which I assumed would be easy to identify later. Never assume. After initially picking out White-banded Carpet, I then discovered they were Nationally rare, so I turned the page and discovered the Rivulet, and also the Small Rivulet. I hadn't bothered to measure it, but fortunately there were enough other subtle features to reach a positive conclusion that it was a Small Rivulet.

Small Rivulet

Another nice looking moth I could see clinging to an egg box was new to me, a Scalloped Oak.

Scalloped Oak

Several micros were captured and photographed, but I will come to them later. My second Miller of the year was recorded but not photographed, as were two Coronets. Two other "Coronets" looked wrong, and I eventually worked out they were actually a species I recorded in the spring called Knot Grass. Like many moths they have a second generation in late summer.

Knot Grass

Resting on the opposite side of the perspex in the trap was a white moth. This turned out to be a male Yellow-tail, another tick of course.

Yellow-tail

I moved on to the egg cartons on the other side of the box. So far in every catch there has been a stand-out moth due to its sheer beauty, and in this case it was a Sallow Kitten.

Sallow Kitten

A quick flip through my moth book pointed me to Poplar Kitten, and I confidently wrote the name down before potting the moth to show to Lyn. It was only after I let it go that I read the text in the moth book which mentioned a smaller species called Sallow Kitten and said they were best separated by size. Further reading gave me some salvation as it also stressed a difference in the shape of one of the cross-lines and sure enough my moth was actually a Sallow Kitten. You can't even take the striking ones for granted!

Ironically a much more boring looking moth caused me fewer problems. I had tentatively identified it as a Pale Mottled Willow, but reference to the book told me it wasn't that, and led to the conclusion it was Dingy Shears, another moth that was completely new to me.

Dingy Shears

None of these new moths appears to be especially rare in Warwickshire, and I'm pleased to say that John has concurred with all my identifications.

Not so with the micro-moths, although I didn't do too badly. On holiday in Wales and away from any reference material, John was only able to agree with the following ones which I have captioned.

Cnephasia ag

Euzophera pinguis

Phycitodes binaevella

Mother of Pearl

The last of these shows that not all micro-moths are microscopic. In fact its bloody enormous.

The following moths were identified by me as respectively Eudemis profundana, and Oegoconia ag (possibly quadripuncta) but were not accepted as such by JS subject to further research by him when he gets home.

The following evening I grabbed a tiny micro in the bedroom, and subsequently identified it as a Case-bearing Clothes Moth.

Case-bearing Clothes Moth

And finally, I wasn't at all well last night, but frequent visits to the bathroom did have an upside as I potted five moths; Bright-line Brown-Eye, Riband Wave, Marbled Minor ag, Dun-bar, and Uncertain. None was new for the year.

However, going back to 12 July, one that was new for the year (because my previous one had been misidentified) was a Double Square-spot. Fortunately I photographed it.

Double Square-spot

Thanks to David Brown for the identification.