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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

July Moths (2 Viewers)

JWN Andrewes

Poor Judge of Pasta.
First session with no ticks! A decent number of moths though, for here at least, with 55 of 24 species, the pick being my first Garden Carpet in a while, a Yellow-tail that actually showed a bit of yellow tail, and who can tire of Peach Blossoms? No doubt the boys will grip me off with something I've overlooked while I'm at work.
 

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First session with no ticks! A decent number of moths though, for here at least, with 55 of 24 species, the pick being my first Garden Carpet in a while, a Yellow-tail that actually showed a bit of yellow tail, and who can tire of Peach Blossoms? No doubt the boys will grip me off with something I've overlooked while I'm at work.

Glad to hear you're back at work! (In a good way that is.) :t:

One can tire of other people's Peach Blossoms....

Cheers

John
 
Cheers.

Forgot to mention, although no new moths a small flock of Crossbills calling overhead as I sorted through the trap was a garden tick!
 
Technically, tonight is the first trapping session in July as far as I'm concerned.

Garden Carpet is irregular here too now, another Coronet last night, a really, really good year for them and a Ruby Tiger was NFY with Poplar Kitten being a full tick, if verified.
 
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OK, cheers, intuition let me down on that one, apologies. I will adjust my records for submission accordingly and avoid this mothing etiquette faux pas henceforth. :t:
 
OK, cheers, intuition let me down on that one, apologies. I will adjust my records for submission accordingly and avoid this mothing etiquette faux pas henceforth. :t:

Just a question then, if you attended the moth trap before midnight and then left it unattended until the morning, would you record moths on two dates, either side of midnight?

As Jabber says, dates should be according to when the trap was set but I suppose it's a technicality and wouldn't make a great deal of difference but it's no doubt just aiming for uniformity.
 
Just a question then, if you attended the moth trap before midnight and then left it unattended until the morning, would you record moths on two dates, either side of midnight?

As Jabber says, dates should be according to when the trap was set but I suppose it's a technicality and wouldn't make a great deal of difference but it's no doubt just aiming for uniformity.

I've tended to count everything on the date on which I process the contents of the trap, given that whatever I find before midnight is then outnumbered by whatever is on the wall or in the trap the following morning, and I can't be doing with splitting the count, but that was a fairly arbitrary decision, and given that there is a consensus for dating as per the setting date I will do that in future. Also, I will tend to be conservative in my counting, so if a Peppered Moth comes in at 11:30, bips about a bit and then flies off, and then there are two on the wall in the morning that will count as two, not three.
 
This morning's catch (correctly attributed to June 30th) included my first two Small Blood-veins, Single-dotted Wave and Poplar Grey for the year. The Poplar Grey was my first for three years - no Poplar trees anywhere near me.

Steve
 
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This morning's catch (correctly attributed to June 30th) included my first two Small Blood-veins, Single-dotted Wave and Polar Grey for the year. The Poplar Grey was my first for three years - no Poplar trees anywhere near me.

Steve

Northern or Southern race....;)
 
While I recognise the advantages of uniformity for official recording I'm going to stick with revealing Moths after they've been revealed to me, which happens in the morning. So to avoid at least some controversy, last night's catch included two NFY: Swallow-tailed Moth (2 of) and a runt which I am choosing to call Lesser Common Rustic on the basis of size and pattern.

Heart and Dart's 10 individuals exceeded Heart and Club's 6: 2 Elephants, a Silver Y and a Grey Dagger well to the pale end of the spectrum were pretty much best of the rest.

Hoping the showers are about finished, it seems to be warm and humid so quite hopeful for tonight.

Cheers

John
 
While I recognise the advantages of uniformity for official recording I'm going to stick with revealing Moths after they've been revealed to me, which happens in the morning. So to avoid at least some controversy, last night's catch included two NFY: Swallow-tailed Moth (2 of) and a runt which I am choosing to call Lesser Common Rustic on the basis of size and pattern.

Heart and Dart's 10 individuals exceeded Heart and Club's 6: 2 Elephants, a Silver Y and a Grey Dagger well to the pale end of the spectrum were pretty much best of the rest.

Hoping the showers are about finished, it seems to be warm and humid so quite hopeful for tonight.

Cheers

John

You may find this of help.
 

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Just realised it's July (posted this on old thread, doh!).
First night in a while as less wind and rain. 92 moths of 38 species. The only new moth was a Small Ranunculus, the last moth I came to in the trap, it took a while to spot the yellow spots in the grey. Nicer looking moths included 4 Small Blood-vein, 2 Elephant HMs, Beautiful Hook-tip, Swallowtail, Purple Thorn, Scalloped Oak and Small Waved Umber. Numbers went to Garden Grass-veneer 19, Dark Arches 8, Common Footman 8 and Heart & Dart 8. Aggravating still that I've not had a Buff Ermine at all.
 
Depends how you define help.... ;)
Seriously, thanks. Small as it was, Common Rustic agg and I'll wait for a black one. :t:
John

Over the years since the discovery of two species within what was Common Rustic we've had several people studying the forms and all that can be said is that all variants occur in both species to a greater or lesser degree. Whilst there is a tendency for small black specimens to be didyma it's not a definitive character as a similar form also occurs in secalis. The only safe way is to dissect, or at least examine the male genitalia. That way you can establish that both, or one, or the other, occur in your area. If not, then just record as Common Rustic agg.
 
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Over the years since the discovery of two species within what was Common Rustic we've had several people studying the forms and all that can be said is that all variants occur in both species to a greater or lesser degree. Whilst there is a tendency for small black specimens to be didyma it's not a definitive character as a similar form also occurs in secalis. The only safe way is to dissect, or at least examine the male genitalia. That way you can establish that both, or one, or the other, occur in your area. If not, then just record as Common Rustic agg.

Well, given that as a hobbyist I'm not going to kill and cut up moths, I'll just go with that tendency at some point. The more so since I don't submit records so won't pollute anyone's database. I'm sure Andy will keep me somewhere near the straight and narrow on ID. o:D

John
 
Well, given that as a hobbyist I'm not going to kill and cut up moths, I'll just go with that tendency at some point. The more so since I don't submit records so won't pollute anyone's database. I'm sure Andy will keep me somewhere near the straight and narrow on ID. o:D

John

Something of a Sisiphean task I fear :brains:
 
Worst night ever, zero months, had me shaking my head, until - I saw that the light had not been plugged in, aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggggg........................
 
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