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May/June Moths (1 Viewer)

Farnboro John

Well-known member
A slight improvement today on the last couple of mornings: six moths, one of each species in the trap. Mullein was a tick, hurrah!

Brimstone Moth
Pale Tussock
Lesser Swallow Prominent
Mullein (tick!)
Nut-tree Tussock
Shuttle-shaped Dart

Overcast this morning and a good bit warmer than recently.

John

Photos from this morning:

Mullein X 2
Lesser Swallow Prominent
Nut-tree Tussock
 

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After a blank night on the 1st I managed five moths last night/this morning
3 LBAM
1 Muslin
1 Clouded Drab (NFY, #26)
Tonight looks a bit more promising.
Steve
 
13 moths of 9 species in the trap this morning, a distinct improvement.

Garden Carpet new for the year but unfortunately flew off as I removed the cover so the first species not to be (yet) photographed this year; 4 Shuttle-shaped Darts, otherwise highlights (to me anyway) Pale Tussock (actually on a window, not in the trap), another Lesser Swallow Prominent and another Red-green Carpet.

John
 
Not as much as I expected but it had gone a bit chilly and there was a slight mizzle in the air.

LBAM 5
Muslin 1
Ruby Tiger 1 (NFY)
Swallow Prominent 1 (NFY and my first for at least three years)
Mullein 1 (NFY and a lifer to boot)

Steve
 
Not as much as I expected but it had gone a bit chilly and there was a slight mizzle in the air.

LBAM 5
Muslin 1
Ruby Tiger 1 (NFY)
Swallow Prominent 1 (NFY and my first for at least three years)
Mullein 1 (NFY and a lifer to boot)

Steve

Good stuff! Excuse my Monday morning slowness: what is LBAM?

John
 
These are from the 2nd May.

Brimstone Moth
7 Muslin Moth
Waved Umber NFG
2 Poplar Hawkmoth
2 Treble Lines
Brindled Pug
Clouded-bordered Brindle

I'll try again tonight but it's still quite cool overnight.
 
It's an abbreviation virtually all the moth sites uses so I would expect most people who are into moths would know what it stands for.

Which sites?

I don't use moth sites at all really unless someone sends me a link to something and at least one other here, didn't know what it meant.
 
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I agree with Andy, as a very amateur back-garden moth trapper I don't spend a lot of time on any moth site: and as someone who ignores micros I have no idea about the names of even the ones that have names. LBAM completely threw me: LYUW wouldn't because that's what I write myself, but I reduced it to that for my own convenience, I didn't adopt a moth site abbreviation.

This year really is the first one that I've even joined in mothing on BF, and I spend a lot of time on there!

Anyway, I think a bit of wind (outside) kept the moths down last night, just three in the trap: Pale Tussock, Nut-tree Tussock and, inevitably, a Shuttle-shaped Dart, currently "boring moth of the moment".

John
 
I agree with Andy, as a very amateur back-garden moth trapper I don't spend a lot of time on any moth site: and as someone who ignores micros I have no idea about the names of even the ones that have names. LBAM completely threw me: LYUW wouldn't because that's what I write myself, but I reduced it to that for my own convenience, I didn't adopt a moth site abbreviation.

This year really is the first one that I've even joined in mothing on BF, and I spend a lot of time on there!

Anyway, I think a bit of wind (outside) kept the moths down last night, just three in the trap: Pale Tussock, Nut-tree Tussock and, inevitably, a Shuttle-shaped Dart, currently "boring moth of the moment".

John

Still not getting anything here due to cold and wind at night.
 
Which sites?

I don't use moth sites at all really unless someone sends me a link to something and at least one other here, didn't know what it meant.

I've regularly sen it on the sightings page of Dorset Moths Group, & in Facebook pages where people post their catches. on MothsUK & Lepidoptera/Odonata.

Accept if one isn't in the know abbreviations can be frustrating but no different to somebody fairly new to birding wondering what a gr'opper is.

Can see why mothers don't want to write out the full name for LBAM as it's a lot of hassle for a ubiquitous moth. I'm not so knowledgeable about micros so I sometimes get frustrated when the genus is given just as a single letter if I'm not familiar with the specific name. For example one recorder on the Dorset site has posted P. filicivora which I know but didn't know what E. maculicerusella is.
 
I've regularly sen it on the sightings page of Dorset Moths Group, & in Facebook pages where people post their catches. on MothsUK & Lepidoptera/Odonata.

Accept if one isn't in the know abbreviations can be frustrating but no different to somebody fairly new to birding wondering what a gr'opper is.

Can see why mothers don't want to write out the full name for LBAM as it's a lot of hassle for a ubiquitous moth. I'm not so knowledgeable about micros so I sometimes get frustrated when the genus is given just as a single letter if I'm not familiar with the specific name. For example one recorder on the Dorset site has posted P. filicivora which I know but didn't know what E. maculicerusella is.

I have no reason to look at those sites, neither do many others who are in different parts of the UK and I think it's a bit aloof, to suggest that 'most people' in to moths will have know what it meant. Added to this, many 'mothers' don't bother with micros, even our county recorder doesn't unless it's something a bit special.

My abbreviation for 'LBAM' if I have to write it is simply 'Ap Moth' if I need to write it but I don't bother recording them as I only submit macro records.

When it comes to what I catch personally and Notts generally, I'm as 'in the know' as I need to be.
 
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I see where you are coming from but you could have chosen a better example than LYUW. Large, Lesser, or Least?;)

Steve

It's surely dependant on what species are regular at your site and what time of year it is, you will be familiar with your own abbreviations but making them public changes things a bit. I've never had Least.
 
I don't spend a lot of time on any moth site:
John

Not that I do, too, John, but your own county's site is particularly good and even while I was in Cornwall, I utilised their illustrated 'flying tonight' section repeatedly just to give an idea what was on the wing.

My only chance of seeing any moths at all at all at the moment is in the well-lit underpass round the back of my ma's house in N-E England. After six blank visits in the past month, finally got my first moth of the year in the form of a Streamer last night. Only the third one I've seen.

(I rarely write moth names down myself, but if I were to quantify the time it took to recognise what the unfamiliar abbreviation LBAM meant, I'd say 0.18 seconds;) )
 
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