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

Surreybirder's lep blog (1 Viewer)

I had a good catch last night - I didn't have time to process all the photos before work. At least five sp new for year:
water carpet
20-plume
nut-tree tussock
pale tussock
a poorly marked large micro (parsnip moth?)
another micro which could be postvittana

Other sp. included
waved umber
lunar marbled brown
brimstone
Hebrew char.
small quaker
early grey
common quaker
E subpurpurella
various pugs (which I think were all brindled or double-striped)

I'd have had more if the bat hadn't been so busy!
Ken
 
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Surreybirder said:
various quakers (which I think were all brindled or double-striped)

Ken

pugs? ;)

You're getting some fine catches Ken! I didn't have a lot last night, several Pale mottled willows and pugs and the usual Hebrew character. However the light had gone off in the night so I think maybe some had escaped.

Nerine
 
Nerine said:
pugs? ;)

You're getting some fine catches Ken! I didn't have a lot last night, several Pale mottled willows and pugs and the usual Hebrew character. However the light had gone off in the night so I think maybe some had escaped.

Nerine
Whoops, these late nights must be getting to me... but there was so much action last night that I couldn't turn in early.
Too bad that your light went off - though I did get my first ever magpie moth on a night when I turned the trap off in the night because it was full of hornets (well, there were four actually, but it felt like it was full of hornets!)
Ken
 
A few pix from last night - I know some of them have been put up previously but I enjoy taking them.
 

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16 April part 3

Is this one yet another E postvittana?
And another familiar one.
Ken
 

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17April

Much quieter last night with only one new sp. - a white-shouldered house-moth. It looked dead (see pic) but as soon as I tried to persuade it to turn over it was off!
Ken
 

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Nerine said:
Great photos, Ken. Love the twenty plume capture!

Nerine
Thanks, Nerine. I'm slowly getting the hang of using my Coolpix. It's increased my interest in micros because at last I have a means of seeing them properly - not that I'm anything more than a novice so far!
There was a much fresher (than the one of two days ago) pale tussock on our house wall this a.m. They're lovely moths.
Ken
 

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Brian Stone said:
Err. Pale Tussock?

Hi all,

If it's not a Pale Tussock what is it?

Nearly all my 'New for Year' moths over the last 5 days are at least 10 days earlier than the last couple of years:

Peppered Moth (14th May/11th April)
Pale Prominent (1st May/16th April)
Pale Tussock (5th May/16th April)
Flame Shoulder (1st May/17th April)
Pebble Hook-tip (30th April/17th April)
Shears (8th May/17th April)
Maiden's Blush (28th April/18th April)

Other new species for the year were

Mullein (17th Apr)
Coxcomb Prominent (17th Apr)
Powdered Quaker (17th Apr)
Adela reaumurella (16th Apr)

Minimum temperatures last year during this period ranged from 1.3C to 7.8C, the latter being by far the highest. This year they have ranged from 6.2C (the last couple of nights) to 11.4C and, what is even more important, we have had high daytime temperatures with lots of sunshine.

Keep catching Ken.

All the best

Pete H
 
Pete Haynes said:
If it's not a Pale Tussock what is it?
Ken has edited the original. He accidentally called it Pale Pinion. I was being a smartarse.


Pete Haynes said:
This year they have ranged from 6.2C (the last couple of nights) to 11.4C
This must be one of the reasons why you get better catches than me and others. Temperatures in my garden have been regularly down to 2 or 3 degrees.


Pete Haynes said:
Keep catching Ken.
Haven't caught him yet.

;)
 
Brian Stone said:
Haven't caught him yet.

;)

I'm a slippery customer ;)

You're doing well, Pete - but nothing new there. I'm still looking at your spreadsheet for last year. You could do with a better package than Excel so that you can get all your data on to one sheet!
I'm hoping that the larva I found on speedwell will turn out to be E. tricolorella - one of the species on Jim and Graham's hit-list. It seems to have pupated now.
I didn't trap last night - the temp dropped rapidly at dusk.
Ken
 
Surreybirder said:
I'm hoping that the larva I found on speedwell will turn out to be E. tricolorella - one of the species on Jim and Graham's hit-list. It seems to have pupated now.

Do you mean C.tricolorella (Caryocolum)? Had this species in my garden last year, the first N Hants record for donkey's years. It's a lovely looking beast.

Mike
 
MikeWall said:
Do you mean C.tricolorella (Caryocolum)? Had this species in my garden last year, the first N Hants record for donkey's years. It's a lovely looking beast.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Snap. I had one last year in my garden - photo attached. ;)

All the best

Pete H
 

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MikeWall said:
Do you mean C.tricolorella (Caryocolum)? Had this species in my garden last year, the first N Hants record for donkey's years. It's a lovely looking beast.

Mike
Yes, Mike, that's the one - yet another mistake by me! The recorders for Surrey are trying to target certain species that might be under-recorded as part of the preps for the micro atlas. There are dozens of species that have occurred in the past or in surrounding counties that have rarely if ever been seen in Surrey during the last 20 years. The trouble is that many of them involve looking for signs on plants and I'm not knowledgable about plants. I do know greater stichwort - it's very common round me. But despite a lot of looking I've not managed to find any of the Coleophora cases... either they are genuinely rare, they don't like my local habitat or I'm bad at spotting them.
Do you have a photo of C tricolorella - it seems to be missing from most of the sites I checked?
Ken
 
Pete Haynes said:
Hi Mike,

Snap. I had one last year in my garden - photo attached. ;)

All the best

Pete H
Hi, Pete,
I only saw this after I posted my one to Mike. I can just about work out why it's called tricolorella.
Ken
 
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