December Moths (1 Viewer)

[Farnboro John]

...or not as the case may be. After a warm, dry but very windy night, one LBAM.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Not so fast! I finished up, brought the trap and accessories back indoors, settled down to some photo work on my laptop and just heard a buzz before a December Moth hit me in the face!

It must have been in or around the trap or the power box somewhere and hitch-hiked in despite me holding the trap upside down above my head and shaking it to get the birch seeds and bits of leaf out.

It went for the window, buzzing like crazy, dropped to the windowsill and the race was on for me to get a pot and rescue it before any of our pet spiders who maintain the house fly-free reached it as it brushed through their meshy webs. I won. It's in the fridge.

John

 

[dwallace]

Last Friday night we ran 3 MV lamps and an actinic for 2 hours at a naval base near Portsmouth and had just 4 moths:

Dark Chestnut x 2
Light Brown Apple Moth
Blastobasis vittata.

Dave W

 

[Farnboro John]

Pictures of the LBAM and December Moth below.

John

 

[dantheman]

I've been seeing a few moths today - daytime but unfortunately didn't have my glasses on/have any pots to hand. Probably not that exciting anyway - sorting out someone's stuff in a big shed and those nondescript brown micros that eat stuff!

 

[aeshna5]

A couple of traps put out at a local nature reserve last night in the west London suburbs. As the temperature was pretty cool (about 2C) didn't have great hopes at dawn. A smart December Moth & a Satellite was a reasonable return given the conditions. Apparently a couple of Winter Moths had been seen flying about yesterday evening, but none ventured into the traps.

 

[Farnboro John]

Thought I'd have another go despite fairly low (but still positive) temperatures forecast last night. There was nothing actually in the trap but two Mottled Umber on the windows were presumably attracted by the light and another year-tick.

Edit: photos of each of the two Mottled Umbers. The one on the window frame is quite a bit larger than the one on the leaf, the latter of which I found on the back door window and spent some time in the fridge before being released and photographed.

John

 

[Richard D]

First go with a trap in a couple of weeks on Saturday night. The expected LBAM and an unexpected Silver Y

 

[Steve Lister]

Not trapped at all yet this month, and probably never will.

I see that the new edition of the micro guide promotes the use of common names, some of them newly invented and contrary to what other s have coined previously. It all seems a bit unnecessary to me.

 

[Farnboro John]

Just looked at my camera and discovered I'd photographed a Winter Moth on the back door window that I'd forgotten about by next morning. So that's likely to be my last moth of 2023.

John

 

[loiner]

I had the trap out on a few of the recent mild evening but caught nowt so that's it for 2023. I thought I'd just reached exactly 500 species for the garden (over six years - I'd probably have more if I was using a MV bulb) but, after submitting my year list, the county recorder has rejected one moth, so back to 499.

 

[aeshna5]

Went to a local site this morning- Ruislip Woods & on the door/walls of a loo block were several male Winter Moths & a male Mottled Umber.

 

[Farnboro John]

Went to a local site this morning- Ruislip Woods & on the door/walls of a loo block were several male Winter Moths & a male Mottled Umber.

Well done - loo blocks are good for moths! My last trap attempt caught nothing at all so I've given up for the rest of the year. I did see a few presumed Winter Moths as I cycled back from the social club the other night.

John

 

[dwallace]

Two of us trapped at a local wood in South Hampshire yesterday and had December Moth and a few Winter Moths, one of which turned out to be Northern Winter Moth, a first for me.

Dave W

 

[aeshna5]

Returning this morning to Ruislip the toilet block lights this time produced a Pale Brindled Beauty along with several (at least 5) Winter Moths.

 

[dwallace]

A return visit to Botley Wood last night produced the following:

Mottled Umber x 4;
Winter Moth x 2;
Common Quaker x 1;
acleris notana/ferrugana x 1.

Hard going as you would expect.

Dave W