May/June Moths (1 Viewer)

[Andy Adcock]

I seem to be in a rut of catching around 20 moths a night - this morning's haul of exactly 20 included 3 NFY though: White Ermine (a nice buff one which almost fooled me), Shoulder-striped Wainscot and Spectacle. These take my garden year list up to 69.

Steve

I thought it was just me!

 

[KenM]

I thought it was just me!

Good to know that some out there are in the same boat! Last night’s tally for me was c10 moths of 8 species. :eek!:

 

[Allen]

Very little last night - Common Marbled Carpet and Grey Pine Carpet.

 

[Rubia]

It was uneventful last night, I packed up at 00:20 after just over 2 hours. 24 moths of 15 species, and that mostly the expected. Another Small Elephant H-m. Only new one the micro Nemapogon cloacella, Cork Moth.
Going to take a night off tonight as forecast looks too similar to last night.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Enjoying the sightings and images. I'll catch up 10 days as I've not processed last night's photos as yet.

16th May - 11 moths of 6 species with Common Carpet new for the year.
17th May - 10 moths of 6 species.
18th May - 22 moths of 12 species with Small Square-spot, Flame & Setaceous Hebrew Character new for the year.
19th May - 23 moths of 12 species with Common Marbled Carpet new for the year.
20th May - 31 moths of 19 species with Small Magpie new for the year.
21st May - 32 moths of 20 species with Green Pug, Brown Silver-line, Middle-barred Minor, Small China-mark & Cochylis molliculana new for the year.
22nd May - 13 moths of 7 species with Obscure Wainscot new for the year.
23rd May - 13 moths of 7 species.
24th May - 18 moths of 7 species with Bryotropha domestica new for the year.
25th May - 22 moths of 11 species with Poplar Kitten, Gold Spot & Burnished Brass new for the year.
26th May - 38 moths of 17 species with Clouded-bordered Brindle & Privet Hawkmoth new for the year.

Pics - Poplar Kitten, Burnished Brass, Gold Spot (worn), Spectacle & Obscure Wainscot.

All the best

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

Second set of pics - Privet Hawkmoth, Flame, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Setaceous Hebrew Character & Common Marbled Carpet.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Final set of pics - Brown Silver-line, Green Pug, Small Magpie, Small Chinamark & Cochylis molliculana.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

38 moths of 26 species last night, with almost half of them ticks! It's fun like that at the beginning!

Very grateful for the help being provided on the ID sub-forum.

Some of this morning's highlights -

Poplar Hawk
Gold Spot
Bight-line Brown-eye
Figure of Eighty
Beautiful Golden Y

 

[Britseye]

38 moths of 26 species last night, with almost half of them ticks! It's fun like that at the beginning!

Very grateful for the help being provided on the ID sub-forum.

Some of this morning's highlights -

Poplar Hawk
Gold Spot
Bight-line Brown-eye
Figure of Eighty
Beautiful Golden Y

Looks like Paul Chapman's got serious competition for great moth photos! I've had to resort to looking at my old photos from last three summers to assuage the pangs. If you're just beginning, JWNA: don't worry, you'll still be getting new stuff in three years time. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Just had a photo sent to me on WhatsApp from Ireland: someone caught 49 Elephant Hawkmoths last night :eek!:

 

[dwallace]

Very pleased with Blair's Mocha (a garden tick) and Buttoned Snout (a lifer) this week.

Dave W

 

[Farnboro John]

42 moths of 10 species this morning from last night's trap. 27 of them were Heart and Darts, 5 Treble Lines.

Light Emerald and Middle-barred Minor both NFY.

One noctuid I haven't yet identified, its on the list as "Plate 52" (of latest Waring et al). I'll put one up as soon as I can in the ID sub-forum: I'm well behind on processing pictures due to good weather and being out taking more!

The perils of late-night posting: Plate 57, not 52!

John

 

[Rubia]

Given up tonight as it was cold and clear, in 2 and half hours had only 27 moths of 16 species (& an Argyresthia that could be one of three species without gen det). New for garden were Aethes smeathmanniana and Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Still very low on numbers, 9 but two new for the year, Coronet and Straw Dot, the latter being my earliest ever by a few weeks.

 

[Farnboro John]

The relentless Heart and Darts grind on with another 31 in the trap this morning. 51 moths of 12 species in all, with Large Yellow Underwing (another species that often reaches plague proportions!) NFY. Lime Hawk-moth was the big moth for the day.

John

 

[Jabberwocky]

Thursday night was cold here, numbers were down, only 30 moths. Common Wave, Smoky Wainscot and Celypha striana were new for year and a smart Lime Hawk-moth the best of the rest.
Didn't trap last night as it was cold again.

Lewis

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Looks like Paul Chapman's got serious competition for great moth photos! I've had to resort to looking at my old photos from last three summers to assuage the pangs. If you're just beginning, JWNA: don't worry, you'll still be getting new stuff in three years time. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Just had a photo sent to me on WhatsApp from Ireland: someone caught 49 Elephant Hawkmoths last night :eek!:

You are too kind!

I took a night off last night but will go again tonight. The first two nights yielded 36 species, with an overlap of only 6, which surprised me, and does seem to suggest that the law of diminishing returns will be a slow burn on this. Also, on both nights I stopped out till just before midnight and managed to get a few in pots to go in the fridge till the morning. The first night seemed really lively, and the second much quieter and slower, yet on the first night I ended up with 25 of 17 species, which was outperformed by the second night which pitched in with 38 of 26.

I have attached a pic of the slice of wood I've dug out to place moths on for photos. (It's missing a Treble Lines and a Shuttle-shaped Dart which both wandered off after being photographed, but there's still enough on there for a nice little moth ID quiz!) It has the advantage that I can rotate it and move it according to the light, and then place it in a shaded spot when we're done with a cardboard box over it to keep the moths safe. Last night I forgot to remove the box before turning in, and ended up back in the garden in my jammies in the middle of the night when I suddenly remembered in bed!

 

[Steve Lister]

My first, and rather overdue, Elephant Hawk this morning, plus three nice micros NFY - Crambus lathionellus, Epinotia bilunana and Lozotaenia forsterana. The last was a first for my garden, in my 16th year of trapping here.

Steve

 

[Farnboro John]

Here's that one from yesterday. I'm completely baffled, to me it could be any of about four species and of course I might be off-beam anyway. Of the options, I've had Dark Arches before but to me it was a little too small for that?

Help please.

John

 

[Andy Adcock]

The half dark Kidney usually leads me to Nutmeg.

 

[Britseye]

Here's that one from yesterday. I'm completely baffled, to me it could be any of about four species and of course I might be off-beam anyway. Of the options, I've had Dark Arches before but to me it was a little too small for that?

Help please.

John

I've been puzzling over this for a little bit as I think I might have seen the odd thing like this myself and written it off as a Dark Arches. I followed Andy's suggestion of Nutmeg to Google and thought I found a decent match, only to find the title says something different?

https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=nutmeg+moth#id=_

Second row. Lefthand most picture.