Last Nights Moths – Rosy Rustic

The moth trap went out last night. No rain, moderate winds and a minimum temperature of 15.3ºC resulted in 22 different species, 135 moths in total and one new species to me. Nothing too exciting but quite a large number of Small Square Spots.

• 22 x Silver Y
• 4 x Archer’s Dart
• 13 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
• 1 x Yellow-tail
• 2 x Common Marbled Carpet
• 4 x Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet
• 1 x Willow Beauty
• 14 x Large Yellow Underwing
• 1 x Dingy Footman
• 2 x Purple Bar
• 3 x Dark Sword Grass
• 6 x Flounced Rustic
• 9 x Flame Shoulder
• 35 x Small Square Spot
• 1 x Sallow Kitten
• 1 x White-line Dart
• 6 x Dark Arches
• 1 x Gold Spot
• 4 x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 1 x July Highflyer
• 1 x Antler Moth
• 3 x Rosy Rustic*

Rosy Rustic

I put the moth trap out again last night and had quite a catch. With light winds most of the night, temperatures staying above 13ºC and light cloud cover it was perfect conditions.

As well as the usual suspects there were a number of new garden records as well, with close to 200 moths and 38 different species. I’m still working on the identification of a few of them.

• 2 x Rosy Minor
• 7 x Antler Moth
• 49 x Large Yellow Underwing
• 4 x Brimstone Moth
• 3 x July Highflyer
• 4 x Common Carpet
• 1 x Willow Beauty
• 1 x Cloaked Minor
• 14 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
• 24 x Flame Shoulder
• 3 x Yellow-tail
• 3 x Tawny Speckled Pug
• 4 x Drinker
• 3 x Least Yellow Underwing
• 1 x Magpie*
• 3 x Dingy Footman
• 1 x Purple Bar
• 16 x Dark Arches
• 5 x Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet
• 6 x Small Square Spot
• 1 x Scalloped Oak
• 2 x Lime-speck Pug
• 1 x Garden Tiger
• 5 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
• 3 x White-line Dart
• 12 x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 4 x Smoky Wainscot
• 1 x Clouded Border
• 5 x Flounced Rustic
• 2 x Archer’s Dart
• 1 x Garden Carpet
• 1 x Silver Y
• 1 x Clay
• 1 x Six-striped Rustic*
• 1 x Lychnis*
• 1 x Lesser Broad-border Yellow Underwing*
• 1 x Mother of Pearl*
• 1 x Ringed China Mark*
• 1 x As yet unidentifed- Pyrausta despicata

Here are the new ones.

Weather and days away mean that we haven’t put the moth trap out much lately but I thought I’d risk it last night. It ended up being fairly windy but we still had quite a few moths and some new ones too.

Here’s the list from last night.

• 1 x July Highflyer
• 10 x Large Yellow Underwing
• 1 x Tawny Speckled Pug*
• 3 x White-line Dart
• 3 x Dark Arches
• 1 x Silver Y
• 1 x Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet
• 4 x Drinker
• 6 x Smoky Wainscot
• 1 x Rosy Minor
• 1 x Scalloped Oak
• 4 x Flame Shoulder
• 4 x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 1 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
• 2 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
• 4 x Small Square Spot
• 1 x Mullein Wave*
• 1 x Flounced Rustic*

Here are the new ones.

Nothing too exciting in the moth trap last night, the only new moth was an Oak Eggar.

Oak Eggar

Here’s the full list from last night:

• 1 x Cloaked Minor
• 11 x Scarce Footman
• 2 x Yellow-tail
• 4 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
• 3 x Dark Arches
• 4 x White-line Dart
• 1 x Lackey
• 16 x Large Yellow Underwing
• 5 x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 1 x Bright-line Brown-eye
• 6 x Rosy Minor
• 2 x Dingy Footman
• 4 x Smoky Wainscot
• 2 x Drinker
• 1 x Scalloped Oak
• 2 x Riband Wave
• 1 x Ruby Tiger
• 1 x Oak Eggar*
• 2 x Garden Tiger
• 1 x Buff Ermine
• 1 x Single-dotted Wave
• 1 x Tawny Shears

Just before bed time the rain eased, so seeing as I was due to be looking after Morgan all day I thought I’d put the moth trap out so that we could go through them this morning.

It wasn’t a huge catch, but there was enough to keep us busy and a few new ones as well.

• 1 x Bright-line Brown-eye
• 1 x Single-dotted Wave
• 4 x Heart and Dart
• 1 x Lime-speck Pug
• 6 x Garden Tiger
• 4 x Rosy Minor
• 2 x White-line Dart
• 2 x Chinese Character
• 3 x July Highflyer
• 1 x Dingy Footman
• 1 x Riband Wave
• 1 x Poplar Hawkmoth
• 1 x Flame
• 18 x Large Yellow Underwing
• 11 x Dark Arches
• 3 x Scarce Footman
• 1 x Red Twin-spot Carpet
• 2 x Smoky Wainscot
• 6 x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 2 x Uncertain
• 1 x Common Wainscot
• 3 x Scalloped Oak
• 1 x Rustic
• 1 x Broom Moth

We had a Ceredigion Moth Group Meeting this weekend. In total we set up 7 traps in the hills above Talybont and then went through them on Saturday morning. Morgan and couldn’t stay long but we had time to go through the contents of our trap which contained about 23 different species, a few of which were new to us.

Not surprising that we’d get different moths inland surrounded by forestry which is quite a contrast to the open spaces and coastal dunes around us.

The moths in our trap were:

• 1x Light Emerald
• 1x Rustic
• 1x Barred Red*
• 2x Buff Tip
• 13x Large Yellow Underwing
• 2x Scarce Footman
• 1x Clay
• 3x Common Rustic agg.
• 1x Peppered Moth*
• 1x Brimstone Moth
• 1x Buff Arches
• 1x Antler Moth
• 1x Ingrailed Clay*
• 4x Dark Arches
• 2x Straw Dot*
• 1x Green Pug*
• 1x Riband Wave
• 2x Fan Foot*
• 1x July Highflyer
• 1x Mottled Rustic
• 1x Poplar Hawkmoth

I’ve yet to hear what was in the other traps or whether there was anything rare or exciting, but it was good to meet up with everyone and most people seemed impressed with Morgan’s knowledge of moths!

The weather wasn’t great for moth trapping on Saturday night. It was raining when I put the trap out and then the wind picked up with gusts to 31.6 knots and average wind speed around 20-25 knots for most of the night. The temperature dropped to 13.8ºC, but there was still quite a varied catch in the trap come the morning with over 100 moths from 30 different species.

• 2x Scarce Footman
• 2x Garden Tiger
• 1x Ruby Tiger
• 1x Gold Spot
• 7x Heart and Dart
• 7x Lackey
• 31x Dark Arches
• 2x Small Magpie
• 3x Flame Shoulder
• 2x Dark / Grey Dagger agg.
• 18x Large Yellow Underwing
• 1x Buff Ermine
• 2x Poplar Grey
• 1x Dark Sword Grass
• 2x Archer’s Dart
• 10x Flame
• 3x Shuttle-shaped Dart
• 1x Common Wainscot
• 1x Eyed Hawkmoth
• 1x Silver Y
• 3x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 1x Peach Blossom
• 1x Bright-line Brown-eye
• 1x July Highflyer
• 2x Swallow-tailed Moth*
• 1x Uncertain
• 1x Antler Moth*
• 1x Double-striped Pig
• 1x Clay
• 1x Pug – Not sure which yet? – Possibly Thyme Pug

The Peach Blossom with its bright pink splotches and the True Lover’s Knot are particularly nice.

I thought last night would be a good night for the moths. Temperatures stayed above 15ºC and when I put the trap out there was no wind and some light rain. The rain eased overnight and the wind picked up a little but there were still plenty of moths in the trap this morning.

In fact, it was the biggest catch so far with  242 macro moths, from 45 different species, 10 species of which were new to me. There were also lots of micro moths that I ignored.

Here are the photos of the new ones or particularly nice specimens.

And the full list if Macro Moths

• 7 x Barred yellow
• 38x Lackey
• 9x Garden Tiger
• 2x Lime-speck Pug
• 1x Silver Y
• 20x Flame
• 8x Rustic
• 1x Small Seraphim
• 5x Oligia sp.
• 5x Flame Shoulder
• 1x Buff Tip
• 1x Ruby Tiger
• 1x White Ermine
• 23x Large Yellow Underwing
• 24x Heart and Dart
• 1x White-line Dart
• 4x Elephant Hawkmoth
• 4x Buff Ermine
• 40x Dark Arches
• 1x Grey Pug
• 2x Uncertain
• 1x Bright-line Brown-eye
• 1x Middle-barred Minor
• 1x Foxglove Pug
• 1x Double-striped Pug
• 3x Broom Moth
• 2x Small Fan-foot*
• 12x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
• 1x Galium Carpet
• 1x Buff Arches*
• 3x Smoky Wainscot
• 1x Drinker*
• 1x Poplar Hawkmoth
• 3x Mottled Rustic
• 1x Shoulder-striped Wainscot
• 1x Dusky Brocade
• 2x July Highflyer*
• 1x Archer’s Dart
• 1x Riband Wave
• 1x Herald*
• 1x Marbled Coronet
• 1x Short-cloaked Moth*
• 1x Cabbage Moth*
• 1x Dart – As yet unidentified – Probably another White-line Dart though
• 1x Pug – As yet Unidentified
• 1x Eudonia mercurella?

Another good night for the moth trap last night. The weather was still, a little overcast and temperatures only dropped to 10.6ºC. In the trap this orning were 108 moths from 29 different species, which included 4 new garden records.

• 2x Scarce Footman*
• 1x Small Magpie
• 26 x Lackey
• 3x Wormwood Pug
• 2x Garden Tiger
• 6x Grey Pug
• 2x Small Seraphim
• 2x Elephant Hawkmoth
• 19x Heart and Dart
• 2x White Ermine
• 10x Dark Arches
• 3x Oligia sp.
• 1x Pebble Prominent
• 1x Double-striped Pug
• 2x Middle-barred Minor
• 4x Flame
• 1x Common Pug
• 7x Barred yellow*
• 1x Willow Beauty
• 1x Common Marbled Carpet
• 1x Shoulder-striped Wainscot
• 2x Broom Moth
• 2x Clouded-bordered Brindle
• 1x Large Yellow Underwing
• 1x Dusky Brocade
• 1x Common Carpet
• 1x Smoky Wainscot*
• 1x White-line Dart*
• 2x Lime-speck Pug

Of the new ones, the Yellow Barred is a lovely looking moth. The one I managed to photograph wasn’t the brightest of the bunch but still quite nice. The Scarce Footman, isn’t actually that scarce despite its name and the White-line Dart is quite common here too.

Time for a Stats Update:

Stats

2010

Number of species: 129

Moths: 1740

All time

Number of species: 147

Moths: 1939

We had a couple of fairly standard nights in the Moth trap over the weekend. Saturday had the most moths in the trap and included a new on to me, the Silky Wainscot – Not rare in the county, but not common either just just a smattering of records.

Silky Wainscot

The full list from Saturday night was:

• 1x Mottled Rustic
• 2x Small Seraphim
• 47x Lackey
• 6x Dark Acrhes
• 2x Elephant Hawkmoth
• 18x Heart and Dart
• 5x Buff Ermine
• 1x White Ermine
• 3x Oligia sp.
• 1x Lime-speck Pug
• 1x Middle-barred Minor
• 1x Small Magpie
• 4x Shoulder-striped Wainscot
• 1x Setaceous Hebrew Character
• 1x Bright-line Brown-eye
• 5x Flame
• 2x Garden Tiger
• 1x Heart and Club
• 1x Silver-ground Carpet
• 1x Purple Bar
• 1x Grey Pug
• 1x Broom
• 1x Light Emerald
• 1x Clouded-bordered Brindle
• 1x Large Yellow Underwing
• 2x Flame Shoulder
• 1x Bordered Sallow
• 1x Common Marbled Carpet
• 1x Small Elephant Hawkmoth
• 1x Dusky Brocade
• 1x Silky Wainscot*