Brrrr....

No moths last night. Too cold for the trap. It was 3 degrees by 4pm and down to -2.5 through the night. This is the top of my car this morning, so I probably made a wise decision by not bothering to trap. I have it on now though, even though it was 2 degrees at 7pm...What a glutton for punishment....

[10pm update. Choke box on trap burnt out! Shite up a height!]

At last, a few moths...

GMS a day late, mainly due to a forecast of snow and gales on Friday that failed to materialise. Finally a night where the temperature only dropped to 4 degrees, it was calm and drizzling.

Taxa
1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) 1
1926 Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) 2
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 1 NFY
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 2 NFY
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 14
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 1

21 moths of 6 species, including two new species for 2011.

Common Quaker

Two Clouded Drabs, photomerged together to show differences.  

Frustrated of Howick....

I've just trawled Google for moth type blogs and have come out quite frustrated. Everyone is having a mild time of it, with phrases such as '9 degrees after dark' etc. We cant get 9 degrees during the day, let alone after dark. For over a week now we struggle to hit 7 or 8 during the day rapidly falling to 4 or so at dusk. Tonight it was 5 degrees - wow!

Many trappers in the south are having to get two people to carry the trap and need a calculator to work out the totals. Oh for a Quaker (of any kind) or maybe an Early Grey...some have even had Pale Pinion and Red Sword-grass for goodness sake...

Rant rant rant, chunter chunter......

Humph.

6th -10th March...

I tried the trap on for a couple of hours last night until it became too windy. A single noctuid fluttered around the sheet and vanished into the night, with no chance to id it.

Other than that, each night has been either too cold, down to -1, or too windy. Roll on a reasonably calm and mild night...

Mystery revisited...

A sharper image of the murdered micro from the other day. Click for a larger picture. Rusty scales and black specks can be seen. It also has striped legs though this is difficult to see in this one.  Its now looking more like ustella? Anyone?

See further down for the original post about this moth.

Above - Comparison with my moth, centre, and two variable ustella. The spotting on the bottom individual is echoed in the centre individual.

Let the Survey commence...

Last night was the first 2011 Garden Moth Survey. It takes place each Friday from now until November right across Britain. Last year started with a blank session so I was pleased that, despite the cold, I caught three moths...

An almost empty trap...

Above and below - Below is Agonopterix heracliana, but what about the one above? The spotting is different. Could it be ciliella? I haven't recorded it yet as I'm not sure of the identity...

Above - The two usual suspects at this time, Pale Brindled Beauty and Hebrew Character.

It would be great to get through the whole lot without an empty session. 

Taxa

0688 Agonopterix heracliana 1

1926 Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) 1

2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 1

3 moths of 3 sp.

Mystery Moth. Help Required...and not just for me.

Right, first of all, an explanation.

Walking along the road near home at dusk this small moth flew close by me. It looked like a pug in size and jizz, so I reached out and caught it by hand and carefully put it in my coat pocket. Back home, I removed the jacket and unzipped the side pocket and there it was ready to fly off. Gently, I potted it up, and as the light was going fast went for the camera to get a shot. The moth was, as usual, tapped out onto the slate to be positioned for best light.

Except for a school boy error. I put the pot down on top of it! Bugger.

So, er, apologies for my cack-handedness, I will do better in future.

Anyway, the photo is properly crap as by now the light had all but gone leaving me with a blurred, dead semi-flattened moth of an unknown species.

Is it, do you think, 461 Ypsolopha ustella ? Its wing span is about 17 - 18mm.