A step further afield

After a few mothing session in the back yard, I felt ready to try out my battery powered LED lighting up on the hill above the house. So traveling no more than about 300m (so keeping local), just before 10pm last night I had the trap up and running by 5 past 10.

The lights are 15 x 5v blacklight LEDs running off my charger, making the whole trap light and easily portable. The battery has a 5v output and is said to have enough charge to last some 10 hours. In the 6 hours I ran the trap I used less than half the stored charge. From that point alone, this was a successful experiment.

As for the mothing, 75 moths from 25 species. Unsurprisingly, Heart and Dart's provided almost half of the total, with 37 individuals. Next most common were Peppered Moth and Large Yellow Underwing, both with 5 each. For the first time, more than a single micro made it into the trap, with singles of Chrysoteuchia culmella and Celypha lacunana and 3 Eudoinia agg.

One moth landed briefly on the outside of the trap and kept it's wings closed above its abdomin, as per butterflies. I managed one half decent photo before it flew off. It's a Eulithis, but which species?

Mid way through the night I could hear the local Tawny Owl chicks begging for food, but no sight or sound of the adults. And a surprise with the first species in the dawn chorus - Swallow - singing in the early morning grey light before the first Blackbird or Robin had uttered a note.

and there is more...

After emptying the trap last week i, as usual had a look round the wall's etc. looking for anything that might have settled elsewhere, but didn't find anything. However, when I went into the back yard at dinner time, I spotted two Buff Arches, resting under the door overhang. I clearly missed those when doing the rounds in the morning.

With that in mind, I had a really good look round this morning finding nothing. So dinner time came, I went out and promptly found a moth running along the concrete floor. A Sycamore, Acronicta aceris, another lifer, which was quickly followed by a Mottled Beauty, Alcis repandata, of the form conversaria.  Where where these hiding this morning.

These take the catch up to 35 moths of 20 species.

                                          Sycamore Acronicta aceris

                                          Mottled Beauty Alcis repandata, f. conversaria

The strangest find in the trap this morning was the remains of a White Ermine, Spilosoma lubricipedia lying at the bottom of the trap under one of the egg carton.

Now thats better....

Trying to figure out why my moth trap numbers seem low compared to many others. I think the entrance/exit gap was possible too large, allowing moths to escape/ So I made a mall addition to reduce the hole size and trapping last night brought in the best haul by far - 34 moths of 18 species.

Highlight has to be the singles of Elephant and Small Elephant Hawk-moths. Heart and Dart continued their preeminent role with 11 individuals - that was almost as many Heart and Darts in this trap this morning as the total number of moths I've had in that trap at any one time before last night.

                                          Who doesn't like an Elephant, Deilephila elpenor

                                          or a Small Elephant, Deilephila porcellus

 For the first time, the trap produced some moth lifers - 3 in total. Sword-grass Xylena exsoleta came in with 3 individuals, and I had singles of Common Quaker, Orthosia cerasi (somewhat surprised this is a lifer) and a Mottled Pug, Eupithecia exiguta.

                                           Sword-grass Xylena exsoleta

                                          Common Quaker, Orthosia cerasi   

                                          Mottled Pug, Eupithecia exiguta

More home mothing

Put the trap out last night with a new, slightly larger box. Unfortunately, it didn't bring in more moths, with just 8 individuals from 7 species. Top performer was Peppered Moth with 2, Heart and Dart kept its sequence as the only species I've caught in every session (but that is only 3!), but reduced to just a single. 2 new for the garden were Flame Shoulder, Ochropleura plectra and Treble Lines Charanyca trigrammica. A rather dark pug on the exterior wall is proving difficult to nail, but suspect it's another Grey Pug, Eupithecia subfuscata.

                                        Flame Shoulder Ochropleura plectra

                                          Treble Lines Charanyca trigrammica

                                                    Grey Pug, Eupithecia subfuscata

The mothing gathers pace

Whilst most were moth trapping on Friday or Saturday night, I put my trapping off to last night and was rewarded with my best every catch - OK it's only the third catch, but it was a lot better than the previous two. A whopping 14 moths of no less than 10 species. And for the first time I didn't immediately recognise all the moths.

Some were easy and had already graced the trap previously - Poplar Hawkmoth, Buff-tip and a further 3 Heart and Dart. 2 Small Magpie were new for the trap but easy to recognise. A Lobster Moth took a couple of minutes for me to recognise as I think I've only ever seen one previously, back in 201, as did a Buff Ermine.

One on the outside of the trap had me immediately think The Coronet but looking at the guide, I doubted that and the more I looked the more I doubted that initial id. Fortunately, downloading the photo's and checking with the excellent UK Moths website brought me back to my original, initial id. The few nights I've gone out mothing with Mark Evans look to be paying off, and that I have remembered somethings.

Probably toughest was my first pug in the trap, but I think I'm OK with Grey Pug.

                                          Grey Pug, Eupithecia subfuscata (natural light)

                                          The same Grey Pug but under flash.

No beetles in the by-catch this time, but a lesser water boatman spp has been potted for a closer look later.

And a birding note to finish, as I was packing up there was a male Greenfinch singing nearby. He's been around all spring but I'm not sure if he has a mate. I hope he does as, like most places, the Greenfiches round here were badly hit by disease.

Improving, if only just.

I ran the moth trap out for its second run out last night. A slight increase in both species and numbers, 7 spp, and 10 in total. Nothing as spectacular as the Poplar Hawkmoth. Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda was the only species to show more than once - 2 males and a female.

The first micro turned up in the trap - a Light Brown Apple Moth, Epiphyas postvittana. Hardly surprising as its a species that turns up at the kitchen window most years, and I've already seen several whilst out and about.

Common Marbled Carpet, Chlorocysta truncata, Brown Silver-line, Petrophora chlorosata, Heart and Dart, Agroti exclamationis, Peppered Moth, Biston betulria and Satin Grass-veneer Crambus perlella made up the rest of the catch.

The bye-catch included several Caddisflies and a Black Sexton Beetle, Nicrophorus humator. Unlike the one last week, this one came complete with a load of mites, Poecilochirus spp. Looking into these mights, there is a suggestions from a 2017 paper that each species of might favours a singe species of Sexton Beetle. Unfortunately I couldn't get info on the species favouring N. humator.

On the wall was a small Soldier Beetle that turned out to be Rhagonycha lignosa, a lifer.

                                              Pale Tussock

                                           Common Marbled Carpet

                                          One of the smarter Caddisflies Athripsodes bilineatus

                                           Rhagonycha lignosa

Is it Christmas?

It had to happen, particularly as I got more and more into my pan-species listing, and I fought temptation for a long time but eventually surrendered and have gone over to the dark side and now own my own moth trap. A 20w blacklight Skinner type, currently this runs of mains, but hope to convert to run with a 5w blacklight LEDs that can be powered by my charger pack, making it more portable.

Last night was my first night of running the trap in the back yard, so it was a bit like Christmas this morning. I was up first thing to switch of the trap, had breakfast and then proceeded to inspect the nights catch (and preying there was a catch).

On the bathroom window, a Cinnabar was resting. Oh, looking promising. I lifted the first flap and there, in all it's glory was a Buff-tip. Result. A common enough species, but a nice species to go down as the first species recorded in the trap. Lifting the other flap, a Poplar Hawkmoth. Again common enough, but always nice to see.

After that, not much else, 3 Heart and Dart was the remainder of the catch.

A check of the back wall, did produce a 5th species, a Peppered Moth.

The byecatch included a single Cockchafer and a single Sexton Beetle (still to determine to species).

So not a lot caught but, I'm happy for now with the results, and hopefully better nights to follow over the next few years.