:: Wild Places Blog ::

Well, our first proper night mothing on the 5th April brought us a nice catch. The night had a low of 4′C and the wind dropped to virtually nothing:-

1 Diurnea fagella, 2 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, 1 March Moth, 16 small Quaker, 16 Common Quaker, 4 Clouded Drab, 12 Hebrew Character, 1 Chestnut. Plus 1 Nut-tree Tussock was found on the low wall surrounding the patio and 1 each of Hebrew Character and Common Quaker were found on the conservatory.

Diurnea fagella - our micro moth challenge

Another micro moth, a plume moth, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

March Moth (Alsophilia oescularia), male - the female is wingless

Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli)

Nut-tree Tussock, seen from the side

A couple of days later saw us visiting mother-in-law in South Ockendon, Essex (VC 18, South Essex). The night was cool but dry and we managed to capture a few moths - i didn’t think it was too bad for a tiny garden in a built up area: 1 Emmelina species presumed to be Emmelina monodactyla, 2 Small Quaker, 4 Common Quaker, 1 Clouded Drab, 1 Early Grey.

Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)

Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)

Emmelina species of plume moth, presumed to be Emmelina monodactyla

Back at home we put the trap out on the 9th April. A calm, mild night.

Over thirty moths in the trap the next morning: 1 Emmelina species of plume moth, again, presumed to be Emmelina monodactyla, 11 Small Quaker, 16 Common Quaker, 4 Hebrew Character (plus another 2 found on the conservatory) and a moth new to our garden, a Pine Beauty.

Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea)

Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)

Probably the most amazing experience of the morning was that long after we’d emptied the trap and id’d all the moths in there we were drinking coffee, looking out of the conservatory window. Ian said “is that a leaf or a moth” i grabbed a pot and went out and collected a moth. In the meantime Ian had grabbed another pot as the one he’d spotted wasn’t the same one as me. While we admired our finds we found yet another moth on the patio, a Nut-tree Tussock. Now, all these moths must have come out after we’d sorted the trap as we thoroughly searched the patio, steps, wall and fence area for “strays”.

The moth that Ian had thought was a leaf turned out to be a Purple Thorn - what an amazing moth, surely as beautiful as any butterfly?!

Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria)

Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria)

The remaining moth took us a while, we went through the books a couple of times - feeling like real novices - but we got there in the end, Brindled Beauty.

Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria)

I have to say that we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our first week - that feeling of never knowing what is in the trap when you visit it the next morning is quite addictive and we both really enjoy the id challenges and we both just love to learn about the subject. We are now looking forward to the coming week, hoping for mild weather. Planning ahead, we are also looking forward to a visit to Shropshire in a couple of weeks time and then on up to the Uists and on to Lewis - the moth trap will definitely be packed!

Must mention a couple of the good web sites i’ve been using to learn about moths over the last couple of weeks or so:-

UK Moths - an excellent resource for id and information

and the forum Back Garden Moths - full of friendly, helpful people

Steve Duffield’s site Western Isles Wildlife also has lots of information about moths in the Outer Hebrides.