Sunday 21 May 2017 - Robinson mv 125w. garden trap. Good conditions, with a calm,dry evening and11 degrees, which brought a good variety of moths including: 5 Brimstone, 1 male and female Pale Tussock, 3 Scalloped Hazel, 6 Small Phoenix, 4 Scorched Wing, 3 Common Lutestring, 1 Peach Blossom, 2 Flame Shoulders, 3 Nut-tree Tussock, 3 White-pinion Spotted, 1 Gt Prominent, 3 Peppered Moth, 2 Green Carpet, 2 Poplar Hawkmoth, 1 White Ermine, 3 Twenty-plume, 1 Garden Carpet, 3 Common Marbled Carpet, 1 Pale Prominent, 1 Clouded-bordered Brindle, with the following:-
nfg, nfy, nfm 1 Buff-tip, 3 Small Magpie, 1 Yellow-barred Brindle, 1 Cream Wave, 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character, 1 Mottled Beauty, 1 Grey Dagger.
Buff-tip Phalera bucephala
Buff-tip Phalera bucephala
Buff-tip Phalera bucephala
Mottled Beauty Alcis repandata repandata
Grey Dagger Acronicta psi
The garden trapping this month has also seen me pot approx 100 Cockchafers, although, I'm sure I'm not alone. I will not be sorry to see their numbers dwindle as the days go by.
It looks set to be a glorious week, with the hottest days on Thursday and Friday, according to Derek Brockway, so should be lots of new moths and butterflies out there. Happy trapping and moth/butterfly spotting!
You had a great selection on Sunday night, Jacqueline, much better than mine, although I used actinic traps which generally attract fewer (but sometimes different) moths in my experience. As you say, the weather's set to get warmer so I might try MV later in the week. Regarding the Dagger Moth, are you sure that it's a Grey and not Dark? I've never got around to differentiating mine via the genitalia so I always record them as 'Dagger sp.' I would have liked to see a photo of the Cream Wave, too, never had one here, only Lesser C.W. which appears later (July). Both species are classed as 'Local' so it's a good record.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply Chris. Just checked my field guide, and yes I think you're right. It is the Dark Dagger. If you look at the base of the head it shows a small 'bump' at the bottom of a slightly bigger 'bump' , as in my photo, whereas the Grey has no 'bumps'. I shall post the photos of the 'Cream Wave' for you. That's good news for the area.
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