National Moth Night

The birding summer doldrums are here but at least I have my interest in moths to keep me occupied and with National Moth Night being held from 3rd to 5th July I planned to have the moth trap out in the back yard for at least one of the nights. I ended up putting the trap out on the night on the 5th July as the 3rd was ok weather-wise but I was on an early shift the next morning and the 4th was wet overnight.

I had a total of 24 moths of 13 species, not bad for the back yard at this time of year when the weather is cooler and unsettled as it has been of late. The moths caught in the trap were:-

3 Riband Wave                    1 Light Brown Apple Moth
1 Bee Moth                          2 Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
1 Buff Ermine                       1 Anania coronata
5 Uncertain                          1 male Four Spotted Footman
1 Rustic                                1 Pug sp.
2 Garden Carpet                  2 Buff Arches
3 Bright Line Brown Eye

Unknown Pug Sp.



After packing the moth box away we headed off to Bude with the Outlaws for the day and the only birds of note were 4 redshank and 2 teal at Maer Lake along with a singing chiffchaff. However there were quite a few Nettletap moths around the flowers behind the caravan and the toilet blocks held quite a few moths :-

2 Riband Wave                                         1 Marbled Coronet
1 Early Thorn                                           1 Single Dotted Wave
2 Udea prunalis                                        1 Common Wave
1 Small Magpie                                         1 White Line Snout
1 Heart and Club                                      1 Dingy Footman
1 Engrailed

 White Line Snout

 White Line Snout

 Engrailed

Marbled Coronet



I've submitted my records on the National Moth Night website, the theme had been woodland moths but records could be submitted from anywhere, just as well as I have no access to light trapping in woodland! And the white line snout and engrailed are new moths for me with the white line snout being an uncommon but very attractive moth that I initially thought was a micro as it was so small.