Above - This might be the last of the phone box moths for a while. A nice, but worn, Pebble Prominent...
Above - top , Least Yellow Underwing and below, Lesser Yellow Underwing...
...because tonight Tom Tams kindly let me borrow one of his moth traps for the rest of the season. I gave it a blast last night for an hour to test it out then it began raining so I packed up. In that hour the box filled with Large Yellow Underwings, dropping from the sky like manna from heaven. In the sea of 'loggerheeds' as my dad would call them before they were flung unceremoniuosly outside, I could find 5 Least Yellow Underwings and half a dozen Lesser Yellow Underwings and quite a few Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwings.
In addition there was a Common Marbled Carpet, a Dark Marbled Carpet, Square spot Rustic, Marbled Minor, Common Rustic and Shuttle shaped Dart.
It looks fine tonight so I'll give it a proper session. I might have to dig the trap out of the heap of LYU's...
If you are interested in Moths, give Toms website a try here (and see link on the right). He has an excellent series of photos of both macro and micro moths that would help anyone wanting to i.d a mystery!
I've added Mike Hodgson's site too here.
3 comments:
I knew it wouldn't be long before you obtained a trap Stewart - now you'll be hooked! It is an MV or actinic light?
If you stick at it for a while you'll be amazed how many species you can pick up in your garden, especially if/when you have a go at the micros. Even in my small suburban garden in Leicestershire with no mature woodland for miles I've logged almost 580 species in 10 years.
The Large Yellow Underwings at this time of year can be a nuisance:
http://skevsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/from-garden-trap-25082008.html
But well worth it for some of the really smart 'sallows' that will all be out in a couple of weeks.
Ahh, the plaque proportions of LYU`s. Like Skev says, they are a nuisance. Not only their numbers but they disturb everything else in the trap.
Good luck for the rest of the year, Stewart.
Nice to see all these moths Stewart. I did bring my light with me up here, managed to squeeze the mothing gear and one book into the Fiesta. Best so far has been a Gothic and that has been using the kitchen light, possibly put the lamp out tonight if it doesn't rain.
Post a Comment