80 Nights

Well, that's summer done. Birding-wise I have not done justice to the months of June, July and August, and fully deserve the slim pickings I got. Not even a juv Yellow-legged Gull to my name, which says it all really...

Some of the blame for this rubbish effort can be attributed to a white bucket in the garage. This humble moth trap has transformed my summer and introduced me to a world of unexpected wonder. There was a patchy first week or so, but pretty soon it was out every night - 80 in total now. In the early days I shied away from many of the micros, but soon began to have a go at just about every moth in the trap. The garden list stands at 330 (give or take) and is added to almost nightly. There have been some notable scarcities, a fair number of migrants, and the current Scrobipalpa ocellatella (Beet Moth) invasion (43 last night, 35 the night before) to keep me entertained. And most of all, I have been completely blown away by how beautiful so many moths are. Frequent, legitimate use of the word 'stunning' has been the order of the day. And here is the latest new moth to earn that adjective...

Feathered Gothic from last night's catch. A fairly common and widespread moth apparently, but this is our first. Definitely stunning!

The so-called micro-moths have probably delivered the biggest surprise. Tiny, anonymous specks that bounce around the trap like nutters, or arrive on the trap vanes in the first hour or two of darkness, are transformed into something very different through a hand lens. The intricate pattern, vibrant colour or, in some cases, complete whackiness that greets your eye is so often a real treat. Here is a whole stack of very recent examples...

Common, but this is only about our third.

Very common, and highly variable.

Our first one of these. My ID is a bit tentative, but think it's okay.

A tiny one that we've had before. Pretty common I think.

With only about 20 records on the Dorset Living Record map, possibly our scarcest recent micro. It should have dark fringing on the wingtips, but that is worn away to such an extent that Obsidentify could not help me. I had to ID it the old-fashioned way, by thumbing through a field guide.

A nice example of the recent invader.

Bonkers little thing, roughly 3.5mm long. This is what is responsible for all those brown-leaved Horse Chestnut trees. Considering how many millions must be out there, we don't see it that often.

Another new one for us, though again quite common I think.

A regular visitor to our trap.

Very common, but this is the darkest I've seen so far.

Had a few of these.

We've had just a few of these. My camera doesn't do it justice, but those markings are amazingly intricate through a lens.

I should probably have labelled this Coleophora alcyonipennella/frischella, because it has a twin. In fact there are one or two other look-alikes too. Ah well...

Even with tiny micros of 3 or 4mm my camera doesn't do too badly, but when you see shots of the same species taken with a proper set-up... Wow! So much detail!

Finally, a few recent macros...

The beautifully marked L-album Wainscot, our second.

Old Lady x2. They are large! We've had four in total now.

Burnished Brass, always worth a photo.

Small Dusty Wave is a recent new one for the garden. This is our second.

So, autumn is here now, and I really should do some birding. The West Bex and Cogden area has produced at least two Wrynecks recently, and who knows what else might be out there? Mind you, there must be a lot of autumn moths I haven't seen yet...