Lepidopteral Update

There hasn't been a Moth Diary entry for more than two weeks, so here is an update. Now, I realise this might bore the pants of some NQS readers, so at the end of the post is a little treat: a rare shot of a perched Clouded Yellow showing its upperwing.

I'll be frank. The heady days of summer, with their mothy abundance and myriad challenging micros, are over. Since the last Moth Diary (in this post on 19th September) the trap has been deployed on eight nights and bagged just five 'new for year' and one 'new for garden'. As recent NQS content has amply demonstrated, the birds are currently winning by a country mile. Nevertheless, there have been some nice mothy highlights...

 

Saturday night, 23rd September

16 moths of 7 species. Pathetic. Moths not even trying.

Monday night, 25th September

30 moths of 15 species. One lovely highlight...

A delicate immigrant Vestal, a male. Only our second this year.

Tuesday night, 26th September

35 moths of 13 species, though two were new for year...

Like flying lichen, this is Feathered Ranunculus. Recorded on 15 nights last year.

Black Rustic. Darth Vader moth. Recorded on seven nights in 2022.

Saturday night, 30th September

23 moths of 14 species. Nothing new, but two Black Rustics, plus singles of Diamond-back Moth and L-album Wainscot were nice.

Sunday night, 1st October

53 moths of 17 species; one new for year and garden. Much better. Having drooled over this very smart moth while picking through the Portland Bird Observatory trap contents a couple of weeks back, I was well chuffed to catch one here...

The garden's first Feathered Brindle, a nationally scarce coastal specialist.

Another nationally scarce coastal specialist; our second individual.

The night produced 20 Box-tree Moths, more than double our highest count until now. In 2022 we trapped 22 over 19 nights, with a peak of three. This year we are on about 120 so far. I think the picture is clear! Still, they are rather lovely, and we've had very few of these dark ones.

A local species. Our fifth of the year I think.

Monday night, 2nd October

40 moths of 18 species, but nothing dramatic. Oh, another Blair's Mocha though, bringing the 2023 tally to 'loads'. No photo of that of course. I wouldn't dare.

Tuesday night, 3rd October

23 moths of 10 species; one new for year. Until recording our first Beaded Chestnut on this very same night in 2022, I thought I must be overlooking it due to the similarity of some forms to the very common Lunar Underwing. We then ended up catching 24 over 16 nights, so this one may well be the first of a few...

Beaded Chestnut. This form is a doddle to ID, and probably the least similar to any Lunar Underwings we've ever trapped!

Another flimsy little Vestal. Gorgeous.

Wednesday night, 4th October

36 moths of 14 species; one new for year. Also notable was our third Feathered Brindle already, after none at all in 2022.

The very autumnal Barred Sallow. We trapped up to three on nine nights last year, and this is the first of 2023

Dark Chestnut. Last recorded in March, but we've only trapped a handful. Have wrestled with a few 'is it a Chestnut or Dark Chestnut?' individuals, but this is a nice fresh one, with very sharp, 90-degree apex. Even I didn't struggle with it.

Found this Rusty-dot Pearl, a regular immigrant, in the garden this afternoon. We've not had many this year, but the species' presence always gives me hope that a rarer immigrant might be just around the corner.

So that's the moths up to date. Well done if you've actually read all that. Now, as promised, a perched Clouded Yellow showing its upperwing...

...well, some of it.