Moth Trap - 11th August 2023 (short on time)

Sharing the results from my latest Moth Trap Session. I have written posts about setting up a moth trap and on collecting the results if you want some more background info on how and why I use a Moth Trap

Date: 11th August 2023

Weather:

Its been 2 weeks since the last session.... time to drag out the trap again and see what I can find.

To be honest, I'm really pushed for time this weekend. I really want to get the trap out to see what is about for the time of year, but after finishing work at 5pm I had to try a get all my chores done that I needed to do. I am going for my long run tomorrow morning, and as it is parkrun I need to leave the house by 8am sharp.

When I moth trap I'm generally awake 'til 3 in the morning, and I won't be able to run effectively after 4 hours sleep!

Ideally I'd rather trap tomorrow night, but it's my mums birthday this weekend, and I'm going round tomorrow evening for a BBQ. I could just about manage to set up the trap afterwards, but the weather forecast tomorrow doesn't look great if I'm honest!

It might be warmer tomorrow night, but with late afternoon showers, and that strong blustery wind... its a no go from me. Tonight is at least dry, and there is less winfd tonight, but it means I will need to cut the session short as I need to be up early on Saturday

Nothing for it, I'm gonna have to trap tonight.

I've just put the trap out now... its already getting dark out there! I know its only August, but its already getting noticeably darker in the evenings

Lights on, I just need to quickly wrap the presents (cos I'm not flammin' organized as per usual) and then I can see what I can mange to find in roughly 3 hours of trapping.

not to self, I need to turn everything off at midnight!

Here. We. Go!

Results: 90 moths of 36 species

Summary of Results:

In the, despite my lack of organization, and late start (and early finish), it was a surprisingly productive session. Starting at 9:30pm and turning everything off before midnight, meant all this was seen in just 2 and a half hours.

It does make me wonder what numbers I could have seen if I had stayed up until 3am as usual but I guess I'll never know now!

There were no new species seen last night, but with over 300 species seen in the garden to date, its going to get harder and harder to find new species.

There was plenty to look at anyway, and I'll share pictures of some of the more interesting ones below

Cloaked Minor - Mesoligia furuncula

Common Footman - Eilema lurideola

The Common Footman was new to the garden (I did see one up in Scotland), and they look very similar to the Scarce Footman (below):

Scarce Footman - Eilema complana

The biggest difference between the 2 species is the way the moth holds its wings. Its not very clear from the pictures I've taken, but in the image below is the Common Footman on the left with its wings held flat, and the Scarce Footman on the right with the wings curled tightly around its body

Image created using source images from UK Moths - ONE and TWO

Dusky Thorn - Ennomos fuscantaria

Lesser Broad-Bordered Yellow Underwing - Noctua janthe

Latticed Heath - Chiasmia clathrata

Ruby Tiger - Phragmatobia fuliginosa

Old Lady - Mormo maura

A pretty interesting selection, as I'm sure you'll agree. All of the above were new to the garden for the year apart from the Ruby Tiger and the Cloaked Minor, and I've added the various records to the spreadsheet I use to keep track of all my sightings, which will eventually be submitted to my County Moth Recorder.

With all the admin caught up, I can now tidy it all away until next week. And hopefully next time I will be able to spend more time moth trapping than I managed with this session!

What will happen next time? Will it be busy and chaotic? Will it be quieter? Will I find something new to record?

Well, once again, there is only one way to find out!

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