Garden Moths 2012

Half-cocked

2 moths last night, that's 1 less than my entire catch for last Winters GMS!

A Blairs Shoulder-knot:



And this, which I'm having trouble IDing, FW 18mm:

Mothman

Half-cocked wrote: »

And this, which I'm having trouble IDing, FW 18mm:

It's a Brick

Half-cocked

Mothman wrote: »

It's a Brick

Which isn't a winter GMS species. Typical.

Half-cocked

Caught that Brick again last night, plus 1 Common Marbled Carpet.

littlebug

Half-cocked wrote: »

Caught that Brick again last night, plus 1 Common Marbled Carpet.

You've already exceeded last winters total
(although not GMS night I know!)

I've retired for the Winter:)

Half-cocked

littlebug wrote: »

You've already exceeded last winters total
(although not GMS night I know!)

I've retired for the Winter:)

You should take up birdwatching for the winter!;)

Mothman

Plenty of frost this morning but a few moths did come to light.

0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 1
1760 Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1
1795x November Moth agg. (Epirrita dilutata agg.) 6
1799 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) 1
1923 Feathered Thorn (Colotois pennaria) 4
1935 Mottled Umber (Erannis defoliaria) 3
2232 Black Rustic (Aporophyla nigra) 2
2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 1
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 1
2264 Yellow-line Quaker (Agrochola macilenta) 4
2267 Beaded Chestnut (Agrochola lychnidis) 2
2306 Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) 1

Half-cocked

0998 Light Brown Apple Moth x 1. No frost here, thought I might have done a bit better.

Half-cocked

Nothing last night , not surprizing considering the temp .2 deg C.

Half-cocked

Another empty trap, that's 3 Fridays in a row. To be expected considering the low temps. Is anyone having any luck?

Mothman

Totally forgot about putting traps on last night.
Will run traps tonight, and as it so happens the weather is milder.

Mothman

Trapped a day late........I forgot! and inadvertently tapped into a much milder night, the mildest for 4 weeks. 8C all night
2 traps,
17 moths of 9 species in the 15w actinic Heath, 55 moths of 12 species in the skinner 125w MV.
Got a Black Rustic in each trap. they were fresh looking and the previous latest in the Irish database is 24th Nov.
My 3rd December record of Hebrew Character.

0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 2
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 1
1631 December Moth (Poecilocampa populi) 23
1760 Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 2
1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) 3
1768 Grey Pine Carpet (Thera obeliscata) 1
1795x November Moth agg. (Epirrita dilutata agg.) 2
1799 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) 1
1923 Feathered Thorn (Colotois pennaria) 27
1935 Mottled Umber (Erannis defoliaria) 4
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 1
2232 Black Rustic (Aporophyla nigra) 2
2262 Brick (Agrochola circellaris) 2
2306 Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) 2

Half-cocked

Driving through south Kildare yesterday evening I noticed a lot of small moths in the headlights. A friend has a farm down there with some deciduous woods, would it be worth trapping this time of year?

Mothman

Another mild night with min of 10C

Both traps had moths. Yellow-line Quaker continue to appear and the first Jan record of Angle Shades in the Irish database.

1044x Acleris ferrugana/notana 2
1631 December Moth (Poecilocampa populi) 2
1760 Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1
1799 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) 2
1935 Mottled Umber (Erannis defoliaria) 5
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 1
2264 Yellow-line Quaker (Agrochola macilenta) 2
2306 Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) 1

littlebug

Does anyone know where (or if) I can get a replacement 40w actinic u-tube anywhere on this side of the Irish sea?
planning ahead

Half-cocked

littlebug wrote: »

Does anyone know where (or if) I can get a replacement 40w actinic u-tube anywhere on this side of the Irish sea?
planning ahead

I'd like to know too. What with P&P and the exchange rate its a bit pricey from the UK.

Winter GMS scheme ends in 6 weeks! Soon be into the Summer GMS again. Apart from a couple of moths right at the start, my Winter tally is 1 woodlouse:mad:

Mothman

Try electrical supplier/wholesaler. They may not have them in stock, but will get them in.
But you need to have an idea of price in case they try to fleece you.

Half-cocked

Found this on the side of my shed this evening. Any ideas? 35mm long.



We should probably start a 2013 Moths thread.

Mothman

Half-cocked wrote: »

Found this on the side of my shed this evening. Any ideas? 35mm long.

I'm afraid green caterpillars are the warblers of the moth world and usually beyond my ability to ID

littlebug

Oh dear so those small green Angle Shades caterpillars on my doorstep might not have been

Half-cocked

littlebug wrote: »

Oh dear so those small green Angle Shades caterpillars on my doorstep might not have been

Record as 'Green Caterpillar aggregate'?;)

Mothman

littlebug wrote: »

Oh dear so those small green Angle Shades caterpillars on my doorstep might not have been

Having looked at H-c's green cat agg. anf comparing with this Angle Shades looks a good match. I don't know enough to rule out other possibilities.

Half-cocked

Mothman wrote: »

Having looked at H-c's green cat agg. anf comparing with this Angle Shades looks a good match. I don't know enough to rule out other possibilities.

Looking at a photo in Manley's British Moths, I'm inclined to agree. Not visible in the reduced size pic above is a small white elongated spots on each segment.

littlebug

Mine will have to stay as green cat aggs now as I've deleted the photos.

*must look closer and not make assumptions*

I won't be starting the trap up again for a few more weeks... when it's nice and dry and warm

littlebug

Interesting article re decline of moth numbers in the uk.

(Article linked by the Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme facebook page

V_Moth

littlebug wrote: »

Interesting article re decline of moth numbers in the uk.

(Article linked by the Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme facebook page

Very interesting article, even if it makes for slightly depressing reading. Are there any statistics for Irish moths in terms of which ones are declining and which ones are currently on the increase?

Mothman

Its worth reading the full PDF report. 32 pages

The report is based on the rothamsted network of fixed traps which are run every night.There are 100s of these traps throughout Britain.

We don't have this kind of monitoring in Ireland. 2 of these traps were set up in 1993, one in Fota,and another in Hillsborough, Belfast. A lot more traps are needed to see country wide trends and a few more have been installed in recent years. Dublin Zoo, Wexford Wildlife reserve, Connemara NP.

So while we can't produce similar statistics, anecdotal evidence from moth recorders country wide generally suggest declines and increases though not similar for every species as mentioned in full report.

V Moth was last recorded in 1973
Garden dart is difficult because of confusion with other Dart species
Double Dart seems to be doing fine
Dusky Thorn was only recorded for first time very recently
Hedge Rustic seems to be holding its own.

As for the top 5 winners
Least Carpet is no where near Ireland yet.
Blair shoulder-knot was first recorded in 2002 and appears well established in east from Wexford to Down.
No records of Treble Brown Spot.
Buff Footman has had huge increase during past 20 years
Scarce footman is about the same.

Half-cocked

I was down in Wexford Wildfowl reserve recently. They kill all the moths they catch and send them off for IDing. Is this normal?

Mothman

Half-cocked wrote: »

I was down in Wexford Wildfowl reserve recently. They kill all the moths they catch and send them off for IDing. Is this normal?

The Rothamsted traps do kill the contents. This is different to the rest of us where we trap, count and release. But we generally don't trap every night and we do retrap specimens.
Unfortunately without retaining all the contents, the report that I linked to could not be produced. It is ironic that the report to conveying news of great decline in some species, while at the same time the trap network that the report is based on retains the full catch.
The rothamsted traps use tungsten bulbs which are generally inferior to the bulbs we use for attracting moths.
So to be clear, its not the wexford wildlife reserve tha tis doing this, though they agreed to have the trap installed. For IDing, it requires expertise which we don't have here.

Half-cocked

Just finished reading that report, very interesting if somewhat depressing. Thanks for posting MM.