Garden Moths 2012

Half-cocked

I think this is a Small Rivulet - not recorded in this area before. Can some one (MM) confirm please?

littlebug

Two garden tigers. Considerable size difference which surprised me. Is it a male/ female difference?



Four of them this morning, among other things that I'll get to later.

littlebug

I left the tigers in situ because I knew I'd want to look at them again.
Wouldn't you know one has gone :rolleyes:
the three that are left are all the same size so can conclude that the other one was a lot bigger than usual?
Unco-operative little things... wouldn't line up nicely for me at all.

Half-cocked

I've only caught 1 Garden Tiger in 3 years and you get 4 in one night!!!! Here's a pic of mine, about 32mm long, which seems to be the size of the 3 in your pic, so the other must be a bit of a monster.

littlebug

Half-cocked wrote: »

I've only caught 1 Garden Tiger in 3 years and you get 4 in one night!!!!

Maybe something to do with my very nicely cultivated nettle patch :pac:

thebishop

Nice night here on Friday night.
Small Phoenix x 2
Buff Ermine x 1
White Ermine x 2
Plain Golden Y x 1
Spectacle x 1
Flame x 2
Flame Shoulder x 1
Uncertain x 1
Large Yellow-underwing x 1
Riband Wave x 1
Burnished Brass x 1
Snout x 1
Beautiful China Mark x 1
Bright -line Brown-eye x 1
Dark Arches x 1
Clouded Border Brindle x 1

Mothman

jmkennedyie wrote: »

And a mystery to me...closest I can come up with is "pretty much invisible line possibly brownish eye" ...

catching up..
This is Common Rustic agg.

The other 2 are Uncertain...for anyone reading this and not in the know, Uncertain is the name!! hence the capital

Mothman

Half-cocked wrote: »

Some micros caught last night, hope the ID's are OK.

Scoparia ambigularis:

This is Eudonia mercurella, the rest of the IDs are fine

Half-cocked wrote: »

I think this is a Small Rivulet - not recorded in this area before. Can some one (MM) confirm please?

Even got my name on the rule
It is Small Rivulet

Mothman

littlebug wrote: »

I left the tigers in situ because I knew I'd want to look at them again.
Wouldn't you know one has gone :rolleyes:
the three that are left are all the same size so can conclude that the other one was a lot bigger than usual?
Unco-operative little things... wouldn't line up nicely for me at all.

It does appear that the large one is a female, the one that disappeared. The males have slightly feathered antennae, the female doesn't.

Whether the females are typically larger, i don't know, but they are in many species. The guides do give a large size range. 28-37mm forewing length.

V_Moth

Moths in the ECNR last night:

Common Footman (1)
Lesser Swallow Prominent (3)
Smoky Wainscot (3)
Dark Arches (1)
July High (1)
Lesser BBYU (1)
Small Wainscot (2)
The Drinker (1)
Uncertain/Rustic (1)
Eudonia/Scoparia (1)

Also single Brimstone and Bee Moths in Newcastle village last night, as well as many "Grass" Moths along the paths (at least one C. culmella).

Other wildlife: Birch Sawfly, Azure Bluet?? (1 female type in the trap), Common/Ruddy Darter, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Grasshopper Warbler (1 heard) and a singing Yellowhammer.

[Sorry, not exactly Garden Moths but didn't want to create a new thread]

swifts need our help!

I've started trapping moths. I thought my garden that is packed with flowering plants would be coming down with moths.

Very disappointed. Only one moth which I think is a Light arches

Half-cocked

swifts need our help! wrote: »

I've started trapping moths. I thought my garden that is packed with flowering plants would be coming down with moths.

Very disappointed. Only one moth which I think is a Light arches

Keep at it - depending on what species are in your area you will get all sorts of ups and downs as the season progresses. What sort of trap are you using?

My garden has produced nearly 150 species over 3 seasons and I often get bad nights.

Just a thought - maybe your swifts ate them all!!!

swifts need our help!

I have been lent a homemade trap which consists of a plastic storage box, hole in the lid with an altered funnel and a black light.

jmkennedyie

Swifts - don't give up! Very sensitive to weather too it seems.

Last night in friends garden (housing estate back garden with mature hedgerow in a North Kildare town) some beauties:

1921 Scalloped Oak x 1
1981 Poplar Hawkmoth x 1
2089 Heart and Dart x 1
2057 Garden Tiger x 1
2107 Large Yellow Underwing x 1
2381 Uncertain x 1
2434 Burnished Brass x 1
2449 Dark Spectacle x 1

Also this little mystery...could it be Pale Mottled Willow?


forgot ruler sorry

Half-cocked

Here's one MM confirmed as a Mottled Willow - my first. While not identical , they do seem to be the same species.... Better wait for MM to confirm though...

littlebug

I only had 3 moths last night, 1 each of Large Yellow Underwing, Garden Tiger and Bright line brown eye.

Still have a few from Wednesday night I'm not sure of. Typically more interesting than GMS night.

A prominent? but which one?



Wormwood Pug?


Dark Brocade?

Mothman

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Also this little mystery...could it be Pale Mottled Willow?


forgot ruler sorry

Half-cocked wrote: »

Here's one MM confirmed as a Mottled Willow - my first. While not identical , they do seem to be the same species.... Better wait for MM to confirm though...

Yes it is
The 3 to 4 dots along wing edge is a good indicator.

Mothman

littlebug wrote: »

A prominent? but which one?

Coxcomb

Wormwood Pug?

I think so

Dark Brocade?

Dark Arches!
One here is similarish to yours

littlebug

Catching up with myself.
List from last Wednesday


1344 Eudonia Mercurella
1713 Riband Wave
1830 Wormwood Pug
1981 Poplar Hawk Moth
2008 Coxcomb prominent
2057 Garden Tiger x 4
2107 Large Yellow Underwing x 2
2198 Smoky Wainscot
2321 Dark Arches x 3
2322 Light Arches
2434 Burnished Brass
2443 Plain Golden Y

Half-cocked

19 species on GMS night, 10 deg C. One new one for us - a raggedy Gothic:

Mothman

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Spider almost caught this guy sneaking under my front door - Lunar Yellow Underwing - books say late June-Sept but don't seem to be recorded this early before...he fluttered away after cleaning himself up...

http://www.mothsireland.com/species/2270.htm

This is a Large Yellow Underwing.
Lunar Yellow Underwing is not known in Ireland,
what you linked to is Lunar Underwing, sometimes, the english names are confusing!

jmkennedyie

yep you beat me to it...just realised it was a male LYU and deleted the post. Sorry about that.

Mothman

jmkennedyie wrote: »

yep you beat me to it...just realised it was a male LYU and deleted the post. Sorry about that.

No worries, been there done that

Now as for LYU
do you mean :P
Least Yellow Underwing
Langmaid's Yellow Underwing
Lunar Yellow Underwing
Lesser Yellow Underwing
Large Yellow Underwing

It is true that for most of us that do mothing, it does refer to last one, but I still urge caution in its use

V_Moth

jmkennedyie wrote: »

yep you beat me to it...just realised it was a male LYU and deleted the post. Sorry about that.

That's a pity, it was a nice picture of a Large YU. Moths from the garden last night:

Common/Dark Marbled Carpet (1)
Bright-line Brown Eye (1)
Willow Beauty (2)
Lesser Broad-bordered YU (1)
Common Rustic agg (2)
Scoparia/Eudonia spec (1)
Other Micro (2)

thebishop

Friday nights catch.Not alot.
Dark Arches x 2
Flame x 1
Uncertain x 1
Spectacle x 1
Large Yellow-underwing x 2
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow-underwing x 1
Clouded Border-brindle x 1
Common Carpet x 1
Light Brown Apple-moth
The Campion x 1 (Might be Lychnis)

littlebug

2 micros I'm having trouble with.

Half-cocked

Pretty poor catch last night. 11.5 deg C, dry.

2 x Riband Wave
1 x Square Spot Rustic
2 x Willow Beauty
3 x Burnished Brass
2 x Large Yellow UW
1 x Common Rustic agg

littlebug

The life and times of a Six Spot Burnet...

jmkennedyie

Still practising. Small catch last night
1921 Scalloped Oak x1
1937 Willow Beauty x3
2107 Large Yellow Underwing x1
2321 Dark Arches x1
2343x Common Rustic agg. x2

and perhaps someone could doublecheck what I believe are
1708 Single-dotted Wave x1


1794 Sharp-angled Carpet x1


Also, from a night early July a Silver-ground Carpet?


Here was the Large Yellow Underwing pic from last week I deleted ... followed by what I have convinced myself to be the same species from last night, orangey underwing when fluttering and the forewing 25mm giving me some confidence ...famous last words...!!




ps actually wing folding right over left also matches the guide book - can that be used as identification characteristic? Thanks.

V_Moth

I think you are right on the SD Wave and the SA Carpet. Could the third one be a Garden Carpet by any chance?

The last one is so worn it will be difficult to get a certain ID, but Large Y Underwing looks like a good bet.