Whitefield, Wiveliscombe

Last night we had our first frost for the year and with the temperature down to -1 degrees we only had three moths at the trap - I say at because, as usual, the Epirrita sp. was on the fence. The only firsts for 2008 in the last week have been a Brick and a Pine Carpet which is much rarer here than the Grey Pine Carpet and Spruce Carpet which we see regularly.

After a few days break fro trapping last night was better than expected, ten species including Silver Y, Large Yellow Underwing and Light Emerald, before the break November Sp; on the 17th

A far better night last night with 15 species in the trap, including firsts for the year of Dusky-lemon Sallow, Large Wainscot and Merveille du Jour.

Late specimens of Brimstone, Square-spot Rustic and Lesser Yellow Underwing.

A continuing run of very poor catches (no Merveille du Jour yet this year) but last night a single Figure of Eight Diloba caerulocephala, the first for my garden.

three merveille du jour.three november moth.one silver y.one yellow line quaker

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe

Last night with the temperature down to 3 degrees we only had one moth in the garden trap - a Blair's Shoulder Knot but at the end of last week we did have two firsts for the autumn season - Grey Shoulder-knot and a Chestnut.

The trap has produced very ordinary results recently although there was a single square-spot rustic and a lesser yellow underwing last night - both rather late specimens.

I was picking up fallen apples this afternoon and found this fully-grown Knot-grass larva tucking in!

Over the past few years Cypress Carpet has spread widely across Somerset. Surprisingly it took until this week to record the first in Taunton.

My up to date results, new for year,Red Line Quaker 12th, Chestnut and Red Green Carpet ( the first for my site) on the 13th and Large Wainscot the 14th Large Yellow Underwings still coming in a Willow Beauty on the 12th Cypress Carpets now regular.

One Vestal,

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe - min temp 10 degrees

Green Brindled Crescent and Red-line Quaker were firsts for 2008 but the surprise was a Least Black Arches. We get this regularly in May but I cannot trace reference to a second brood in the literature.

A much better night than anything for the last couple of weeks with 20 species including 5 Silver Y and a Dark Swordgrass. Also the first Sallow and Green-brindled Crescent of the year; Large and Lesser Yellow Underwings still trickling in and Setaceous Hebrew Character still the commonest species.

Perhaps the strong southerlies will have brought something interesting in!

Silver Y attracted to house lights this evening - the first I have seen since a flurry on 13 September.

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe - Min temp 4 C

A much better night last night with 14 species including three new for the year - Merveille du Jour, Yellow-lined Quaker and Blair's Shoulder Knot. The spread of the last species has been remarkable in the last few years since it began to accept leylandii as a foodplant.

Last night I added Blair's Shoulder Knot, Large Ranunculus and November Moth to the year's total in what was a reasonable catch for October. I am currently catching large numbers of Common Marbled Carpets with about 20 individuals last night.

Robin Clatworthy has again come up with an interesting immigrant in his back garden trap. on the evening of September 14 he trapped a specimen of Porter's Rustic. Let's hope he repeats the feat next September on National Moth Night.

My up to date report, 29th September Dusk Lemon Sallow,30th Green Brindled Crescent, my trap tied with Peter on 1st October just two and seven outside, the 2nd just eight moths Silver Y Black Rustic 2, Beaded Chestnut 2 Lunar Underwing 2 and 1 Frosted Orange. With weather and catches as experienced i gave the moths a free night for the 3rd

Good evening everyone.
I had the following email from Les Hill last night.

A date has now been fixed for the next National Moth Night, the annual celebration of moths and moth recording run by Atropos and Butterfly Conservation. NMN09, the eleventh such event, will take place on the nights of Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September 2009. Two nights are included because of the eccentricities of the weather at that time of year. However, it also provides even more of an excuse to go mothing in new and exciting places. The theme of NMN09 will be migration and there will not be any specific target species or habitats. More details about the migration theme will be circulated nearer the time, but please make a note of the dates in your diary now!

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe

Last night, with a min temperature of 6 degrees, we had our poorest catch since the spring with only three moths of two species - Black Rustic and Red-green Carpet. The night before we had not trapped because of the strength of the rain and wind but over the week end we had several Beaded Chestnut, our first Autumnal Moth (which I now to be sure always list as Epirrita sp) and a very late Buff Footman.