58 moths of 23 species, with a couple of micros still to determine.  Epinotia ramella was a first for Garden. Top score went to Silver-Y (7). The rest were the usual suspects. The forecast for sunday night is more promising with full cloud cover to block the moon - milder too.

Paul Wilkins has kindly confirmed the identity of a Coleophora caught on the undercliffs at Watchet on 03/08 as Coleophora virgaureae (by Gen Det). Several Coleophoras were caught there, and latterly seen by day that I hoped were this species, flying among abundant Goldenrod, and one specimen was sent to Paul for confirmation. This appears to be the first record for VC5 and the first Somerset record since the 1980s.

I found a vacated Stigmella luteella mine on Birch at Netherclay LNR today, the first site record and possibly first for ST22.

Thanks to Phil Edmunds (on Twitter) for confirming that I had keyed it out correctly!

13/9/19 - well, the "new" MV did help, but still not large numbers last night.  27 moths, of 12 species, with FFYs Centre-barred Sallow, Dusky Thorn, and Lunar Underwing.  Slightly surprisingly, the "most numerous" award went to Common Wainscot (8) rather than Large YU (5).  I suspect the full moon was the major factor affecting numbers.

12/9/19 - just 11 moths last night (still only using the Actinic), 8 species, including FFY Oak Hook-tip.  Tonight I start with my "new" (second-hand) MV trap, courtesy of Pam Campbell, to whom my grateful thanks.  Hopefully more moths will come calling,

Last night there were 77 moths of 19 species. FFY were Eudonia angustea (2), Spruce Carpet (not annual here), The Vapourer (male), Centre-barred Sallow (2), Frosted Orange and Burnished Brass. The Vapourer was the first for 10 years, and only my third record. Seven Common Wainscots were a record count for me.

In the garden in the day I had a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth and Silver Y, plus my third Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar in a few days, one of which was munching on a small Fuchsia and had to be relocated to a bigger one!

I trapped at Kingston St. Mary until 01:00h this morning. 123 moths of 30 species (23 macro, seven micro) including Carcina quercana, Garden Rose Tortrix, Bee Moth, Oak Hook-tip, Small Dusty Wave, Yellow Shell, Cypress Pug, Lilac Beauty, Light Emerald, Straw Dot, Dingy Footman and Old Lady.

After a run of fairly dire nights this morning came as a pleasant surprise - first Lunar Underwing of the autumn, plus Lilac Beauty and two Cypress Pugs. Also a single Udea ferrugalis and a pristine Clifden Nonpareil - slight forewing deformity however.

Clifden Nonpareil Catocala fraxini Langport 11 Sep 2019.

I'm getting out the witches' cauldron tomorrow to make up some sugaring mixture.

8/9/19 - another cold night, another small catch, but at least this time a FFY, a very early Red-line Quaker.  This is my earliest record by two weeks, and only the third time I've recorded one in September.

A fair bit colder than forecast but at least the wind had dropped. 139 moths of 33 species. FFG was a White-line Dart.  One FFY : Centre-barred Sallow (1).  Others of note :Rusty-dot Pearl (1) ; Dusky Thorn (2) ; September Thorn (3) ; Frosted Orange (1) ; Angle Shades (2) ; Rosy Rustic (1) ; Hedge Rustic (7) ; Feathered Gothic (1) ; Antler (1) and Neglected Rustic (1).

If anyone is interested, a few members of the Bath Natural History Society Moth Group plan to search for the early stages of moths (leaf mines etc) at Hollow Marsh and Chewton Wood on the morning of Tuesday 17th September. Anyone would be very welcome to come along on what is usually a very enjoyable, casual and informative way of 'mothing' If you would like to join us then please drop me an email to paulwilkins25@gmail.com and I will send you the details. Best wishes Paul

4/9/19 a cold night, so an early breakfast this morning - just 11 moths, 4 species.  Oh well, try again another time.

A combination of home-made UV LED trap and a LepiLED (http://www.gunnarbrehm.de/en/contact.html) has finally allowed me to do some trapping away from home in the last couple of nights. Firstly on the undercliffs at Watchet on 03/09 - highlights were Triangle Plume, Cochylis hybridella, and a couple of Coleophoras for Gen Det (flying among abundant Goldenrod...).

Last night at Willet Hill managed 111 moths of 33 species between the two traps with highlights of Satin Beauty, Spruce Carpet, Black Arches, Coxcomb Prominent, Epinotia ramella, Ypsolopha parenthesella, Dioryctria abietella and a lovely Autumnal Rustic (the highlight for me).

2117 - Autumnal Rustic

The LepiLED runs for about 8 hours off a 25mah mobile phone power pack, making it an extremely simple and portable bit of kit, that seems to attract good numbers of moths (my impression is that it's performance isn't all that far off my skinner MV, but I'm yet to run them side by side), but sadly comes at a price. The homemade LED is considerably cheaper (about a quarter of the cost), but seems to be performing solidly so far (37 moths of 22 species last night) - looking forward to trying to scale it up a bit and testing it further. I'm also running it off power packs - the basic design is here if anyone's interested: petermobbs.wordpress.com/2015/05/09/a-better-moth-trap-using-leds/

Quite a breeze last night up here in the hills so just one trap put out. 158 moths of 45 species. FFY were Ypsolopha parenthesella (1) ; September Thorn (1) ; Brindled Green (1) and Feathered Gothic (3).

Over 400 macros last night with Large Yellow Underwing, Setacious Hebrew Character, Vines Rustic, Common Wainscot and Square Spot Rustic making up most of the catch. Some of these I reckon have caught so many times in the last few weeks that they're starting to recognise me and even calling me by name!
However amongst the quality in quantity there was a Bulrush Wainscot and a Feathered Gothic but the undoubted highlight was my first and possibly Somerset's first Beautiful Marbled. My ID book doesn't have this species in and I initially identified it as a Purple Marbled but looking at the Atropos website I found no recent records for Purple Marbled but several illustrated records for Beautiful Marbled which looks much more like my specimen.

Nice surprise in the trap this morning amongst the common stuff. 28.008 0642a Metalampra italica and a Palpitate vitrealis

2/9/19 - a few more last night, 54 moths , but only 12 species, with one FFY, Ypsolopha sequella, and there were second generation Burnished Brass and Snout.  Large YU (28) still the main contributors.  There were also a Crane Fly (first of many probably), an Earwig, a Shield Bug, and a Caddis Fly - a bit of variety!

31/8/19 - quite chilly last night, so even fewer moths to the Actinic - 32 of just 6 species, nothing new. 16 Large YU & 9 Square-spot Rustic making up the bulk of the catch.