The Red Underwing is always good to see and generally you only find one or two a year if lucky. This was on a wall last night, well away from the trap. They do come to sugar and wine ropes and are attracted to light but prefer, I find, weak light to full-on MV. Peak emergence is typically last week of August / first week of September and the moth can be out at the end of July to the end of October.
Red Underwing
I well remember my first Red Underwing. It flew through an open window one evening when I was a kid, did a few laps of the room causing some commotion then settled on a wall. Recognising this instantly from misspent hours browsing South's Moths, I quickly popped this into my laurel jar and later set it with dress-making pins on an improvised board made from a polystyrene tile with a grove cut in it. Unfortunately, something fell on the tile and smashed it, together with the moth, clean in two. I was devastated.
The Copper Underwing (Amphipyra pyramidea) and the near-identical Svensson's Copper Underwing (A. berbera) always give me a problem. The keys in Skinner and Waring aren't consistent and looking at the underside of the moth at rest in a clear pot generally doesn't help. On balance I think this is A. pyramidea.
A pair of Wrens were lurking beside the trap when I went out this morning. One sat in a nearby bush 'tutting' at me for a good ten minutes.
Full trap list (Actinic 40W, ST5715, VC9, Dorset):
- 0015 Orange Swift Hepialus sylvina 3 (2m, 1f)
- 1305 Agriphila tristella 5
- 1395 Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis 1
- 1398 Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella 1
- 1405 Mother of Pearl Pleuroptya ruralis 2
- 1728 Garden Carpet Xanthorhoe fluctuata 1
- 1752 Purple Bar Cosmorhoe ocellata 1
- 1855 Cypress Pug Eupithecia phoeniceata 3
- 1890 Sharp-angled Peacock Macaria alternata 1
- 1913 Canary-shouldered Thorn Ennomos alniaria 1
- 1981 Poplar Hawk-moth Laothoe populi 1
- 2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart Agrotis puta 1
- 2102 Flame Shoulder Ochropleura plecta 4
- 2107 Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba 24
- 2123 Small Square-spot Diarsia rubi 1
- 2126 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c-nigrum 21
- 2134 Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa 1
- 2199 Common Wainscot Mythimna pallens 10
- 2216 Shark Cucullia umbratica 1
- 2297 Copper Underwing Amphipyra pyramidea 1
- 2343x Common Rustic agg. Mesapamea secalis agg. 3
- 2353 Flounced Rustic Luperina testacea 11
- 2384 Vine's Rustic Hoplodrina ambigua 7
- 2452 Red Underwing Catocala nupta 1 (at night)
106 moths of 24 species.
Shark
Orange Swift (male)