Quality, not quantity

My last couple of trapping sessions have been a bit of a disappointment, with only two species recorded. So expectations were low when I put trap on last night, and this morning there were only six moths in the trap. However, of these six were three new species for me in Batch Valley.

First out was a Lunar Underwing, I have now caught nine of these in the last few weeks. Following this was a new insect in this lovely Feathered Thorn, this one is a male with the feathery antennae. This is a distinctive moth and at this time of year there is nothing else like it on the wing.

Feathered Thorn

I also had three carpet moths. One was a Common Marbled Carpet, quite a regular feature in the trap. The other two were different and new for me. It took a bit of investigation before I identified these as Spruce Carpets, another new species. Very attractive moths and a species that Graham has recorded recently.

Spruce Carpet

This final moth was  a real mystery. It was quite worn and also an unusual shape, being long and thin but obviously one of the noctuids. I was at a bit of a loss until I remembered that Graham had caught two Anomalous moths, and this is what it proved to be.

The Anomalous