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

Oh what a night .....

-- late September (yes, I know it should be December back in '63), but it rained and rained and did not look like there would be ANY moths in the trap this morning. So it just goes to show that the moths (which are of course waterproof) came out to celebrate Europe's Ryder cup win!

First of all there was a Yellow-line Quaker another moth which I never caught in 9 years of mothing in France.  

Yellow-line Quaker

                    
Then there were 2 Chestnuts, fairly common, but new for this site - well, that is not difficult as recording only started in mid-August.

Chestnut

Also was the more common form of the Mottled Umber, clearly different from my post dated 23 September.   

Mottled Umber

and another Anomalous, a Black Rustic and a total of 21 moths of 12 species. In addition there was a funny looking Common Marbled Carpet, which refused to open its wings. It has refused to do so throughout the day, so my photograph is not too good, BUT, it does show why I thought it was "funny looking". The reason is that it is actually a Spruce Carpet.

Spruce Carpet

Also, you may recall the photos I posted showing a Lilac leaf which had  leaf mining moth caterpillars in it, well, these have grown too big to still live inside the leaf and have made silken pockets in which to pupate.


               "Lilac leaf-miner"