Orange Sallow

Another rarity which is seldom found in its adult form in Derbyshire.

Orange Sallow

August Thorn

Nothing new for a few weeks then this turned up.

August Thorn

Scorched Carpet

Another rarity for Derbyshire! :0)

Scorched Carpet

Chatsworth

Thanks to head gardner Steve Porter I managed to get permission to go trapping in the grounds of Chatsworth House, Steve Thorpe and his son Jordan came along to trap too and despite being eaten alive by midges it turned out to be a fantastic night with no less than 5 confirmed new for me macro moth species showing up and one I still need to ID.

9 Antler Moth(NFM)
7 True Lovers Knot(NFM)
1 Gold Spangle(NFM)
2 Dotted Clay(NFM)
3 Muslin Footman(NFM)
1 Cloaked Carpet(NFM)(ID from Dave Budworth)
7 LYU
2 Heart & Dart
2 Flame Shoulder
9 Dark Arches
1 Buff Arches
1 Spinach
21 Dun-bar
4 Ruby Tiger
1 Iron Prominent
3 Scarce Footman
2 Common Footman
2 Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing
1 Gothic
2 Straw Dot
3 Rivulet
1 Small Rivulet
8 Common Rustic
2 Square Spot Rustic
3 Six Striped Rustic
1 Small Fan Footed Wave
3 The Clay
1 Brimstone
1 Grey/Dark Dagger
2 Common Wainscot
4 Shoulder Striped Wainscot
2 Smoky Wainscot
1 Yellow Shell
1 Bordered White

Gold Spangle

Antler Moth

True Lovers Knot

Dotted Clay

Muslin Footman



Cloaked Carpet

Ear Moth

A few warm evenings means more moths are turning up and this lovely Ear Moth is another first for the garden

Ear Moth

Straw Underwing & Silky Wainscot

Silky Wainscot

Straw Underwing

These are both moths I've had before but failed to correctly ID due to being poor condition specimens.

Small Ranunculus

I got a Small Ranunculus last year which turned out to be a county first so I was very pleased to find another one in the trap last night.

The Shark

Back to trapping at home following a disappointing camping/mothing trip to Lincolnshire which was spoilt by bad weather and this little beauty turned up, I wish the night time temperatures would improve so I can try out my new 250w MV trap!!!.

The Shark

Bordered White & Yellow-tail

My first ever Bordered White arrived last night but wouldn't keep still for a photo so apologies for the quality, the Yellow-tail is another from my Lincolnshire list.

Plain Golden-Y & Peach Blossom

The PGY is another of the moths I've only caught in Lincs....that list is getting smaller every day so it's lucky I'm going through there again soon to hopefully top it up a bit. The Peach Blossom is a garden first as well as a first for me and what a stunning moth it is.

Coxcomb Prominent

Another of the moths I've previously only found in Lincolnshire so it's great to get one in my garden at last. As you can see from the photo the Coxcomb Prominent is very good at playing dead and impersonating a piece of wood!!.

Coxcomb Prominent

Scarce Silver Lines & V Pug

I've caught a V Pug in Lincolnshire but this is the first time I've found it in my garden, the Scarce Silver Lines is a bit tatty but still another garden tick so I'm happy enough.

Dingy Shears

Dingy Shears

Narrow Bordered 5 Spot Burnet abb

Dingy Shears is another first for my garden but it's arrival has been eclipsed by a fantastic aberrant Narrow Bordered Five Spot Burnet which I found on Sunday at Straws Bridge(West Hallam).

Golden Plusia & Spinach

Two firsts for me and the garden and both lovely moths.

The Spinach

Golden Plusia

Small Elephant Hawk

When I originally started trapping moths back in the early 70s in Cheshire I regularly got up to 15 Small Elephant Hawk in an evening, my dad worked in Warrington at a chemical company based near the old Greenall Whitley bottling factory and he would bring home 30 of them each week along with the many hundreds of other moths that he found around the place but until 2 nights ago I hadn't seen one since 1976!.

 

Leopard Moth

I wasn't expecting to ever get a Leopard Moth in my garden but there it was and a stunner to boot.

Leopard Moth

Leopard Moth

Last year I got just 1 Varied Coronet which is another 'scarce migrant' for Derbyshire but this evening I have 3 of them in the trap taking my total for this year to 5 and they've all been pristine so I'm guessing this species has found a foothold in the area.

Varied Coronet

New for 2011

The most notable new species so far this year have been Bird's Wing, Beautiful Hook Tip and Puss moth, the first two are both classed as 'rare vagrants' for Derbyshire. I've also had Cinnabar, Lunar Marbled Brown, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, White-pinion Spotted, Early Moth and March Moth.

Bird's Wing

Beautiful Hook-tip

An introduction

   I've been trapping moths in my garden since July 2009 and considering my suburban location I get a surprising amount of different moth species many of them in large numbers.
   It took me a while to get back into the swing of identifying them after many years away from trapping and my previous blog http://adventuresinentemology.blogspot.com/ was a way for me get other bloggers to help with the ones I couldn't put a name to...... I now use http://www.back-garden-moths.co.uk/ if I catch anything I can't ID so the other blog has become fairly redundant.
   This blog has been created to show photos of any new species I catch as well as a full list of all the macro moth species found in my garden.