Last hurrah....

....of sorts.....

Im swapping everything over to my Gravel Pits blog to make it easier to maintain....3 blogs is just to much and one will be easier....so...see you on the other side....

September Thorn...

...theres a song in there somewhere....anyway....moth trap out for only the fourth time this September...and so far the catches have been a little disappointing.  Last September was my best month here at 54 so I was expecting a good catch using the Mercury Vapour instead of my Actinic.  However, the last two catches have only provided around approx 40 moths on 10th and 60 moths last night.

Dusky Thorn, Ennomos fuscantaria

Dusky Thorn, Ennomos fuscantaria

...and heres some variations for Lunar Underwings which is one of the moths that turns up this time of year surely signifying Autumn....

Lunar Underwing, Omphaloscelis lunosa

Lunar Underwing, Omphaloscelis lunosa

Lunar Underwing, Omphaloscelis lunosa

September Morn

Look at what you've done,
Why, you;ve become a grown up girl....
                  Neil Diamond, September Morn

Well...maybe a little older than a girl...

Old Lady, Mormo maura

Autumn surely means the mad rash of Yellow Underwings...heres a few to be going on with...first up...three of a kind...same species but three variations...or morphs...

Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba

...and now....two of a kind...same species, different morphs....

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Noctua fimbriata

Least Yellow Underwing, Noctua interjecta

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Noctua janthina

Lesser Yellow Underwing, Noctua comes

....phew!....quick...something different...two of the same species, but slightly different colouring.....

Flame Shoulder, Ochropleura plecta

...and a nice finish...

Snout, Hypena proboscidalis

New moth...a Beauty...

August is proving somewhat tedious in terms of the peculiar non-August like temperatures....it should be much warmer...so far I have only run the trap twice this month due to either it being cold or rainy....anyway...I ran the trap a couple of nights ago and as soon as I saw this moth I knew it was a new one for me....and rather splendid it is too!!..

Lilac Beauty, Apeira syringaria

Other than this it was mostly Yellow Underwings which tend to turn up in good numbers around this time of the year....

Moving on,,,,,

Apologies for no update for the garden for a little while.....been to France (report will appear soon)....in the meantime theres lots been happening in the garden which I hope to update over the next few days....

Only been back a few days and initially on returning the weather wasnt too good....last night promised dry weather so out went the trap....with my actinic trap my best month last year was September, so I am looking forward to seeing if this will be repeated.  Obviously with the borrowed Mercury Vapour trap the catches have been bigger anyway, so if all follows true then im hoping for some big catches then....though of course we will be needing some warm weather!!

Last night there was around 70 moths in the trap....

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Noctua janthe

Its that time of year when the Yellow Underwings arrive in bigger numbers....last nights haul was 2 Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba, though I am sure more will follow...and 25, a third of the catch, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, above.

Different Saw-fly invasion

Down at the pond today and I spied.....

Irish Saw-fly eggs, Rhadinoceraea micans

                                                                                                                          ....eggs....!

Hmmmm.....it turns out they are Iris Saw-fly eggs....they seem to like Iris plants in and around ponds but not ones that in dry soil....

Heres a picture of the fly itself, not mine.....go here for more....

http://www.april-design.de/galerie/hautfluegler/rhadinoceraea-micans-02.htm

You dont often see that!

A smaller catch, but well worth it with some nice moths.....and a not too often seen moth!!....

First up though.....not new but always nice to see...

Beautiful Golden Y, Autographa pulchrina

Heres a moth that I highlighted not too long ago but had disappeared from the trap till last night....

Pebble Prominent, Notodonta ziczac

The Wainscots could be said to be quite an ordinary part of the Noctuid family but definitely worth a look in my opinion....

Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Mythimna comma

As soon as I saw this next moth in the trap I knew it was something I had never seen before.  Its resting position should give it away as one of the Geometrid moths BUT....its actually a Noctuid moth....

Waved Black, Parascotia fuliginaria

I cant recall catching all three variations of this next moth in one go....but here they are...all present in the trap from last night....

Peppered Moth, Biston betularia

Peppered Moth, Biston betularia - insularia

Peppered Moth, Biston betularia - carbonaria