New Moths.....

It must be this blast of warm weather that has increased the catch.....over 70 in the trap a couple of nights ago and just over 30 last night....terrific....and several new species have appeared...
First up....Pine Beauty....mainly found in coniferous woodlands though does appear in gardens.  There is a very large Scots Pine just a few gardens away, so maybe they, there were 4 in the trap, came over from there....
The bottom specimen of the three looks the oldest and most worn.....

Pine Beauty

Pine Beauty

Pine Beauty

Another new species for the garden and indeed for me.....which is the beauty of moth trapping, there are so many I dont think anyone would ever run out of new species in varying habitat.....this one is Twin-spotted Quaker....

Twin-spotted Quaker

A hat trick of new species.....Dotted Chestnut....these initially appear in October and November before hibernating and making a re-appearance in March and April.  Its food plant is unknown though it is suspected that it includes Apple....which would make sense round Pembury as there are many orchards that it could choose.....

Dotted Chestnut

Pug moths can be one of the hardest groups of moths to identify, even if the patterning is present.  However, this is one of the easiest....the slightly swept back wing appearance can be the giveaway.....Double-striped Pug...a very common moth, but can be quite colourful....

Double-striped Pug

Just to show that it isnt all about moths....Caddis Flies often appear in the trap, there are 199 species in the UK....wonderous beasts indeed with their, usually, amazingly long antennae...this is possibly Micropterna lateralis.....