Every Cloud...

A gap in work commitments, along with promising conditions overnight, meant that Tuesday night was moth trap night. The returns were modest, with 27 moths of 13 species, but this included a new macro species for the garden and two new for the year appearances.

The crowd-pleasers were this squadron of Poplar Hawk-moths. Having been waiting for my first record of 2014, three arrived at once. All were beautiful fresh-looking individuals, with the lovely lilac sheen on parts of the upper forewing.

Poplar Hawk-moths (with Brown Rustic)

The new macro species for the garden was this Clouded-bordered Brindle, and very nice it was too. Not a record that caused much of a surprise, except for why this has taken so long to appear here. This is a common moth species, and the larvae feed on various grasses (which are not in short supply here).

Clouded-bordered Brindle

The other new species for the year was the only micro moth amongst the 27, this Teleiopsis diffinis. This is one of the gelechids and though apparently common over much of the country, it does not seem to be recorded particularly frequently in moth traps. It is a species that I have recorded several times, though the number of records for Shropshire is quite small.

Teleiopsis diffinis

One of the other highlights was this lovely Scalloped Hazel. Before this spring my only record had involved a dead individual found in my porch, however this is the third 'live' individual I have found this year.

Scalloped Hazel

A hawk and two canaries

I good nights weather saw the moth trap going out on Saturday night. I had a feeling it was going to be an interesting, if not a bumper, catch when I checked the trap before going to bed and saw a Feathered Gothic nestling in the egg boxes. I decided to leave it until the morning rather than disturb the trap, and it was one of last moths I took out.

Feathered Gothic

The first moth I saw on Sunday morning was a beautiful thorn clinging to the outside of the trap. The moth was quickly potted and then easily identified as a Canary-shouldered Thorn, the third thorn in four trapping sessions following Early and September Thorns this month.

Canary-shouldered Thorn

As soon as I looked in the trap a broad grin stretched across my face as the familiar profile of this beast was obvious.

Poplar Hawk-moth

This Poplar Hawk-moth is one of the species I was looking forward to catching, and I was not disappointed with this exquisite moth.

Poplar Hawk-moth

There were plenty of other good moths in the trap. This included new macro species Common Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet and a Small Wainscot. I also made an effort with more of the micros, and this added Blastobasis adustella, Agriphila geniculea and Agriphila tristella. One the the most interesting things about trapping regularly is seeing how the spectrum changes over time, with 16 Flounced Rustic becoming the commonest moth this week and only one Scarce Footman caught, as opposed to 2 of the former and 41 of the latter two weeks ago.

Small Wainscot