A good night's mothing, quality over quantity

A rather grey morning greeted me for a change, and having seen a Swallow Prominent sp fluttering in the trap last night I was quite excited to see which one I'd caught.

It turned out I had caught both species; Lesser Swallow Prominent and Swallow Prominent. These two are tricky to tell apart, and last year I thought one of three Swallow Prominents might be Lesser, until someone put me right.

Lesser Swallow Prominent

Swallow Prominent

The key difference unless you can see the underwing, is the length of the white pennant-shaped mark along the top of the wing. But Swallow Prominents do vary a bit, so can catch you out.

Another long awaited lifer was waiting for me on the fence; a Powdered Quaker.

Powdered Quaker

It was noticeably larger than the only Common Quaker I caught. Also on the fence were two Lunar Marbled Browns, with a third in the trap.

Lunar Marbled Brown

A tiny moth on the perspex looked likely to be something good, and also a headache to photograph and identify. I think it is Dyseriocrania subpurpurella which is another lifer.

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella

Also in the trap was a lovely Brindled Beauty which was certainly new for the year.

Brindled Beauty

Also in the trap was my first Tachystola acroxantha of the year. This is a very common micro though.

Tachystola acroxantha

And concluding the year-ticks was a very fresh Shuttle-shaped Dart.

Shuttle-shaped Dart

The remainder were two Brindled Pugs, a very worn Chestnut which had me tweeting its picture (just in case), and a Clouded Drab, which I've just realised I hadn't recorded since lockdown, so its picture is going up, and I'm adding it to the list.

Clouded Drab

So the lockdown moth list advances as follows:

19. Lunar Marbled Brown - 3 - nfy
20. Powdered Quaker - 1 - nfg
21. Dyseriocrania subpurpurella - 1 - nfg (subject to acceptance by my peers)
22. Lesser Swallow Prominent - 1 - nfg
23. Swallow Prominent - 1 - nfy
24. Brindled Beauty - 1 - nfy
25. Tachystola acroxantha - 1 - nfy
26. Shuttle-shaped Dart - 1 - nfy
27. Clouded Drab - 1

A brief note on birds: two Swallows flew over, and a Green Woodpecker called while I was playing with the moths.