Last night's temperature dropped no lower than 15 degrees, but it was a bit breezy and didn't feel very warm this morning.
I caught 70 moths (and about 30 Common Wasps), and after encouraging the wasps to fly off I got down to business. It was actually slightly disappointing, the nearest I came to a new moth was a micro which I tentatively identified as Bryotropha domestica, which it may well be. However, SMW texted to suggest I bear in mind the possibility of Bryotropha basaltinella which has recently colonised Worcestershire. I no longer have the moth in question and my photos aren't very good either.
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| Bryotropha ag |
There were several that were new for the year, the best in terms of looks and the number of years since my last one in the garden was Angle Shades.
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| Angle Shades |
My excitement at seeing this moth was somewhat tempered by the fact that it was easily the commonest macro moth attracted to the discs on the side of Selfridges when I used to work in Birmingham City Centre. But it was still the first for the garden since pre-moth trap days when one entered the bathroom on 21 Sept 2015.
Another one new for this year was the pyralid Acrobasis adustella, of which I caught two.
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| Acrobasis adustella |
Arguably better was a Straw Underwing which was the second for the garden, the other being last year. A rather smart noctuid moth.
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| Straw Underwing |
I also caught my first five Flounced Rustics, and my first two Agriphila geniculea of the year. Both very common moths.
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| Flounced Rustic |
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| Agriphila geniculea |
The total number of species caught was 35. In addition to those already mentioned the most notable were a Swallow Prominent (first since the spring, so a new generation), a Setaceous Hebrew Character (also the first of the new generation), a Bright-line Brown-eye (first since the spring), an Orange Swift, a Marbled Beauty, three Common Carpets, and a Garden Carpet.
The top four in numbers were Large Yellow Underwing (nine), Common Rustic ag (five), Flounced Rustic (five), and Vine's Rustic (five).
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