Mid July gets exciting

It has been a busy few days with some warm nights and some excellent garden mothing variety as hoped for at this time of year. Some even better to come in the next post I hope but wasting no time, on to the pictures of some new and some favourites

 Brown-tail - new for garden

Plain Pug - new for garden, and  a real monster with tail up and wings like paddles

 Phoenix - talking of tail up, usually get a couple of these each year

 Maple Prominent - the commonest Prom in my garden, this the fourth record

Pebble Prominent - third record

 Chinese Character - second record, first in 2010

Garden Dart - annual and not particularly distinct

The Prominent gap

There is a section in the middle of the Beds macro moth list of seven species called "prominent", all listed as common and widespread in VC30. This is a prominent gap as far as Wychwood Moths is concerned with only three individuals ever caught from this group in the first two years. These were two Maples and a Coxcomb leaving five of the seven available species still waiting to arrive. A fourth "prom" individual was most welcome this week but I was a little disappointed that it was a third Maple, still a nice species to look at.

Wychwood Moths first birthday

Today, 2nd June, is one year to the day when moth trapping and proper recording began at Wychwood Moths following collection of the "Ratface Twin 15W actinic/UV Skinner". In that first year, the garden list was 201 macro species (pending a couple of frozen confusing pugs that need to be investigated); but the official garden list is 203 as it includes Hummingbird Hawkmoth which was recorded three times in the garden but all pre-2010 and Feathered Thorn that was recorded in my bathroom in autumn of 2009. Lots of highlights in that period but for pure rarity value, the VC30 vice-county 2nd Toadflax Brocade, one month after the first, was top of the list. However, the thrill of finding such stunning beasts as the Hawkmoths in the trap in the morning still remains, and even among the commoner species there are some more subtly beautiful varieties. I have added a couple of images of favourites here which have not appeared on the blog previously:
Maple Prominent


Peppered Moth


Leopard Moth


Lunar-spotted Pinion

Privet Hawkmoth

Sallow Kitten

Shark

Tawny-barred Angle

Toadflax Brocade