Sneaky armchair ticking

The Wychwood Moths garden list sneaked up by two last week thanks to a couple of moths that I took from the trap samples during July.

A particularly rufous looking minor that I collected was dissected by Andy Banthorpe and revealed to actually be a male Rufous Minor as I had hoped; unfortunately I cannot locate a photo I think I took at the time of collection. Previously in June I had collected a small sample of typical individuals and had equivalent numbers of Marbled and Tawny Marbled. So with the set complete, all of next years adults are safe from the freezer ! - was in the name of the scientific record as well as the list of course.

Similarly I collected a limited sample of five Common Rustic agg including two small and dark examples. Dissection revealed three male Common and two male Lesser Common Rustic.

Thanks Andy! 220 jumps to double Nelson 222 despite the windy and often damp nights and a trap that has felt a bit neglected by moths for the last week.

Snout - surprising first for year on 10/Sep

Lesser Yellow Underwing - a peak of variety and numbers in the last couple of weeks

Centre-barred Sallow - new for year 8th Sept, a handful so far

Sept 9th - hoping for some moths that are not brown

Variety has come down a little since September started, presumably a seasonal effect but also had a few cold nights and some wet spells which cannot help. Being my first year of trapping though, there is no previous years to compare so I'll just have to keep it up a little longer!

Looking through the book, there are clearly some autumn specials to add to the list including a few with some autumn colour camouflage. Only the Centre-barred Sallow has yet been trapped though from the obvious "dead leaf" species.

In this selection a few others that seem to be around at the moment, competing for space in the trap with the LYU's. + an odd one out that I was fortunate to encounter in my parents garden at the end of August, but rare in Beds.

Centre-barred Sallow (first caught on 5th Sept)

Square-Spot Rustic - a well marked one, most are darker. (max 11 trapped on 7th Sept)

Copper Underwing (usually at least 4, but maximum of 15 on 17/8/10).

Only one moth so far seems to have been a Svenssons back in end of July.

Setaceous Hebrew Character (usually ones or twos)

Double-striped Pug (up to four of these one night, often on trap but less often inside)

Gold Spot that was found in my parents kitchen in Coventry, Aug 20th (rare in Beds)