October selection

All the usuals have now appeared, just waiting for the surprises. My birthday next week so who knows...

Buff Footman - two months late on 14th October !

Barred Sallow and Sallow

Pink-barred Sallow

Orange Sallow - just the one so far this year and past its prime

Beaded Chestnut

Deep-brown Dart - scarce one for me

Blair's Shoulder-knot - get lots of these though

 Large Ranunculus - also rather common with multiples on a good night

 Red-green Carpet - another regular visitor to the trap or the neighbouring shed door

 Red-line Quaker - commoner of the two autumn quakers

Vapourer male - third this year, all this month, the other two were caught in cobwebs not far from the scene in the next picture

Vapourer female and nest under the shed roof overhang

Squeezing the pot

Numbers are well down now to between zero and four macros and the odd micro each night in the last week. Surprise was a total of nine Juniper Carpets with a maximum of three on one night when I already had a fourth individual in a pot. Specialities of the season though still come along to add to the year list and there are a few more still to get so I will keep the trap out when it is not intending to chuck it down. Nothing new for the garden but all of these were caught last year in single figure numbers.

Satellite 1st Nov (just one in 2010 on Nov 7th)

Red-line Quaker

Yellow-line Quaker

1497 Amblyptilia...

An early October selection

A few new ones have come into the garden in the last week. The tally for the year continues to climb almost daily and still a few of the more common autumn species have yet to appear. With some warm and dry nights forecast it's looking good...

Red-line Quaker (first on 6th Oct)

Rosy Rustic (first on 6th Oct)

Sallow (first on 5th Oct)

Red-green Carpet (first on 7th Oct)

Angle Shades (29th Sept, previously only in June and early July)

In addition, a few more Blair's Shoulder-knot and Black Rustic have been trapped over recent nights and thankfully numbers of yellow underwings have gone right down making the trap a more peaceful place for the remainder of the moths to rest for the night