Heatwave wanderers

July has been the month which keeps on giving. The first half of the month had very good numbers yet the second half saw a noticable decrease. Species wise I trapped 166 sp of macros which is the second best total since 2007. A feature of the hot weather has been the unexpected wanderers-all new for the garden: Small Seraphim, Silky Wainscot, Beautiful Yellow Underwing, Twin spotted Wainscot, Brown veined Wainscot and Cream bordered Green Pea. What will drop in next?

Evesham

During the nights of the 21st and 22nd of July an increase in nighttime temperatures to 15 and 18 degrees respectively resulted in an overall increase in moth numbers. This is my first year of trapping but the night of the 22nd resulted in record breaking numbers to my urban garden 20W heath trap.

Overall 238 moths were caught totally 82 species highlights included gold spot, 2 oak eggar, tissue, july highflyer, magpie, single-dotted wave and a rather worn sitochroa palealis.

Autumn Approaches

Running the trap on the 14th here on Bringsty Common I caught 2 Canary-shouldered Thorn and 1 Dusky Thorn.  I think that's the earliest record for Dusky Thorn for vc-36? It will be Square-spot Rustic next up...Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Canary-shouldered Thorn

Bringsty Common: Dusky Thorn

Mansell Gamage 03/06/18

Going back through my records I should have asked your view on this one. I think it's a White-spotted Pug. Would you agree? Thanks in advance.

Mansell Gamage 04/07/18

A challenging trapping in my Skinner trap. Some 100 moths, quite a few new to me and which have taken some time to identify. The trap included Black Arches and Fern both of which are new to me.

Black Arches

Fern

Could I have confirmation for the following three please.

Scarce Silver Y?

Is this Orthotaenia undulana?

Not sure what this is??

Old Country Farm

The WBRC 'Finding Rare Species in the Malverns' public event mentioned in an earlier post was very successful with a good number of visitors either running traps or 'spectating' on the Monday evening with some returning with some new faces for the ID session on the Tuesday morning.
6 traps of various types were set up around the site which was mostly old established orchard.
Being on the extreme western edge of VC37 Worcestershire it is an area that is relatively under recorded.

Another warm night with a little breeze meant traps were busy but not overwhelmingly so. The species list will be well over 100 for the night.

Highlights for me were The Olive, Waved Black and Slender Brindle, but probably the most notable species found was the micro Dichomeris alacella. Classified as nationally scarce B, in VC37 we have had only 3 prior records, the first in 2011. All these were singletons. I saw at least 5 individuals over the evening, so it is fairly safe to say that there is a nice colony of these moths at the site. The old orchard would be perfect habitat for the lichen feeding larvae. It is a moth that appears to be on the rise, since it has been recorded more frequently in recent years including some records from the Herefordshire side of the border.

73.213 BF2312
The Olive Ipimorpha subtusa

35.025 BF851 Dichomeris alacella   

Oliver Wadsworth.

Cinnabar

Not the most exciting moth ever, but I am delighted to finally see larvae on my clumps of Ragwort in the garden here on Bringsty Common.  I do get occasioanl visits by adults at the trap. Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Cinnabar larva