New moths keep on coming.

Thursday 7th July 2022.

My first Herald moth of the year was a nice bonus.

Another cool start to the morning and even at 4.45am, no sign of any Sparrows near my moth box as I went about checking the outside of the box and white sheet for any goodies. The current temperature in Southsea, according to my mobile, is 17 degrees, however, it felt colder than that and there was a bit of cloud overhead too.

Grey Dagger. Another new moth for the year, though an annual species in my garden.

A total of 52 moths of 30 species were recorded that included three that were new for the year including a Herald, a Grey Dagger (to get technical, the Grey and Dark Dagger are virtually identical and can only reliably told apart by dissection of the genitalia) and the beautiful micro moth, Agapata zoegana. I dont normally put the moth box on two nights running as for not wanting to catch the same moths twice, but I did and it paid off with another three more species for the year. 

The gorgeous micro moth, Agapata zoegana. These are not always annual to my garden, but a delight to see. 

The following moths were present this morning:

• 1 Herald (NFY)
• 4 Riband Wave
• 2 Silver Y
• 2 Double-striped Pug
• 1 Grey Dagger (NFY)
• 2 Lime-speck Pug
• 1 Pale Mottled Willow
• 1 Uncertain
• 1 Common Emerald  
• 1 Sycamore
• 1 Willow Beauty
• 1 Vines Rustic
• 2 Bright-line Brown-eye
• 1 Dark Arches
• 2 Small Ranunculus
• 1 Bird-cherry Ermine
• 6 Common Plume
• 1 Udea prunalis
• 1 Red-barred Tortrix
• 1 Diamond-back Moth
• 1 Mompha subbigistrella
• 1 Agapata zoegana (NFY)
• 1 Eudonia lacustrata
• 4 Celypha striana
• 2 Tachystola acroxantha
• 1 Eudonia mercurella
• 2 Endotricha flammealis
• 7 Chrysoteuchia culmella
• 1 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 1 Blastobasis lacticollela

A Flower Crab Spider took full advantage of my moth sheet and picked up its breakfast of a Common Emerald moth!

This Red-tailed Shrike (formerly Turkestan Shrike from the Isabelle Shrike clan!) at Bempton Cliffs RSPB, East Yorkshire was photographed by midlands birder, Dave Hutton. This has been present, along with the nearby Black-browed Albatross, for over a week now and still present today.