At last a moth! A low of 8.5C produced a Light Brown Apple Moth. (Picture below taken in May.)

Maiden's Blush

After 3 blank nights a moth! However, it was just a Turnip-but my latest ever.

Turnip Moth

Just one moth again this morning: The Chestnut. This species has become more common in my garden recently with 24 of my 30 records occuring in the last 3 years. Below is a photograph taken back in August at Lydden, Kent.

 

Straw Belle

Mild night with a low of 8.5c. Only 1 moth again: Blastobasis lacticolella. Below is another of the new micros for this year recorded in September.  

Pandemis cinnamomeana

After 4 completely blank nights there was just 1 moth this morning: November Moth (agg.). For several years I've been looking for a Mother Shipton and I finally saw one this year on a visit to the Cotswolds. Picture below:

Mother Shipton

A low of 2.5c overnight and the first frost of the year on cars in the street. So it was no surprise that there was nothing in the trap this morning. One species that had a good year here at least was the Old Lady with nearly a quarter of my records over the last 12 years being this year.

Old Lady

Colder night-minimum 4c. Three moths: 2 November Moths (agg.) and a Rusty-dot Pearl. Didn't get a Frosted Orange in the garden this year-picture below from Cornwall in September.

Frosted Orange

7c minimum last night and 2 moths this morning: November Moth (agg.) and Silver Y. Below is one of the new micros from earlier in the year.

Cherry Bark Moth-Enamonia formosana

A warmer night with a low of 8c. Just one moth: Light Brown Apple Moth. below is another of the new micros I've had this year.

Caloptilia syringella 

It was the coldest night for a while 3c-so first complete blank for sometime too. Below is another of the new micros for 2011.

Coleophora albitarsella

A colder night with a low of 5c-just 1 moth: Lesser Yellow Underwing-probably the same one as yesterday. Below is a butterfly picture from Cornwall at the end of last month.

Clouded Yellow

Minimum of 9c again last night. Six moths this morning: November Moth (agg.), Rusty-dot Pearl, Light Brown Apple Moth, 2 Blastobasis lacticolella, and my latest ever Lesser Yellow Underwing-I thought it might be a Lunar Underwing but sadly it's not. There was also a Green Sheildbug sat near the trap-picture from the archives below.

Green Shieldbug

A minimum of 9c last night-staying mild but just one moth Acleris sparsana on the vanes of the trap. The second one of the Autumn-see post on October 26th. Below is a nicely marked micro seen on the Dungeness RSPB reserve earlier this year.

Eucosoma campoliliana

Mild weather continues with a low of 9c overnight. Just 3 moths this morning-the first night of the Winter Garden Moth Survey: November Moth (agg.), Silver Y and Light Brown Apple Moth. Below is one of the new micros of this year. 

Batia lunaris

A slightly colder night last night with a min. of 7c. Only 2 micros this morning: Blastobasis decolorella & Light Brown Apple Moth. Below is a Clouded Brindle from earlier in the year. This was the 3rd garden record, but the first for 10 years!  

Clouded Brindle

Slightly cooler night but dry (min. 8.5c). Again only 1 moth-The Mallow-see below. The 2nd one of the autumn for me.

The Mallow

Another wet night with a low of 9.5c. Down to 1 moth this morning: The Chestnut. It's been a good autumn for L-album Wainscots. I only recorded my first in 2008, with 5 of my 8 records coming this year.   

L-album Wainscot

Low of 10c & some rain again last night produced 3 moths this morning: Large Wainscot, Silver Y & Light Brown Apple Moth. Here's the Scarce Umber from last year.

Scarce Umber

Down to 2 moths this morning: November Moth (agg.) and Yellow-line Quaker. The temperature hardly varied in the last 24 hours with a min. of 10c & a max. of 11c. In November 2010 I recorded 2 firsts for the garden list, the long awaited Merveille du Jour, pictured below, and Scarce Umber. The Merveille du Jour came about a month after I'd photographed my first one ever whilst on holiday in Cornwall. That picture subsequently appeared on "Autumnwatch" and can seen at the following link:

http://flickriver.com/photos/34579661@N04/popular-interesting/

Still awaiting the first Feathered Thorn of the year.

Merveille du Jour

The mild weather continues with a low of 11c last night. 8 moths: Blastobasis lacticolella, Yellow-line Quaker, Light Brown Apple Moth, Blair's Shoulder-knot, November Moth (agg.), Large Wainscot, Shuttle-shaped Dart, & Silver Y. Still hoping for a Feathered Thorn this autumn. Below is one of this year's new micros. 

Ypsolopha sequella

Another mild wet night (10c) produced 7 moths: 1 Red-line Quaker, 2 Yellow-line Quaker, 2 November Moths (agg.), 1 Turnip & 1 Blastobasis lacticolella. I've recorded 21 new micro species in the garden this year. One of the nicer ones is illustrated below.

Pempelia formosa

A very wet night with a low of only 12 c. Again 9 moths in the trap: 2 Yellow-line Quaker, 3 November Moths (agg.), Chestnut, Rusty-dot Pearl, Light Brown Apple-Moth and Shuttle-shaped Dart. Earlier in the year I was surprised to find a Lime Hawk-Moth in the middle of the kitchen floor. It was the 3rd "garden" record, but the 1st in the digital camera era, which enabled me to get this photograph.

Lime Hawk-Moth

A minimum of 9c last night. 9 Moths this morning: 2 Yellow-line Quaker, Chestnut, Green-brindled Crescent,Turnip, 2 November Moth (agg.), Blair's Shoulder-knot & the Brick.

The Chestnut

Slightly cooler night 9c-10 Moths: 2 Yellow-line Quaker, 1 Red-line Quaker, 3 November Moths (agg.), 2 Large Wainscot, 2 Turnip & a Rusty-dot Pearl.

Red-line Quaker  

Yet another mild night (Min 12 c) produced 2 Yellow-line Quakers, Turnip, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Rusty-dot Pearl & a very worn carpet (Spruce?). Looking back over the year, 2 species which I've waited 12 years to get in the trap are illustrated below.

Oak Hook-tip

 Oak Nycteoline

Another very mild night 14.0c resulted in 10 moths: 3 November Moths (agg.), Large Wainscot, 2 Shuttle-shaped Darts, Yellow-line Quaker, Dark Chestnut & 2 Light Brown Apple Moths. The Large Wainscot was much the smallest one I've seen-WL 18mm. Looking back to the start of the year, the 1st new macro species was Yellow Horned recorded on 23rd of February. This record was part of my best ever start to year which produced 10 species before the end of February-some years I get nothing before March.

Yellow Horned

A very mild night 12.5c only produced 3 moths: Yellow-line Quaker, Dark Chestnut, and Large Wainscot. Someone else mentioned that Large Wainscots were having a good year. This was my 10th record in 12 years. However, 5 of these have been this month.

Large Wainscot

Just 4 moths last night: Dark Chestnut, Large Wainscot, Turnip & Common Plume. It's been a good year for Dark Chestnut with 3 this autumn. I've only had 7 altogether with 4 records in 2006-the only other year I've recorded them. The Chestnut has been much more common with 26 in total, including 8 this year. 

Dark Chestnut

A mild calm night produced 6 moths this morning: 2 Yellow-line Quaker, Shuttle-shaped Dart, November Moth (agg.), Spruce Carpet & Red-green Carpet. This last species was my 6th garden record & new for the year for me. Also the 1st since April 2009. Year total now 284 (187 macros + 97micros).

Red-green Carpet

Spruce Carpet

Four moths in the trap this morning: 3 Yellow-line Quakers and The Brick. The latter was the 2nd this month and the 4th garden record. However, the first 2 were in 2000 & 2002. 

I've had help from someone in the Garden Moth Scheme (see link), who has identified the moth below as 1041 Acleris sparsana. I'm sure this is correct.

It was very wet last night with a thunderstorm as well. I was surprised to find a moth in the trap which I think is Oak Nycteoline. I had my first one of these earlier in the year but it was a much easier specimen to identify. The wing length of the one in the picture below was 11mm. It seems to have the characteristic long palps.

Any comments welcome.

Something very unusual last night in East Kent-it rained! Just 2 moths in the trap this morning: The Chestnut & Yellow-lined Quaker. Reflecting on the year, my best record was probably Metalampra italica on 28th July, which I believe was the 2nd Kent record (see picture). I had another on 21st August.

Slightly disappointed with nothing in the trap this morning-the night was mild but I guess too windy. However, it's been a good autumn with my first ever records of Orange Sallow (300th macro species for the garden list) & Pink-barred Sallow, both pictured below.

2370 Twin-spotted Wainscot (Archanara geminipuncta)

2370 Twin-spotted Wainscot (Archanara geminipuncta), a photo by Peter Maton on Flickr.

A milder night produced 4 moths in the trap this morning: Silver Y, Large Wainscot, Angle Shades & Green-brindled Crescent. As I've just started this blog, I thought I might mention some of the new species I've seen in the garden this year. I've been trapping here since March 2000 but have had 10 new macros this year. One of these was the Twin-spotted Wainscot.

1795/6/7 November Moth agg. (Epirrita sp.)

1795/6/7 November Moth agg. (Epirrita sp.), a photo by Peter Maton on Flickr.

After a blank yesterday I had 2 "November" Moths and a White-Shouldered House-moth this morning, following another cold night.

Peter Maton's photostream

Peter Maton's photostream on Flickr.

My wildlife photos can also be viewed on my Flickr Site where I have 1199 images.