My first attempt at moth trapping

[Cordaline]

Nice selection again Pete.
It's great fun isn't it. I find myself wandering around the garden at midnight, to see what's about & catch any on the fences/walls/windows & put them in the trap so they aren't missed off the list in the morning.
I've yet to have a Burnished Brass, Black Rustic & Feathered Gothic to add to my life list.

[Miss Caretaker]

Hi, I meant to mention that apparrently it is customary in the moth world to record the date of trapping as the date the trap was put out as opposed to the date of emptying/checking. So technically if you were to submit your last trapping session to the County recorder you would put the date as 10/09/2010. It took me a while to find this out myself!
Jo

[Pete Collins]

Thanks Jo! I actually had found that out already, from another web site, so I've already changed all the records in the spreadsheet where I keep my records. But thanks again for telling me.

[Miss Caretaker]

No probs, I'd rather be repeating stuff you already know than not telling you things you didn't! Did that make sense?
Jo

[Pete Collins]

If I do send in my records, I may have to send them to two people. Kensworth is now in Bedfordshire, but historically was in Hertfordshire (until about 110 years ago). Moth recording is done by 'vice-counties', which were defined about 150 years ago. So I'm in the vice-county that covers Hertfordshire, but the moth group for the vice-county that covers most of modern Bedfordshire are also interested in records from within the current county boundary. So, due to a quirk of history, both the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire groups might be interested in my records.

[Miss Caretaker]

How odd! In Hants we have separate Recorders for Macro and Micro moths but at least I know which county wants them!

[Pete Collins]

It was a clear night last night, so I didn't expect it to be good for mothing. In fact it was pretty cold too, so I only had about 20 moths in the trap this morning, most of them Lunar Underwings (in two colour forms). I've not managed to ID these four, though:

1 A type of carpet?

2 No idea

3 possibly Lesser Yellow Underwing ?

4 Lesser Yellow Underwing ?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[GuyF]

Hi Pete,
The first is a Common Marbled Carpet, and the other 3 look like Lesser Yellow Underwing to me. Things are slowing down for me too and the last time I trapped I saw my first few Sallows of the year, so autumn is officially here!
Guy

[Pete Collins]

Thanks a lot, Guy.

I didn't recognise the Common Marbled Carpet as all the other ones I've seen so far have been the form with the large brown patch on the wings - I forgot it has several other colour variations.

[Pete Collins]

So my count for last night:

Brimstone
Common Marbled Carpet
Lunar Underwing x12
Large Yellow Underwing
Lesser Yellow Underwing x3
Black Rustic x2
Turnip Moth

I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks, mainly just staying here in Kensworth, so I may put the trap out again in 3-4 days if the weather is suitable.