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Phlyctaenia coronata (pyralid) The Satellite Pine Beauty

 

 

Last updated 4 November 2002

JANUARY No traps set.
FEBRUARY No traps set.
MARCH Heath trap set 3rd/4th . First moth of year - The Chestnut - also new for the garden. Best nights were 22nd/23rd with 16 moths of 8 species and 30th/31st with 22 moths of 8 species.Total species for month 15 macros and 2 plume moths. 7 new species for garden - Pale Brindled Beauty, Small Quaker, The Chestnut, Twin-spotted Quaker, March Moth, Pine Beauty and The Satellite. This is easily the best March but is this because of better weather or the fact that we now run the bigger 15w skinner trap as well as the heath trap? Moths seen before but not during this month are Clouded Drab, Double-striped Pug, Garden Carpet, Common and Twenty Plume Moths. One "lifer" seen - Pale Brindled Beauty. Most common moths in March were Common Quaker and Hebrew Character recorded on 9 nights and Early Grey on 7 nights. Yearly total for macros - 15.
APRIL A slightly disappointing month in as much as we caught fewer species than in March. This was probably due to a cold spell mid-month which meant that from the 10th to the19th we only trapped twice. The latter part of the month was windy which only produced a few species. The only new moth for the garden was Brindled Beauty which was first caught on the 5th. New for our April list were:- Common Quaker, Double-striped Pug, Early Thorn, Twenty Plume Moth, Common Plume Moth, Small Quaker, The Herald, The Satellite, March Moth, Brindled Beauty, Bright-line Brown-eye and Waved Umber. Total species for the month 13 macros and 2 plume moths. Best nights were the 4th with 19 moths of 9 species and the 5th with 24 moths of 7 species. (By way of comparison, we had a mothing week-end on the Norfolk coast running 6 traps which produced 30 species over 3 nights). This was in any event our best April list to date. Most common were Hebrew Character recorded on 12 nights followed by Early Grey and Common Quaker on 11 nights. Yearly total for macros - 18.
MAY Overall, May was an excellent month in as much as we recorded 38 (inc. 2 pyralids and 2 plume moths) species which far exceeded our 3 previous years. May numbers for the 3 previous years were 8 sp. for 1999, just 2 in 2000 and 15 in 2001. The weather was not good for a large part of the month but we did trap on 21 nights. We had empty traps on 4 nights. The highlight of the month was without doubt our first ever hawk-moth - a Lime hawk-moth on the night of 7th/8th. Best nights were the 16/17th with 17 species, 19/20th with 10 and 7/8th and 20/21st with 8 species. We recorded 10 new species for May, these being :- Common Wainscot, Mottled Pug, Scalloped Hazel, The Spectacle, The Herald, Brimstone, The Rivulet, Small Magpie, Silver Y and Silver-ground Carpet. One "lifer" was the Clouded-bordered Brindle. There were 8 moths new for the garden:- Lime Hawk-moth, Muslin Moth, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Pebble Prominent, White Ermine, Spruce Carpet, Broken-barred Carpet and The Rivulet. Most common moths were Heart and Dart and Shuttle-shaped Dart recorded on 7 nights followed by Garden Carpet and Pale Mottled Willow on 6 nights. Yearly total for macros - 44.
JUNE Our best ever June by some way! By comparison June '99 produced 8 species, '00 23 and 01 just 11. Once again the difference must be because of the up-graded moth trap as the weather was not always kind for mothing. Also during mid-month we began using a 125w MV bulb, just for an hour or so before swapping back to the 15w actinic. This so far has not made much difference to the catch but once we get a warm evening (got to be optimistic!) we hope to see a difference. Trapping took place on 19 nights and we did not trap at all during the last week. We had 6 lifers:- 5 macros - Beautiful Carpet, Ingrailed Clay, Poplar Kitten, Gold Spot and The V-Pug and 1 Pyralid - Scoparia ambigualis. There were a further 9 new species:- Burnished Brass, Elephant Hawk-moth, Marbled Brown, Pale-shouldered Brocade, Pale Tussock, Peach Blossom, Poplar Grey, Poplar Hawk-moth and The Sycamore. Of the total of 81 species recorded, 56 were new for June. Heart and Dart was easily the most common moth being recorded on 18 out of 19 nights. Next were Garden Carpet 17, Freyer's Pug 12, Minor (species) 12, and Pale Mottled Willow 11. Best night species wise was 16th/17th with 31 followed by 17th/18th with 30. Up to the end of June we had recorded 98 species of macros for the year.
JULY Again, our best ever July in spite of some inclement weather! This year we caught 90 species of macro moths compared to 68 in 2001. We did once again use the 125w MV but only on a few nights "white sheeting". This did make some difference as we noticed that some moths seen on the sheet were not in the actinic trap next morning. Trapping took place on 19 nights (by coincidence, the same as June). Just one lifer - a Beautiful Hook-tip. We caught a further 6 moths new for the garden, these being:- Barred Red, Least Yellow Underwing, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Scarce Silver-lines (probably the highlight of the month), Small Rivulet and White Satin Moth. Dark Arches was just the most common moth being recorded on all 19 nights we trapped. Just behind was Heart and Dart on 18 nights followed by Large Yellow Underwing and Marbled Beauty on 17. Riband Wave we saw on 14 nights and Willow Beauty on 13. Best night by some way was the 14/15th (also best night on year to date) when 37 species of macros were recorded. Next best were 28/29th with 30, 18/19th with 29, and 7/8th with 28. No trapping took place between the 20/27th. 24 of the 90 species recorded were new for the month of July. The yearly total is now 139 (The total for the whole of last year was 110). Overall a good month but we feel that given better weather the total would have been higher.
AUGUST A really excellent month given that the macro total was 86 - last year it was just 67. And we caught only the second recorded White-line Dart in Leics. (since 1986). We trapped on 25 nights and there were 3 lifers - White-line Dart, The Spinach and Flame Carpet. There were 25 new moths for the month of August and 10 new for the garden - these were Cloaked Minor, Dotted Clay, Sallow Kitten, Scarce Footman,Flame Carpet, The Lychnis, White-line Dart, The Olive, The Spinach and Green Carpet. We have now recorded 54 new moths (this year) up to the end of August. Most common moth was easily (and not surprisingly ! ) Large Yellow Underwing, it being recorded on all 25 nights. Next were Common Rustic and Marbled Beauty on 24 and Willow Beauty on 23 and Lesser Yellow Underwing on 21 nights. Best night species wise was the 2nd/3rd with 30, then 29 on 5th/6th and 27 on both 11th/12th and 17th/18th. The yearly total is now 165. We generally used the MV trap for a couple of hours or so and then swapped over to the 15w actinic.
SEPTEMBER This month again has bettered previous Septembers - 35 Macros against 20 in 1999, 26 in 2002 and 23 in 2001. Highlight was without doubt a Merveille du Jour caught in the 15w Actinic on the night of 29th/30th. A beautiful moth. We trapped on 19 nights and we had 2 lifers - Black Rustic and Deep-brown Dart. There were 12 new moths for September - the 2 aforementioned and Burnished Brass, Flame Shoulder, Gold Spot, Green Carpet, Old Lady, Pink-barred Sallow, Red Underwing, Rosy Rustic, Shuttle-shaped Dart & Smoky Wainscot. Five were new for the garden list - Black Rustic, Deep-brown Dart, Pink-barred Sallow, Red Underwing & Merveille du Jour. The total macros recorded now stands at 175 for the year to date and 59 new moths for the garden. The Merveille du Jour was the 200th macro species recorded. Best night for the number of species recorded was the 11th/12th with 16 followed by 5th/6th with 15 and 3rd/4th with 13. Most common was not surprisingly the Large Yellow Underwing, it being recorded on 18 out of the 19 nights. This was followed by Setaceous Hebrew Character on 17 nights and Lesser Yellow Underwing on 14.
OCTOBER Easily our best ever October with 23 species. Previous October records have been 2 species in 1999, 8 in 2000 and 9 in 2001. Trapping took place on 13 nights. Highlights were another Merveille du Jour (following the first ever last month) and also Black Rustic. No lifers this month but there were 10 new species for the month of October:- Garden Carpet, Beaded Chestnut, Square-spot Rustic, Spruce Carpet, Pink-barred Sallow, Merveille du Jour, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Barred Sallow, Green-brindled Crescent and Red-green Carpet. The last 3 are new for the garden list. The annual total now stands at 182 and 62 new moths for the garden. Best nights were the 1st/2nd with 10 species followed by 2nd/3rd with 8 and 10th/11th with 7. Most common moth was Blair's Shoulder-knot, it being recorded on 12 nights, Setaceous Hebrew Character on 7 and Large Yellow Underwing on 5 nights. The 15w actinic was used on most of the nights, the 5w heath trap just being used on a couple of nights.

 
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