Chippenham Fen - Field Trip - 30/04/25

I ran 4 traps at my local nature reserve right on the last of April.

The day after was supposed to be a much warmer night (and indeed it was) but I only had the night before free, so I had to go for it.

It did get a bit cool towards the end just after midnight, but it stayed relatively mild for the time of year. 

69 species were recorded over the 4 hours I ran the traps, with highlights such as a nicely marked Seraphim, an extremely dark Caloptilia semifascia, a smasher of a Small Phoenix, and a new moth for me confirmed as Coleophora otidipennella.

All in all, a very successful trip on not the most perfect night.

30/04/25 - Chippenham Fen - East Cambridgeshire - 1x 125w Trap, 1x 160w MBT Trap, 1x 250w Robinson Trap, 1x 40w/22w Bucket Trap

Macro Moths

Alder Moth
Barred Hook-tip
Brimstone Moth
Brindled Pug
Chinese Character
Clouded Border
Common Carpet
Common Pug
Common White Wave
Coronet
Coxcomb Prominent
Dark Spectacle
Double-striped Pug
Engrailed
Eyed Hawk-moth
Figure of Eighty
Flame Shoulder
Flame Wainscot
Green Carpet
Grey Birch
Grey Pine Carpet
Iron Prominent
Knot Grass
Latticed Heath
Least Black Arches
Lime Hawk-moth
May Highflyer 2
Nut-tree Tussock
Oak Hook-tip
Oak-tree Pug
Orange Footman
Pale Prominent
Pale Tussock
Pebble Hook-tip
Pebble Prominent
Pine Beauty
Pine Hawk-moth
Poplar Grey
Purple Thorn
Red Chestnut
Red Twin-spot Carpet
Red-green Carpet
Ruby Tiger
Rustic Shoulder-knot
Scalloped Hook-tip
Scorched Carpet
Seraphim
Small Phoenix
Swallow Prominent
V-pug
Water Carpet
Waved Umber

Micro Moths

Aphomia sociella
Caloptilia cuculipennella
Caloptilia semifascia
Coleophora otidipennella
Endrosis sarcitrella
Epinotia immundana
Glyphipterix simpliciella
Monopis weaverella
Notocelia cynosbatella
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella
Parornix sp
Phyllonorycter salicicolella
Plutella xylostella
Prays fraxinella
Scrobipalpa ocellatella
Semioscopis steinkelleriana
Tinea trinotella

Seraphim

Small Phoenix

Yponomeuta evonymella Caterpillars on Bird Cherry

160w MBT Trap

Coleophora otidipennella

Common Wave

Grey Pine Carpet

Phyllonorycter salicicolella

Pine Hawk-moth

 

Mediocre May

It certainly has been mediocre May so far for me in my garden, with cooler days of late and cool breezy nights, but last night, with less breeze, cloud and a decent chance of some emergence, I felt like it might be worth it.

And indeed it was with 22 moths of 16 species and 4 new ones.

The current airflow is still from the North-North/East, so not good at all. 

 

Some good species were observed and the first, 2nd and 3rd of many Setaceous Hebrew Character's arrived. Dark Spectacle was my favourite, the less common of the pair.

With warmer temperatures incoming and a swing in the wind, it can only get better. The two downsides will be clear skies and the enemy in the sky (A big bright full moon).

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 172 species

07/05/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Dark Spectacle 1 [NFY]
Setaceous Hebrew Character 3 [NFY]
Toadflax Brocade 1 [NFY]
Treble Lines 2 [NFY]
Buff-tip 1
Chinese Character 1
Coronet 1
Double-striped Pug 1
Garden Carpet 1
Lime Hawk-moth 1
Rustic Shoulder-knot 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 4
Turnip Moth 1

Micro Moths

Cochylis atricapitana 1
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Evergestis forficalis 1

Turnip Moth

Dark Spectacle

Setaceous Hebrew Character

Toadflax Brocade

Treble Lines

 

Cold once more

After Thursday's bumper haul of 69 species, you would think that the night after would follow suit or be maybe a little bit less.

How wrong I was, with just 10 species, yes 10! A much cooler night though dropping to 6 degrees and with a cold northerly air mass sinking down upon us.

The only good thing was that there were 4 moths new in the pretty paultry haul for early May.

A stunning example of Red Twin-spot Carpet was the highlight, as was only my 3rd Powdered Quaker of the year. 

There were just two micros, a new for year Cochylimorpha straminea, a species I missed out on last year, the other one was the migrant/transient resident Plutella xylostella.

The nights since just haven't been worth writing about, as some nights it's been half of this catch, and i've either not bothered or only ran my trap up until bedtime. 

Moving forward, it warms up a bit at the weekend.

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 168 species

02/05/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Blood-vein 1 [NFY]
Marbled Minor 1 [NFY]
Pebble Hook-tip 1 [NFY]
Lime Hawk-moth 1
Poplar Grey 1
Powdered Quaker 1
Red Twin-spot Carpet 1
Streamer 1

Micro Moths

Cochylimorpha straminea 1 [NFY]
Plutella xylostella 1

Red Twin-spot Carpet

Blood-vein

Cochylimorpha straminea

Marbled Minor

Pebble Hook-tip

Powdered Quaker

 

Another new moth!

New moths for my records are few and far between now, having chased moths for nigh on two decades. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw a presumed Nettle-tap, land on a leaf whilst at work, which then turned out to be my first Choreutis nemorana.

I ran back to the van for a pot, came back and it was still there!

Note to self, when you've used a pot up in your pocket the previous day, replace it ready for the next day.

27/04/25 - Stetchworth, East Cambs

 

Choreutis nemorana

 

May the 1st be with moths

What an incredible evening and night the first day of the month was! with a record high of close to 29 degrees, the evening was balmy and felt mildly humid, a first for this year. 

Strangely dusk netting wasn't that profitable, with only a smattering of regular species and no new ones, but as soon as it was lights on, micros started showing up, so working the trap every 10 or 15 minutes up until midnight was the order of the night.

Everytime I went out, another species was noted and potted up, it certainly was a moth fest of blinding diversity, who needs numbers when the species rack up!

All in all I make it 69 species jotted down, an early May record and numbers that don't usually become surpassed until early June.

When I turned in at midnight, the temperature guage was still reading 20 degrees! Insane for start of May, and with lows of 14 degrees overall, it made it the warmest day and night of the year.

Highlights included Cinnabar, Marbled Clover, Scalloped Hook-tip, Etainia louisella/sericopeza & 3 species of Bucculatrix.

And then it went much quieter, that's mothing for you.

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 164 species

01/05/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths 

Cinnabar 1 [NFY]
Common Carpet 1 [NFY]
Common Pug 2 [NFY]
Common Swift 1 [NFY]
Figure of Eighty 2 [NFY]
Flame Carpet 1 [NFY]
Green Carpet 1 [NFY]
Marbled Clover 1 [NFY]
Pale Mottled Willow 1 [NFY]
Scalloped Hook-tip 1 [NFG]
Scorched Carpet 1 [NFY]
Bright-line Brown-eye 1
Brimstone Moth 2
Buttoned Snout 1
Chinese Character 1
Chocolate-tip 1
Coronet 7
Double-striped Pug 2
Garden Carpet 2
Grey Dagger 2
Hebrew Character 1
Light Brocade 1
Muslin Moth 3
Oak-tree Pug 1
Ochreous Pug 1
Pale Prominent 1
Pale Tussock 1
Pebble Prominent 1
Poplar Grey 2
Red Twin-spot Carpet 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 12
Swallow Prominent 1
Turnip Moth 2
Waved Umber 3
Yellow-barred Brindle 3

Micro Moths

Aphomia sociella 3 [NFY]
Bucculatrix bechsteinella 1 [NFY]
Bucculatrix ulmella 1 [NFY]
Bucculatrix nigricomella 3 [NFY]
Elachista argentella 2 [NFY]
Elachista maculicerusella 1 [NFY]
Etainia louisella/sericopeza 1 [NFY]
Hedya pruniana 1 [NFY]
Neocochylis dubitana 1 [NFY]
Notocelia cynosbatella 1 [NFY]
Phyllonorycter leucographella 1 [NFY]
Swammerdamia pyrella 1 [NFY]
Agonopterix purpurea 1 (netted)
Alucita hexadactyla 1
Anthophila fabriciana 3 (netted)
Caloptilia elongella 1
Caloptilia honoratella 1
Caloptilia rufipennella 1
Caloptilia semifascia 1
Cameraria ohridella 3 (netted)
Emmelina monodactyla 1
Emmetia marginea 1
Epiphyas postvittana 3
Epinotia immundana 2
Esperia sulphurella 1 (netted)
Evergestis forficalis 1
Mompha epilobiella 1 (netted)
Mompha jurassicella 1
Mompha subbistrigella 1 (netted)
Nemapogon granella 10 (netted)
Phyllonorycter blancardella 1
Platyedra subcinerea 1
Pyrausta aurata 1 (netted)
Tinea trinotella 1

Etainia louisella/sericopeza

Figure of Eighty

Puss Moth

Scalloped Hook-tip

Aphomia sociella

Cinnabar

Common Carpet

Common Pug

Common Swift

A couple of year-listers despite the cold night

Nights were still fairly nippy here in my garden at the end of April, despite a warm day of 24 degrees on Wednesday, the temperature fell away to 7 degrees come dawn.

An absolutely mint Sitochroa verticalis, was my earliest ever by two weeks, Buttoned Snout are doing well here, with 3 in the last week, a lover of Hop.

And an Eyed Hawk-moth spied on the fence at bedtime was a bonus, a quick phone picture sufficed.

The night that followed would still be 20 degrees at midnight, yep it went a bit mad!

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 141 species

30/04/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths 

Buttoned Snout 2 [NFY]
Eyed Hawk-moth 1 [NFY]
Brimstone Moth 2
Brindled Pug 1
Chinese Character 1
Double-striped Pug 2
Lime Hawk-moth 1
Muslin Moth 2
Nut-tree Tussock 1
Pale Tussock 1
Pebble Prominent 1
Ruby Tiger 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Spectacle 1
Turnip Moth 1
Waved Umber 1
White Ermine 1

Micro Moths

Dichrorampha acuminatana 1 [NFY]
Sitochroa verticalis 1 [NFY]
Bryotropha basaltinella 1
Emmelina monodactyla 1
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Evergestis forficalis 1 

Sitochroa verticalis

Bryotropha basaltinella

Buttoned Snout

Dichrorampha acuminatana

Eyed Hawk-moth

Pale Tussock

Cooler and less moths

A very cold night followed a warmish day on Tuesday, with lows of 6 degrees, the trap was fairly empty, but it did contain a couple of new ones.

Willow Beauty was back (the first April record), easily the commonest Geo in my garden, and one that has 3 broods all the way to October!

Best of all was a tiny tortrix moth found in the FUN lure trap next to 3 other moths, on closer inspection indoors in a tube, it was to be a garden first Pammene argyrana, a seriously scarce moth here in Cambs, but a regular moth in my old Herts haunt on Oak trees and to traps.

May started with a BANG, but more on that soon, I have pots to sort out!

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 137 species

29/04/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

Rustic Shoulder-knot 1 [NFY]
Willow Beauty 2 [NFY] 
Brindled Beauty 1
Double-striped Pug 2
Grey Dagger 1
Muslin Moth 1
Oak-tree Pug 3
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Turnip Moth 1


Micro Moths 

Adaina microdactyla 1 [NFY]
Cochylichroa atricapitana 1 [NFY]

Pammene argyrana 1 [NFG] (to FUN lure)
Epiphyas postvittana 2

Grapholita funebrana 2 (to FUN lure)
Pammene suspectana 1 (to FUN lure)

 

Adaina microdactyla

Cochylichroa atricapitana

Pammene argyrana

Rustic Shoulder-knot

Willow Beauty

 

Warm weather and things go mad

Starting to fall behind now with my moth reports, the trap is starting to get busier now in my garden, a few weeks earlier than normal, but with these warm days, even when the nights haven't been particularly stellar, the variety is still very pleasing here in my garden.

I just never seem to get numbers of anything here but the plethora of lepidoptera more than makes up for it!

Monday was a warm day, with highs of 22 degrees, but still a massivbe lack of cloud cover. The only plus was that it was a new moon.

The night dropped to 7 degrees, far from ideal but there was still a pleasing amount to pot up and inspect.

The best moth was a new moth for me, netted at dusk (the deadly method strikes again) a spankingly fresh Cydia servillana. I do have the lure for this particular species hanging in my garden currently, maybe just maybe it was mildly attracted to the scent? who knows, but it is the first time i've used the lure in the garden. 

Other highlights included the rarely recorded here, Monopis obviella (size, and hindwing checked) a male that came to the Lunar Hornet Clearwing Lure & a new for garden but very faded Cochylis nana, a tiny but well overdue micro, smaller than some of the similar species in the genus.

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 132 species

28/04/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Buff-tip 1 [NFY]
Flame Shoulder 2 [NFY]
Iron Prominent 2 [NFY]
Ochreous Pug 1 [NFY]
Orange Footman 1 [NFY] 

Red Twin-spot Carpet 1 [NFY]
Waved Umber 1 [NFY]
Yellow-barred Brindle 1 [NFY]
Brimstone Moth 2
Brindled Beauty 1
Brindled Pug 2
Chinese Character 1
Clouded Drab 1
Common Quaker 1
Garden Carpet 1
Hebrew Character 1
Latticed Heath 1
Light Brocade 1
Muslin Moth 1
Pale Prominent 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Spectacle 1

Micro Moths 

Cochylis nana 1 [NFG]
Cydia servillana 1 [NEW]

Monopis obviella 1 [NFY] (to LUN lure)
Grapholita funebrana 3 (to FUN lure)

Emmelina monodactyla 1

 

Yellow-barred Brindle

Buff-tip

Cochylis nana

Cydia servillana

Iron Prominent

Monopis obviella

Ochreous Pug

Orange Footman

Waved Umber