I disturbed this little moth this morning on the edge of the wood but it obligingly settled on an apple tree. It's just the second Waved Carpet I've had here.
I also had a Hummingbird Hawk-moth nectaring on Primula chungensis two days ago. Paid no attention to nearby white-flowered red valerian.
I am trapping in Devon this week and a casual perusal of the Devon moths blog turned up this recording of a talk about the reasons for some moths to be increasing in range and abundance nationally.
In my Devon childhood I used to hate the irritating clouds of flies following me in the woods of mid summer but no such problem yesterday when visiting a friend's woodland nature reserve on the fringe of Dartmoor, so I was as usual moaning about insect armageddon but this video gives a more measured assessment of the situation as pertains to moths
https://youtu.be/GMSQ6VkdsQw
I was on the blog site to check on Royal Mantle which I saw during a walk, new one for me.
Devon tv news last evening featured a man rearing and releasing Privet HM's by the hundred; I think he must live nearby as I've had mutiples in my trap!😁
Like Simon we had a very productive night with over 200 moths including 52 macro species and our first ever migrant Small Mottled Willow.
Carolyn & Evan
I trapped on the WT reserve at Pant Da (in the Rheidol Valley) last night. A bit damp this morning, but over 50 species recorded, dominated by Mottled Beauty (25) and Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (35). Lots of firsts for the year, including White-pinion Spotted, Burnished Brass, Green Silver-lines, Rustic, Brown Rustic, Purple Clay, Map-winged Swift and Double Square-spot; among the micros Archips xylosteana, Aleimma loeflingiana, Argyresthia conjugella, Cochylis nana, Eudonia delunella and (new for me) Strophedra nitidana.
Numbers in the garden trap are starting to rise (but still no Poplar Hawkmoth!), with Uncertain, Pale Mottled Willow, Bright-line Brown Eye and Fanfoot new for the year this week.
The leipdopteran highlights of a trip to Cors Fochno for the Nightjars on Wednesday were Pinion-streaked Snout, Four-dotted Footman and Ancylis geminana.
Not to be outdone, Aberystwyth skate park (not somewhere I spend alot of time, but surely there are Scarlet Tigers there in the Comfrey) produced Argyresthia spinosella and Epiblema foenella on Thursday evening, with Coleophora mayrella and Cochylis rupicola in the cemetery.
