Oh What a Night - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Two reasons for what might be considered as an 'extra' Post today, (1) as we had such an exciting and rewarding Saturday night and Sunday in the field and (2) tomorrow is going to be another very busy and equally exciting day for me so no possibility of a Post then! I met up with my friend Dave Foot late on Saturday afternoon, his third visit, and together we visited Parley Court Farm spending the remaining daylight hours preparing Moth Traps. 5 were deployed around the Farmstead while a further 3 were active all night at the virtually 'untapped' north end of the property. Great expectations were held of the later as being bound on the southern side by Merritown Heath while elsewhere there is plenty of deciduous woodland, including Aspen, small stands of Pine, grassland and the nearby Moors River. The results were staggering as the accompanying images show! 05:00 Sunday morning I turned my attentions to the traps at the mainly because the 'timers' have died on me and the lamps needed turning off. Without even opening  any of them (we had agreed to do each together) the first Moth, something of a scarcity usually confined to heathland, was found clinging to a stem.

 SMALL GRASS EMERALD

was likely blown from the north by the gentle breeze and was a personal 

'first sighting' ever for me. If that were not enough of a Great Start

its bigger cousin was perched close by for comparison.

 LARGE EMERALD with SMALL GRASS EMERALD

Dave seemed staggered at this find and the circumstance and remarked 

that it could be the start of a bumper haul?

There were a good number of Insects on the white sheet placed under the first of the traps and withing the first couple of minutes he had identified a

 POPLAR LUTESTRING

an addition to his own extensive list. Not only that it also completed

the full 'set' of British Lutestrings for Dave.

With 2 new species for the property already secured in the first 10 minutes things were going extremely well but that was far from the end of it.

 OAK HOOK-TIP

PLAIN WAVE

 DARK UMBER

PURPLE-BORDERED GOLD

 DOTTED BORDERED WAVE

(likely winner of the Moth of the Day award),

 SMALL YELLOW WAVE

 RIVULET

 

 and

HORSE CHESTNUT

 were all added to the Property List in quick succession as were a

Trio of Pugs

 DENTATED PUG

 NARROW-WINGED PUG

and

 WORMWOOD PUG

as if to start a list for the slightly unusual an early emerged

CANARY-SHOULDERED THORN

was pulled from a trap.

 Both

ENGRAILED

 and

 OAK NYCTEOLINE

have been recorded here before, but not this year, while the

common and long overdue

MOTTLED BEAUTY

was another welcome addition to the List.

The 'TICKS' just simply kept coming with

 LOBSTER MOTH

 MARSH-OBLIQUE-BARRED

 the very unusual

WAVED BLACK

who's Larvae feed on plant Fungus

 SMALL PURPLE-BARRED

 DARK TUSSOCK

 DARK SPECTACLE

all being new for the Farm

while 

BROWN RUSTIC 

was appearing for the first time in 2014.

 From here all Moths marked * were new for the Property such as

 SMALL RUFOUS*

 SLENDER BRINDLE*

 SUSPECTED*

 DOUBLE KIDNEY*

 BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING

is included due to its beautiful appearance,

 STRIPED WAINSCOT*

 and

LESSER BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING

because I like them!

As so many Micros were caught throughout the day it was thought

best to add a few as a finale. 

 HONEYSUCKLE MOTH

 LESSER WAX MOTH

 ORTHOTELIA SPARGANELLA

and last but not least

an as yet unidentified

LARVAE

was found on 

BELL HEATHER

Dave is threatening to travel East again this coming week-end and if he does I just hope my nerves can stand it - I'll be brave! Once again I would like to thank him for passing on a lot more of his knowledge, coaxing me up yet another rung of the Ladder of Learning!

Statistics:-

All of today's images came from the North End of the Property where an uncounted number of Moths were caught to 147 species.

At the Farmstead 398 Macros accounted for 78 Species along with lots of Micros, a few Beetle, Ladybirds, Grasshoppers, a Spider and even a large Garden Snail.
22 of the Macros were additions to the Property List, with an additional 6 being Year Ticks.

DIDN'T WE DO WELL!

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