Moth into Flame - Metallica

The latest incarnation of this fine

Metal Ensemble

(featuring Robert Trujillo on Bass Guitar)

Moth Into Flame Link

Here's wishing all our Readers past, present and future a

HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS

NEW YEAR

please keep tuning in and tell yer Mates! 

So, we have come to the end of another Year and with it another Moth Season, and successful it was considered. With most of the equipment now cleaned, lashed up and stowed we have taken the precaution of leaving one trap in the field just in case of that unexpected mild night. In all, talking of Macro Moths only, we recorded 351  species of which 17 were additions to the Parley Court Farm List. There would have been no prizes awarded for guessing the final species to be caught during 2016, which was fittingly

DECEMBER MOTH

with the additions following in chronological order.
A couple or 3 of the images below have been 'borrowed'.

 SALLOW CLEARWING

 but only recorded as a Gall.

DOTTED CHESTNUT

 LACE BORDER
(a 'rarety' in Dorset and only the 3rd County Record)

 OBLIQUE CARPET

 POPLAR KITTEN

 FREYER'S PUG

SCARCE MERVEILLE du JOUR

OCHREOUS PUG

 SILVER HOOK

BRINDLED WHITE-SPOT

 FIVE-SPOT BURNET

 BROWN SCALLOP

HAWORTH'S PUG

 FEN WAINSCOT

 HUMMING-BIRD HAWK-MOTH

 ANOMALUS

SOUTHERN CHESTNUT
 We also had something of a 'stranger in the camp',
an Insect that rarely comes to light, a 'female'

DECEMBER MOTH

 shown here with a 'male' for comparison.
 The following day this note was received from one of my mentors.

 Hi Bagsy, just seen your female December Moth on the blog. Just for info this appears to be a 'very rare' pale aberration. I've never seen one before but by a bizarre quirk of nature, Phil (Dr Phil Sterling that is, Coast & Countryside Service Manager, Dorset County Council and author of the Field Guide to the Micro Moths of Great Britain and Ireland)
 had an identical one at Bexington last night. 'Normal' females are very similar to males, just obviously larger and marked slightly differently. This is something quite different, quite stunning!

As for the 'speciality' here it was a reversal of fortunes for the

BALSAM CARPET

with the majority of the specimens taken in 2015 being from the

First Generation - May and June while this year it was

 Second Generation - July to September.

A potted history shows that the very first trapped here was on 15/04/2014,

with the extreme dates in 2015 being 25/04 to 25/07 while for 2016

they were caught between 21/07 and 02/09.

 Something of a Chinese New Year to end, Many, Many Thanks!

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