Awkward Pug

Ingrailed Clay

 

Conditions didn't look too great when I set the trap last night but there was a decent collection of moths inside it this morning. Species included Poplar Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, Eyed Hawkmoth, Lime-speck Pug, Grey Pug, Green Pug, Double-striped Pug, Common Wave, Riband Wave, Cinnabar, Peppered Moth, Snout, Yellow Shell, Heart and Dart, Spectacle, Minor Agg, Heart and Club, Ingrailed Clay, Buff Arches, Peach Blossom, Flame, Bright-line Brown-eye, Flame Shoulder, Dark Arches, L-album Wainscot, Smoky Wainscot, Buff Ermine, Barred Straw, Straw Dot, Bramble-shoot Moth, Small Magpie, Long-horned Flat-body, Meadow Grey, Common Plume and Beautiful Plume.

A brief look off Mudbank on this morning's rising tide produced 5+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Common Tern and an adult Mediterranean Gull amongst c50+ Black-headed Gulls.

This is probably just a Wormwood Pug (male?) but it doesn't quite tally with my memories (and photos) of last year's Wormwood Pugs which seemed much more fat-bodied (females?) and rested with the forewings angled subtly differently (see below). The wings of this pug had a more bleached-out/straw colouration thus raising the possibility of Bleached Pug, but it lacks any black-dotted cross lines and I think the wings are just too narrow. If anyone knows this species I'd appreciate some help.

Wormwood Pug photographed last summer.

Burdock Conch (Aethes rubigana) or Thistle Conch (Aethes cnicana)

Cochylis sp?

Long-horned Flat-body - Carcina quercana

Notocelia sp?

Micro sp

Beautiful Plume

Yellow Shell

L-album Wainscot - a largely coastal species, confined to the southern counties of England. I've trapped quite a few of these beautifully-marked moths but I never get bored of seeing them.