Warren View Waste Ground

Garden Grass-veneer - Chrystoteuchia culmella - plenty of these around this afternoon.

Six-spot Burnet - a couple Silver Y and Cinnabar also noted.

Bee sp - Common Carder?

Large Skipper - c10+ seen in a small area of waste ground bordering Warren View football pitches.

Common Blue - good numbers (c20+) seen in a small area - all looking well past their 'best before' date.

Large numbers of Meadow Browns on the playing fields that have been left wild for the past few weeks.

Marbled White - the first I've seen this year.

Bee sp - a tiny one and one that I'm not familiar with.

Bee sp - any ideas welcome.

Obscure and Silky Wainscots

Obscure Wainscot - another long-awaited and much-anticipated species. It's in good nick too. The larvae feed on Common Reed so this moth has flown a reasonable distance to reach our garden. I always felt I had a chance of catching one of these but that did nothing to dampen the excitement of finally clapping eyes on this species.

 

Another massive haul of moths last night but I didn't have time to count everything unfortunately. Species included Figure of Eighty, Buff Arches, Common Emerald, Blood-vein, Small Blood-vein, Dwarf Cream Wave, Small Dusty Wave, Single Dotted Wave, Treble Brown-spot, Riband Wave, Garden Carpet, Common Carpet, Yellow Shell, Spruce Carpet, Barred Straw, Haworth's Pug, Foxglove Pug, Common Pug, Grey Pug, V-Pug, Green Pug, Double-striped Pug, Clouded Border, Sharp-angled Peacock, Brimstone, Willow Beauty, Common Wave, Clouded Silver, Eyed Hawkmoth, Poplar Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, Buff-tip, Heart and Dart, Shuttle-shaped dart, Flame, Large Yellow Underwing, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Grey Arches, Bright-line Brown-eye, Common Wainscot, Obscure  Wainscot, Angle Shades, Dark Arches, Light Arches, Dusky Brocade, Minor Agg, Treble Lines, Uncertain/Vines Agg, Silky Wainscot, Spectacle, Straw Dot, Snout, Fan-foot, Small Fan-foot, Small Magpie, Rusty-dot Pearl, Common Plume, Bramble-shoot Moth and Coastal Pearl.

 

Obscure Wainscot

Silky Wainscot - another new moth for me. Had a hunch I'd get one here one day, despite the fact that the nearest reed bed is a good kilometre away. An odd-looking species and a Wainscot but not one of the 'Mythimna' tribe that I'm so fond of. According to 'Waring and Townsend' the larvae are omnivorous, feeding on living and dead invertebrates and the inner tissues of dead Common Reed stems. Bit odd!

Ladybird sp

Spruce Carpet

Dwarf Cream Wave

Presumed Aethes beatricella or francillana

Common Wainscot

Broom Moth

Broom Moth - my very first record of what is essentially a common moth. No idea why it's taken this long.

 

A large number of moths (330+ of at least 65 species) in the trap that took me a long time to process this morning. The only new species was Broom Moth and the only immigrants were 1 Silver Y and 2 Rusty-dot Pearl. The rest of the haul included 1 Eyed Hawkmoth, 2 Brimstone Moth, 1 Common Carpet, 82 Heart and Dart, 5 Mottled Rustic, 18 Small Magpie, 12 Riband Wave, 8 Common Marbled Carpet, 3 Double-striped Pug, 17 Snout, 1 Thistle Ermine, 6 Grey Pug, 9 Willow Beauty, 7 Small Fan-foot, 1 Elder Pearl, 3 Garden Carpet, 4 Clouded Border, 5 Buff Ermine, 1 Bee Moth, 15 Minor Agg, 3 Common Wave, 1 Spectacle, 2 Uncertain, 11 Bright-line Brown-eye, 1 Elephant Hawkmoth, 2 Clouded Silver, 3 Green Pug, 28 Dark Arches, 1 Coastal Pearl, 6 Straw Dot, 1 Fan-foot, 4 Treble Brown-spot, 1 Small Angle Shades, 3 Buff Arches, 1 Common Emerald, 1 Single-dotted Wave, 1 Haworth's Pug, 1 Common Pug, 1 Olive Pearl, 19 Flame, 10 Uncertain/Vines Agg, 1 Figure of Eighty, 1 Lime-speck Pug, 1 Least Black Arches, 1 Flame Shoulder, 1 Small Dusty Wave, 1 Ruddy Streak, 1 Grey Arches, 2 Small Seraphim, 2 Bramble-shoot Moth, 1 Dusky Brocade, 2 Heart and Club, 1 Middle-barred Minor, 2 Large Yellow Underwing, 1 Treble Lines, 1 Small Square-spot, 1 Blood-vein, 1 Southern Bell, 1 Little Grey, 1 Hoary Bell, 1 Peach Blossom, 1 Barred Straw and 1 Barred Marble.

Broom Moth

Small Angle Shades - one of my absolute favourites - a really beautiful little moth.

Treble Brown-spot - one of four trapped last night

An unusually plain Shuttle-shaped Dart

Hoary Bell - Eucosma cana

Dusky Brocade - compare with yesterday's - a less strongly marked individual.

Dunlin and Moths

 

Dunlin - between Mudbank and West Lodge - quite long-billed with rufous crown and quite bright orangey scaps - possible alpina or just schinzii?

 

A couple hours spent on East Budleigh and Bicton Commons this morning - good to search for insects with Nick. We found a few more Silver-studded Blues and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and saw Green Hairstreaks, Red Admirals, Speckled Woods and Small Heaths. Moths included July Belle, Grass Wave and Common Heath. Quiet bird-wise but both Dartford warbler and Whitethroat in song up there, with Redpolls and Siskins over.

The contents of the moth trap included 1 Brimstone, 2 Bright-line Brown-eye, 1 Rusty-dot Pearl, 1 Small Fan-foot, 1 Dusky Brocade, 3+ Vine's Rustic, 1 Barred Yellow, 8 Minor Agg, 1+ Common Pug, 1 Green Pug, 1 Bramble-shoot Moth, 1 Brussels Lace, 7 Small Magpie, 35 Heart and Dart, 1 Elder Pearl, 3 Riband Wave, 7 Dark Arches, 4 Buff Ermine, 13 Flame, 2 Small Dusty Wave, 1 Double-striped Pug, 4 Snout, 1 Heart and Club, 2 Common Marbled Carpet, 1 Buff Arches, 1 Smoky Wainscot, 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character, 1 Bee Moth, 1 Middle-barred Minor, 2 Willow Beauty, 2 Clouded Border, 2 Light Arches, 4 Mottled Rustic, 2 Flame Shoulder, 1 Marsh Grey, 1 Peppered Moth, 2 Bordered Straw, 1 Straw Dot, 1 Meadow Grey, 1 Diamond-back Moth and 1 Yellow-spot Tortrix.

 

Grass Wave - Bicton Common

Yellow Shell - between Mudbank and West Lodge

 

Six-spot Burnet - between Mudbank and West Lodge

 

Presumed Cochylis dubitana

Small Fan-foot

Brussels Lace

Yellow-spot Tortrix - Pseudargyrotoza conwagana

Micro sp

 

Dusky Brocade

Silver-studded Blues

Silver-studded Blue

 

I finally found some Silver-studded Blues today but not in the usual spots. They were in a lovely little secluded clearing on the edge of East Budleigh Common, along with decent numbers of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries. I got carried away trying to photograph them and lost track of time. Love it when that happens.

 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Heather Knot-horn - Pempelia palumbella

Common June Moths

Clouded-bordered Brindle

 

Trapped in the garden last night - 1+ Foxglove Pug, 1 Cypress Carpet, 51 Heart and Dart, 1 Light Emerald, 6 Riband Wave, 5 Garden Carpet, 8 Small Magpie, 2 Figure of Eighty, 1 Grey Pug, 10 Flame, 3 Common Marbled Carpet, 1 Light Arches, 1 Blood-vein, 2 Clouded Border, 1 Cinnabar, 8 Snout, 2 Straw Dot, 1 Lime-speck Pug, 3 Willow Beauty, 1 Small Dusty Wave, 1 Uncertain, 1 Bee Moth, 5 Minor Agg, 1 Heart and Club, 4 Bright-line Brown-eye, 2 Large Yellow Underwing, 7 Dark Arches, 1 Ruddy Streak, 3+ Vine's Rustic, 1 Clouded-bordered Brindle, 1 Thistle Ermine, 1 Freyer's Pug, 1 Barred Yellow, 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character, 1 Treble Lines, and 1 Mottled Rustic.

No immigrants last night but yesterday there was a single Silver Y and a single Rusty-dot Pearl in the trap, along with a very similar selection to last night's catch, with the addition of 1 Eyed Hawkmoth, 1 Coastal Pearl and 3 Buff Ermine.

Freyer's Pug

Light Arches

Thistle Ermine

Barred Yellow

Micro sp - c5mm long

Green Hairstreak

Lots of Green Hairstreaks after work this afternoon but I again failed to locate any Silver-studded Blues, despite covering Lympstone Common, East Budleigh Common and Bicton Common. The weather was perfect too. I did however manage to find a small colony of Clouded Buffs, close to yesterday's sighting, 5 Dartford Warblers, a few Redpolls and a Nightjar.

 

A rare glimpse of a Green Hairstreak's  upper wing. It's not green!

 

 

Large Skipper - this, half a dozen Small Heaths and 3 or 4 Speckled Woods were the only butterfly species noted in warm sunny weather.

 

Bee species or perhaps a good bee-mimic - not sure - East Budleigh Common.