Cullaloe 20/09/2014

With two MVs and the heath trap we still faced an uphill struggle against falling temperatures. A few species were added to the year list though. The brambles above the spillway saw more activity than the traps maybe with Pink-barred Sallows in abundance and also a couple of Red-line Quakers.

Pick of the bunch for me in terms of beauty if not scarcity was Canary-shouldered Thorn

The list
(numbers rough guide, to be corrected)
Canary-shouldered Thorn (2)
Pink-barred Sallow (25)
Sallow (2)
Red-line Quaker (3)
Autumnal Rustic (4)
Snout (1)
Pine Carpet (1)
July High-flyer (1)
November Moth 'type' (1)
Small Square-spot (1)
Chestnut (2)

micros:
Acleris emargana - Notch-wing Tortrix (3)

The pics

There was also a Banded Sexton  Beetle, Nicrophorus investigator, one of the red-antenna'd Nicrophorus. Lots of passengers too, but I'll let them pass on ID this time around.

Falkland Palace, 13/09/2014

Unable to get the electricity on, I resorted to roaming the garden with head-torch and net. The lovely purple Asters produced two Angle Shades

Cullaloe - 04/09/2014

A quickie from 9 until 10 with the trap under the pines. Ruby Rustic time of year clearly with my second in two days - this one netted from the path on the slope dowmn from the hide. Three other moths were caught/trapped - this being a placeholder for the final result

Hill of Beath 03/09/2014

Quietish night though mild and overcast. My first carrion beetle in the trap, which is one with orange antennae (ok, offtopic for moths ... )

The list
LYU (1)
Garden Carpet (2)
Rosy Rustic (1)

The pics:

Cullaloe - 30-31/08/2014

A cool night, and only a small catch. One of the Small Phoenix caught was a very small example. July Highflyers pushing the envelope at the end of August!

Count
Sallow - 2
July Highflyer - 3
Small Phoenix - 2
Six-striped Rustic - 1

The following day a pristine Silver Y was swept from the flower meadow area while attempting to net a hoverfly.

Hill of Beath, 26-08-2014

Trap out all night on a cold clear night. Catch? Three caddis flies.The light was off in the morning so I'm not sure how long it was on. I suspect the cold air has a bad impact on battery life

Dumbarnie Links 21/08/2014

Open skies and a starry night with not much to show in terms of moths. We ran the heath trap from about 21:30 until about 23:00, while also doing some walking around and some sugaring on a number of posts around the reserve. 6 Hedge Rustics came to light - a species which has been recorded here once before; also in August.

There was a second species which featured heavily - a Square-spot Rustic 'type', which I need to check now I'm back from a weekend away. Three of these came to sugar while another two came to the light. Once on the sugar mix they were loth to move and one sample taken from there was very easily potted. (There's a S-S Rustic here which looks almost identical, and flight time and habitat are both good)

There was also a Common Rustic which came to the light. No micros were seen of any kind, and no Geometrids, although we did pack up at 11, so you never know what might have come. There wasn't visible much sign in the head-torches that we were missing anything though.

Aside from lepidoptera the light brought in a cranefy which had been previously recorded on te reserve, while the sugar brought in earwigs, harvestmen, a tiny ground beetle, a couple of flies and a lacewing - the only species which was an addition to the reserve list.