Some Moths during August

 The hot and dry summer continued into August but by the latter half of the month the weather was starting to change, with overnight conditions becoming blustery and showery.

The moth-trap has continued to produce some interesting moths and the undoubted highlight of the month was the appearance of my first ever Striped Hawkmoth (Hyles livornica). This handsome species arrives in Britain as a migrant from the European mainland most years but numbers are generally small. In recent years however, they have been arriving in greater numbers along the coastal plain of Sussex and I had noted with envy reports of them appearing at moth-traps just a few miles away from my garden.

Striped Hawkmoth (Hyles livornica)

Orange Swift (Hepialus sylvina) (female)

Pebble Hook-tip (Drepana falcataria falcataria) (2nd brood)

Birch Mocha (Cyclophora albipunctata) (form subroseata) (2nd brood)

Maiden's Blush (Cyclophora punctaria) (2nd brood)

Clay Triple-lines (Cyclophora linearia) (2nd brood)

Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata bilineata)

Scorched Carpet (Ligdia adustata) (2nd brood)

Tawny-barred Angle (Macaria liturata) (2nd brood)

September Thorn (Ennomos erosaria) (male)

Scalloped Oak (Crocallis elinguaria)

Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) (male)

Rosy Footman (Miltochrista miniata)

Six-striped Rustic (Xestia sexstrigata)

Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea)

Toadflax Brocade (Calophasia lunula)

Straw Underwing (Thalpophila matura)

Rosy Rustic (Hydraecia micacea)

Bordered Straw (Heliothis peltigera)

Green Silver-lines (Pseudoips prasinana britannica)

Pyrausta purpuralis

European Corn Borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) (female)

Some Moths during July

 The weather throughout July has continued to be hot and dry and night-time temperatures have regularly been in the high teens (degrees centigrade). These conditions have brought a good variety of species to the light-trap including some more first records for my garden.

Privet Hawkmoth (Sphinx ligustri)

Pine Hawkmoth (Hyloicus pinastri)

Poplar Hawkmoth (Laothoe populi)

Leopard Moth (Zeuzera pyrina)

Large Emerald (Geometra papilionaria)

Least Carpet (Idaea rusticata atrosignaria)

Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata)

Lunar Thorn (Selenia lunularia) 

This is a second brood individual.

Waved Umber (Menophra abruptaria)

This is a second brood individual which was 25% smaller than a typical first brood adult.

Common White Wave (Cabera pusaria)

Sallow Kitten (Furcula furcula)

Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina)

Lobster Moth (Stauropus fagi)

Oak Processionary (Thaumetopoea processionea)

This is an immigrant and episodic breeder in Sussex.

This is a first record for my garden.

Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)

Jersey Tiger (Euplagia quadripunctaria)

This handsome migrant is now well established as a breeding species in Sussex and beyond.

Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa fuliginosa)

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua fimbriata)

This male is of an unusual mahogany colour...usually olive green.

Least Yellow Underwing (Noctua interjecta caliginosa)

Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae)

Smoky Wainscot (Mythimna impura)

Tree-lichen Beauty (Cryphia algae)

Suspected (Parastichtis suspecta)

Common Rustic (Mesapamea secalis) (or Mesapamea sp.)

Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca)

Light Crimson Underwing (Catocala promissa)

This Red Data Book species is now an episodic breeder in Sussex due to immigration from the near continent.

Blackneck (Lygephila pastinum)

This is a first record for my garden.

Olive Crescent (Trisateles emortualis)

This Red Data Book species may now be breeding in Sussex due to migration from the near continent.

This is a first record for my garden.

Eudonia delunella

This is a first record in my garden for this nationally scarce moth.