Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Monday 16 February 2015

First Garden Moth of 2015




I put the moth trap out for the first time this year on Saturday evening. Despite a dry night being forecast, it rained! and I was faced with a lot of soggy egg boxes next morning :( No moths in the trap but I did find my first garden moth of 2015 on a nearby house wall. Its also a new species for the garden.




Spring Usher





(Sorry rubbish photo - the battery for the Olympus was charging up for a trip out later on Sunday so I used the bridge camera and, as you can see, I still haven't had the time to study the manual to find out how it actually works!).




Saturday, 14th February

Min Temp 4.7 degrees centigrade

15w Actinic Skinner Trap


Spring Usher (Agriopis leucophaearia) x 1 (NFY) (NFG)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had the trap out last night. It rained. Not a single moth in sight this morning! Well done on yours, that's a new one on me. Very pretty :o)

Ragged Robin said...

Countryside Tales - Thanks :) It is rather nicely marked. I was surprised to find any moths as usually when I first put the trap out there is nothing to be seen for a few weeks. Hope you get some next time you put the trap out.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Great that you got a new moth species to add to your list.

John said...

Nice moth though I suspect if he'd been on a tree trunk you may have missed him.
John

Grosmontine said...

Excellent stuff RR and a great start to the mothing year :-) Hopefully this will be a good year for all lepidoptera !

Ragged Robin said...

Margaret Adamson - Thanks very much Margaret.

John Wooldridge - Thanks John. lol - yes I am sure I would have missed if on a tree! :)

David@Rambling Birder - Thanks so much David. From memory I don't usually trap moths this early although to be honest usually don't have the trap on much in February! Here's hoping for a good lepidoptera year for us both :)

Amanda Peters said...

Well done on your first garden moth this year, I did see two queen wasps out, so made a note to look out at night at the outside light but nothing moving.
Amanda xx

Ragged Robin said...

Amanda Peters - Thank you. To be honest I was surprised as I haven't even seen any moths at lighted windows this year. Well done on the wasps - apart from Harlequin Ladybirds in our bathroom and Winter Gnats I have seen little in the way of invertebrates yet!