Moth Night 2017

Moth Night has been running this weekend (it's actually over three nights, not just one), where we're all encouraged to get out and see what moths are still flying at this time of the year.

We put the moth trap out and waited to see what would be in there in the morning. We always have our fingers crossed that we'll catch a hawk moth (or two) and the recent 'heatwave' meant conditions were good for the rare immigrant silver-striped hawkmoth or the huge convolvulus hawkmoth. You just never know what might be passing and be attracted to the light. There's even a slim chance that there could be a fabulous death's-head hawkmoth (I wrote about them here) sitting in the trap when we open it in the morning ...

... unfortunately, not this time!  It always feels a little like Christmas morning when we lift the lid on the trap and see what's in there. No hawkmoths for us, but there were still some very pretty surprises.

Green-brindled crescent

Black rustic

Blair's shoulder-knot

Red-green carpet

Red-line quaker

There were a few other insects attracted to the light, including some little orange ladybirds, lacewings, a shield bug and a very cool ichneumon wasp.



Orange ladybird



Ichneumon wasp

Moth Night took place just in time, as we had unseasonably warm weather all weekend, but the remnants of a hurricane are due to arrive here next week! We'll record our moths on the Butterfly Conservation website and pack away the moth trap for the winter.