Monday 27 August 2012

Worra lorra moffin

The Safari was joined by 19 other moth-ers, some staying longer than others but all eager to see what the light might draw in.
The bats were very disappointing with only one Pipistrelle making the detector titter early on.
First moth in was this Orange Swift as darkness began to envelop the park beyond the immediate are of he lamp.

While moths trickled towards the light some of the others went walkabout searching other areas of the park looking at any of the flowers they came across and returned with a nice fresh Herald.

Not sure what this little Tortrix is, Rhomboid Tortrix perhaps, or perhaps not!
The stalwarts stayed on after most of the others had left. Lucky we did as this Swallow Prominent hit the trap! What a stunner!!!
The full list of the night's catch, no counts as we were just showing the different species, colours and patterns.
The Rustic/Uncertain
Blastobasis sp
Agriphila tristella - probably
Light Brown Apple Moth
Old Lady
Silver Y
Orange Swift
Willow Beauty
Dark Barred Fruit Tree Tortrix
Swallow Prominent
Straw Dot
Lesser Yellow Underwing
Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing
Large Yellow Underwing
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Flame Shoulder
Flame Carpet
Cabbage
Dun Bar
Square Spot Rustic
Copper Underwing (not sure which one(s?))
Mother of Pearl
Dotted Clay
Small Angle shades
Angle Shades
Herald

Might be one or two more we've forgotten although we did make the list from the pots around the lamp at the end of the night.
As we were packing up a bat appeared from nowhere and nearly took our head off! Too close for comfort! No idea which species as we'd turned the detector off by then.
Some of the others saw a couple of Foxes too...so a pretty good night all round!
Where to next? Got an extra day off tomoz, Frank gets his stitches out and we knock off yet another year off our wait for the telegram from Shh you know who...the countdown is getting relentless! Might get a chance to try for a species that spends most of its time asleep, that's if another Osprey hasn't flushed it.
In the meantime let us know what the bright lights attracted in your outback.

2 comments:

Barry dyson said...

Sorry I missed your mothing night.

Your Rhomboid tortrix is Carcina quercana. See front cover of the Micro moths field guide.

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Hi Barry - nice to see you on here

The sneaky little devil - staring me in the face all the while!!!

Cheers

D