Last week's moth and bat night

On Friday 3rd of September we held another bat and moth night on Scarcroft Allotments.  Around 20 people attended the bat walk on which many bats were detected and some were even seen.  There were plenty of bat detectors to go round and once again Joanne Hodgson, from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, provided interesting and entertaining facts about these tiny Scarcroft residents.

The open moth trap

While Joanne was busy bat detecting, David  Baker, from Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire and his colleague also called David, set up their moth traps.  One trap was on all night and was emptied in the morning, the other was more open (see below) and was only on for an hour.  The Davids captured and identified the moths in the temporary trap, so that by the time the bat folk returned they had loads of moths to look at.  One thing I didn't know is that if you kneel on the floor by a moth trap at night moths will fly up your trouser legs unless you tuck your trousers in your socks.

The following morning David and David were back.  They set up a display in the shade of the trees by the shop and between 9 and 10.30am a steady stream of interested parties came to look at the moths on display in plastic tubes.  It was interesting how different the range of species was to those caught earlier in the year.  There were 52 different species caught, all of which were common.  We are certainly very popular with Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing, as he trapped 181 of them. The full list is below.

Thanks again to Joanne, David and David for an excellent, entertaining and educational evening.

Scarcroft Allotments Moth Traps 1 September 3rd 2010

Code Taxon Vernacular Individuals Status

0998 Epiphyas postvittana Light Brown Apple Moth 4 Common

1076 Celypha lacunana 5 Common

1707 Idaea seriata Small Dusty Wave 1 Common

1728 Xanthorhoe fluctuata fluctuata Garden Carpet 1 Common

1835 Eupithecia tripunctaria White-spotted Pug (melanic) 1 Common

1862 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata Double-striped Pug 1 Common

1937 Peribatodes rhomboidaria Willow Beauty 3 Common

2087 Agrotis segetum Turnip Moth 1 Common

2102 Ochropleura plecta Flame Shoulder 2 Common

A large yellow underwing

2107 Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing 181 Common

2109 Noctua comes Lesser Yellow Undewing 18 Common

2110 Noctua fimbriata Bd-bord/d Y. Underwing 3 Common

2123 Diarsia rubi Small Square-spot 1 Common

2126 Xestia c-nigrum Setaceous Hebrew Character 14 Common

2134 Xestia xanthographa Square-spot Rustic 11 Common

2199 Mythimna pallens Common Wainscot 2 Common

2297 Amphiptra pyramidea Copper Underwing 2 Common

2299 Amphipyra tragopognis Mouse Moth 2 Common

2361 Hydraecia micacea Rosy Rustic 6 Common

2384 Hoplodrina ambigua Vine's Rustic 1 Common

2474 Rivula sericealis Straw Dot 2 Common

2477 Hypena proboscidalis Snout 1 Common

0424 Yponomeuta evonymella Bird-cherry Ermine 3 Common

0647 Hofmannophila pseudospretella Brown House Moth 1 Common

0937 Agapeta hamana 2 Common

0972 Pandemis heparana Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix 2 Common

0993 Clepsis spectrana Cyclamen Tortrix 3 Common

0998 Epiphyas postvittana Light Brown Apple Moth 2 Common

1020 Cnephasia stephensiana Grey Tortrix 1 Common

1036 Acleris forsskaleana 1 Common

1063 Celypha striana 1 Common

1076 Celypha lacunana 6 Common

1175 Epiblema uddmanniana Bramble Shoot Moth 1 Common

1183 Epiblema foenella 1 Common

1288 Alucita hexadactyla Twenty-plume Moth 1 Common

1293 Chrysoteuchia culmella Garden Grass-veneer 3 Common

1305 Agriphila tristella 7 Common

1376 Eurrhypara hortulata Small Magpie 8 Common

Joanne Hodgson, from Yorkshire Wildllife Trust

1378 Phlyctaenia coronata 21 Common

1388 Udea lutealis 1 Common

1392 Udea olivalis 1 Common

1405 Pleuroptya ruralis Mother of Pearl 5 Common

1439 Trachycera advenella 1 Common

1653 Habrosyne pyritoides Buff Arches 2 Common

1669 Hemithea aestivaria Common Emerald 1 Common

1708 Idaea dimidiata Single-dotted Wave 3 Common

1713 Idaea aversata Riband Wave 4 Common

1713 Idaea aversata ab. remutata Riband Wave [non-banded form 3 Common

1728 Xanthorhoe fluctuata  Garden Carpet 1 Common

1738 Epirrhoe alternata Common Carpet 2 Common

1754 Eulithis prunata Phoenix 7 Common

1817 Eupithecia pulchellata Foxglove Pug 4 Common

Please click on this link to see the full set of photos.  http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ScarcroftAllotments/BatAndMothNight2?feat=directlink  If you can help identify any of  the moths in the photos please write it in  the caption.