Awayday: Dungeness, August 27th 2011

Frosted Orange, Dungeness RSPB, August 27th 2011

Convolvulus Hawkmoth, Dungeness RSPB, August 27th 2011

Red Underwing, Dungeness RSPB, August 27th 2011

Webb's Wainscot, Dungeness RSPB, August 27th 2011

Archer's Dart, Dungeness RSPB, August 27th 2011

Sharp-angled Peacock, Dungeness RSPB, August 27th 2011

Back to Dungeness with Steve Spooner today for my second (Steve's third) installment of coastal mothing. After the first visit it was always going to be a game of diminishing returns but there were enough new moths to keep me interested. The star of the show for most people was a Convovulus Hawkmoth, a true giant of British lepidoptery, but I've seen five or six before at Portland in Dorset; my personal favourite was Frosted Orange, a relatively common moth but a new one for me and as the photo shows, a stunning piece of wildlife. Other firsts were Bordered Beauty, Sharp-angled Peacock. Tawny Shears, White-line Dart, Grass Emerald, Yellow Belle, Webb's Wainscot, Cream-bordered Green Pea, Angle-barred Pug, Rosy Rustic, Small Mottled Willow and the stunning black & white micro Ethmia bipunctella, a real Dungeness speciallity. On the bird front we saw Garganey, Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Hobby and Whinchat; both Great and Cattle Egrets were on the reserve today but we failed to connect with either. On the way back Steve dropped me off at Denbies Hillside, just outside Dorking, where I managed to clear up a pair of embarrassingly overdue butterflies; the first a pristine male Adonis Blue, the second a rather tatty male Chalk-hill Blue; I was also hoping to see Silver-spotted Skipper but it was not to be, all in all another good excursion in the excellent company of Steve.

Awayday: Dungeness, July 30th 2011

Bedstraw Hawkmoth, Dungeness RSPB, July 30th 2011

Elephant Hawkmoth, Berrylands Station, July 30th 2011

I spent a wonderful morning on the Kent coast today in the very agreeable company of Steve Spooner, at the Dungeness RSPB moth open day. I saw at least 24 new macro moths, pick of the bunch was easily the Bedstraw Hawkmoth in the photograph, my 10th sphingidae species in this country. Other highlights included Sussex Emerald, Scarce Chocolate Tip, Waved Black, White-banded Carpet, Pine Hawkmoth, Reed Dagger, Archer's Dart, Galium Carpet, Sallow Kitten and a bewildering array of wainscots including L-album, Twin-spotted, Shore and Brown-veined. After we left the RSPB reserve we headed for Dungeness Bird Observatory where we added Oak Eggar and the obsoleta form of Pale Grass Eggar to the list. On the way home I still had time to pay a visit to Berrylands where I found the Elephant Hawkmoth in the photo, the 150th species of macro moth for the station and a fitting end to a superb days mothing.

Awayday: Box Hill, June 25th 2011

Pretty Chalk Carpet, Box Hill, June 25th 2011

Small Yellow Wave, Box Hill, June 25th 2011

Lace Border, Box Hill, June 25th 2011

V-Pug, Box Hill, June 25th 2011

I was invited by the Horsenden Hill lads to attend an all night moth trapping session at Box Hill tonight and a I jumped at the chance of encountering some chalk specialities at this historic site right on the edge of the London Natural History Society recording area. In the event I saw 13 new macro moth species, the stand-outs for me being the pristine Pretty Chalk Carpet in the photo and my first Small Elephant Hawkmoth. There were many other good moths, some of them in very good numbers including V-Pug, Fern, Small Yellow Wave (very smart), Beautiful Hook-tip (sublime), Short-cloaked Moth, Reddish Light Arches, Dark Umber, Shears, Clouded Brindle, July Highflyer, Lace Border and the nigra form of Satin Beauty which is something of a Box Hill speciality. Thanks to Andy Culshaw and David Howden for the invite and to Steve Spooner for the lift.

The Mothing Year at Berrylands: 2010

Just four of the 33 new species recorded at

the station during 2010:

Small Ranunculus on July 13th

Ruby Tiger on July 29th

Dark Spinach on August 27th

Bulrush Wainscot on September 20th

No macro moths were recorded during January and February but a Pale Brindled Beauty, the first of 33 new moths at the station (NFS), turned up on March 1st, a white-spotted Satellite (NFS) turned up on the 12th, with an Angle Shades on the 23rd the only other species recorded in March. The first half of April was very quiet with just four year ticks recorded; Common Quaker on the 6th, Double-striped Pug and Early Thorn on the 8th and Herald on the 12th. The second half of April was better with six year ticks three of which were also new for the station; Brindled Pug (NFS) on the 19th, Maiden's Blush on the 26th, Common Pug (NFS) on the 27th, Small Dusty Wave and Pale Prominent (NFS) on the 29th and Brimstone Moth on the 30th. A Pale Mottled Willow on the 13th was the only new moth in the first half of May, the last two weeks however saw a dozen new arrivals; Green Carpet and White-spotted Pug (NFS) on the 17th, Yellow-barred Brindle on the 18th, Lime Hawkmoth on the 19th, Toadflax Brocade on the 20th, Common Swift, Seraphim (NFS) and Common Wave on the 21st, White Ermine on the 24th, Oak Tree Pug (NFS) on the 25th and Garden Carpet and Buff Ermine on the 27th. June proved to be the busiest month of the year with 31 species recorded, including nine station firsts; Light Emerald, Cinnabar, Willow Beauty and Silver Y, all on the 1st, Pebble Hook-tip (NFS) and Mottled Pug (NFS) on the 2nd, Dwarf Cream Wave and Waved Umber on the 3rd, Treble Brown Spot, Riband Wave, Poplar Hawkmoth, Pale Tussock and Straw Dot all on the 7th, Lime-speck Pug, Freyer's Pug and Green Pug (NFS) on the 8th, Small Fan-foot (NFS) on the 10th, Orange Footman (NFS) and Iron Prominent (NFS) on the 11th, Miller (NFS) on the 12th, Least Carpet and Middle-barred Minor (NFS) on the 15th, Light Arches on the 21st, Large Yellow Underwing and Smoky Wainscot on the 22nd, Small Fan-footed Wave (NFS) on the 23rd, Small Blood-vein and Brown Silver-line on the 24th, Common Emerald and Common Footman on the 25th and Treble Lines on the 30th. Dusky Sallow on July 5th was the first of six station firsts in July, Cabbage Moth also turned up on the 5th followed by Spectacle on the 7th, Single-dotted Wave on the 9th and Scalloped Oak on the 10th, it was then quiet until the 13th when Small Ranunculus (NFS) put in an appearance, the 14th saw the arrival of Swallow-tailed Moth and Dark Arches (NFS) then Dun-bar on the 16th, Bright-line Brown-eye on the 20th, Plain Pug (NFS) on the 21st and Marbled Beauty on the 22nd; then nothing until the 28th when Common Carpet (NFS) and Yellow-tail appeared; the final new moth of July was Ruby Tiger (NFS) on the 29th. August got off to a good start with Yellow Shell, Copper Underwing and Red Underwing all appearing on the 2nd, Cloaked Minor, the first of six station firsts for the month, turned up on the 4th followed by Bordered Pug (NFS) on the 6th; there were no new arrivals for almost a week until Shuttle-shaped Dart turned up on the 11th followed by Dot Moth (NFS) on the 13th and Common Wainscot (NFS) on the 16th, then nothing new until the 27th when Vine's Rustic (NFS) and Dark Spinach (NFS) made a nice double to end the month. September got off to a slow start with nothing new until the 8th when Blood-vein and Square-spot Rustic appeared, then there was another large gap until Lesser Yellow Underwing turned up on the 17th followed by Bulrush Wainscot, the only station first of the month, and Large Ranunculus, both on the 20th; Snout turned up on the 21st with Old Lady, the last moth of the month on the 27th. Pink-barred Sallow on the 4th was one of only three new moths that turned up in October, but it was a station first, the others were Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing also on the 4th and Common Marbled Carpet on the 9th. Three new moths turned up in November, two of them station firsts; Streak on the 2nd and Mottled Umber on the 13th; the last new species of the year was Winter Moth on November 18th.

Away from Berrylands six other species were recorded at stations along the route as follows:

Earlsfield Station, Oak Beauty on April 13th and Figure of Eighty on June 3rd.

Raynes Park Station, Muslin Moth on May 7th and Leopard Moth on July 10th.

New Malden Station, Early Moth on February 17th and Twin-spotted Quaker on April 5th.