Irish Moths

Although so far you may not have realised, but my trip to Ireland was not completely dedicated to twitching the Long-Billed Dowitcher.  No, I did do other things, although little other birding.  So -surprise surprise- moths again.

 Moths and butterflies (more the former) were a big focus of my trip, and I mean a very big focus. It's pretty much all I did. By day I'd look for butterflies and by night, moths. Setting a bright light to point at a sheet at night makes a beacon which moths seem unable to resist. I spent many a night in this way, looking for something to be drawn in other than July High-flyers, sometimes this went quite late into the morning...  On occasion it did work, some nights it would be teeming with moths, others,  not so, with just a few the whole night.  It really did vary a lot.  I'm not quite sure the total, but I estimate around fifty species of moth came, though you can easily be sure that was never in one night.  It really wasn't the best time of year to moth, the numbers of Summer moths were dwindling, and Autumn moths had properly started to arrive yet, still, I coped with Early Thorns, Pink-Barred Sallows, Lesser-Swallow Prominent, Barred Chestnut...  Such hardship.

The makeshift 'trap' did a better job than I had expected, it didn't get me my longed-for Elephant Hawkmoth, but enough Carpets for a mansion.

Worth the disrupted sleep pattern..

Bring on the Autumn Moths!

Moths...

The title says it all, moths, moths and more moths.  After a week camping in Suffolk I'm hooked, it's like the seawatching of the insect world.  Certainly as addictive.
 I must have seen between 30-40 species, but with the way many moths are, I've only identified a mere handful, sixteen to be exact.  But quality over quantity as they say. On a single night there I managed to see two species of Hawkmoth, Poplar which I had seen before, and then the real gem, a Pine Hawkmoth, one of the largest insects I've ever seen.  Oddly I don't remember seeing any Pines nearby....
 Two bright lights can attract so much, these Hawkmoth's had a large entourage: Underwings, Prominents, Waves, Footman, Brimstones,  Satins...  Surely some of the best names going.  It does make you wonder how, and even why some of them got their names.  My favourite and yes, most likely the most ridiculous, is the Sallow Kitten.  Sallow meaning unhealthy in appearance, how very flattering.  Some were more understandable though, Lesser Yellow-Underwing's obvious enough.

                                                                Sallow Kitten


The thing which amazed me most was the extreme variation between species, even in such a small area.  The Poplar Hawkmoth, large and admittedly odd shaped, the bark like Pale Prominent, the T shaped Plume Moths, the glaringly bright White Satins, simply incredible.

Pale Prominent

I like moths.