AUTUMN MOTHING

The moths came under close scrutiny by Dave Grundy, making another visit to the park from the Midlands in the hope of finding some migrant moths. In the end it was a poor night for migrants despite the fresh easterly breeze. Dave did go home happy however having seen his first large thorn as it rested on a bush close by one of the eight traps he'd put out around the park.
In addition I placed three traps in the overflow car park and found just under 200 moths of 23 species.

Seven of us, most members of the Essex Moth Group gathered at the park for National Moth Night on Saturday 12th. Although it was dry, the fresh breeze blowing and the clear sky kept numbers of moths down.
Around 35 species were noted at my three traps revealing 200 individuals by dawn.

 One of the more notable moths was this large thorn, one of three that turned up late in the night.
Three were also seen on Thursday night which pleased Dave, a species he'd not seen before.

 There weren't many migrant moths either on Thursday or Saturday nights but this delicate moth on Saturday was found on the trap at daybreak on the following morning. It's a few years since this scarce immigrant was last seen at the park.

 A more frequent migrant moth is the dark swordgrass, two recorded on Saturday night.

 The members of the sallow family such as this orange sallow add a bit of colour to the traps in the autumn. Four came to the trap during Saturday night. Centre-barred sallow was also noted.

The burnished brass is always a striking moth to look at with it's brassy sheen.

This rosy rustic was a neatly marked individual, one of three seen on Thursday night.

A couple of antler moths were found, with their distinctive antler-type lines on the wings. This a grassland moth but not a common moth at the park here.

The frosted orange is a common moth in the early autumn feeding on burdock, foxglove, thistle and ragwort.

Some of the white-points recently have looked very faded but this one pictured looks quite fresh showing the clear white spot on each wing. Some will be migrants while others might be local ones from the grassland. 

Other moths noted on Saturday night included feathered ranunculus, red-green carpet, turnip, common carpet, 4 silver Ys, Angle shades, small dusty wave, rusty dot pearl and feathered gothic

There was a nice colourful sunrise on Friday 11th over the river Colne seen from the country park at about 6.30am. It was a nice still morning and it wasn't long before it became a warm sunny morning. One early yacht was sailing out of the river as the sun came up.

A marsh harrier flew east over the grazing fields as the sun was rising.

There aren't many butterflies attracted to the bright light on a moth trap but this red admiral spent the whole night inside the trap.

The pale eggar has not been seen at the park before and is listed as a scarce resident in Essex. It favours scrubby areas of blackthorn and hazel especially near the coast.

 The hedge rustic is a grassland moth that usually makes at least one appearance at the park each year.

 Another grassland species is this feathered gothic which turns up in small numbers each autumn. Three were seen on Thursday night.