Sevenoaks Moths April 2014

Herald, Scoliopteryx libatrix.  Noctuidae.  Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 April 2014.

Moths are out in numbers again!  I went to Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve to look at April's monthly trap results.  We didn't expect much, as the nights are still quite cold, but there were half a dozen pretty creatures, including this Herald.

Herald, Scoliopteryx libatrix.  Noctuidae.  Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 April 2014.

I have seen some of these before, overwintering in a cave, but not in a light trap until one turned up in my garden a week or so ago.  It's interesting that species seem to appear in the whole area, not just locally.  Sevenoaks is half an hour's drive from my place.

Brimstone Moth, Opisthograptis luteolata.  Geometridae.  Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 April 2014.

Brimstone Moths are quite common, but I can't resist nice fresh specimens like this one.  They are so bright and pretty.

Lesser Swallow Prominent, Pheosia gnoma.  Notodontidae.  Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 April 2014.

The Lesser Swallow Prominent is nicely marked and easy to recognise.  As with the other Notodontidae, its furry forelegs are sprawled out in front.

Red Twin-spot Carpet, Xanthorhoe spadicearia.  Geometridae.  Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 April 2014.

This one was on the woodwork above the trap and was spotted by the warden, Susanna Clerici, who I am, in theory, helping out by doing this. (She thanks me, but really I should - and do - thank her for the opportunity.)  It's actually very similar to another species, the Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, and I should not be so confident about naming it without getting its genitalia under a microscope, but the Red Twin-spot Carpet is much more common.

Nut-tree Tussock, Colacasia coryli forma medionigra.  Noctuidae.
Moth trap at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 April 2014.  No flash.

I took this photo without flash, something I have been trying on moths recently to see if I can get more natural colours.  I can't use a really small aperture with only natural light available, and so I lose some depth of field, but this shot works quite well despite that.  If I used a tripod and could guarantee that my subjects would not fly away, I could get sharper wingtips!

I find that when I put photos on Blogspot they sometimes lose some saturation, which I can see in the first photo above. This is odd, and it can't be just my screen doing it because I am using the same screen to see both images.  I toned down the red a bit in Photoshop to stop my finger from taking over the whole picture, but not to the extent it now appears.  Blogspot has accentuated my tweak.

Anyway .. there were two Brimstones, so that was a total of six very nice moths for the April count.