Friday 11 September 2015

Is this a Dotted Rustic?

I found this moth hiding amongst a group of Large Yellow Underwings in my garden trap last night, and just wanted to check that it is a Dotted Rustic, as I have not seen one before.


On Tuesday night, an Old Lady (somewhat passed her best) wandered into my garden trap.


And on the same night, I also had this Small Ranunculus.


Steve Trigg, Cookham

3 comments:

  1. Hello Steve, yes that is indeed Dotted Rustic. Not all that common locally these days.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave. Trapped using twin 30w actinic lights (a new purchase) rather than my usual 125w MV bulb, although that may not be of any significance. Time will tell if the actinic lights attract some different moths.

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  2. Since its magical re-appearance locally in 2011 after a long absence I see that I've had 22 individuals here at Westcott and only three of them weren't to a twin-30wt actinic (two to MV and the other was found indoors). Perhaps you shouldn't read too much into it, though, because over that period I've used the actinic almost exclusively up until this year.

    I'm sure you'll be happy with the new 'neighbour-friendly' purchase. Apart from being slightly less efficient at getting micros to go right into the trap, I find that it brings in almost as many moths as the MV. My busiest ever trap here at Westcott, on 27th June 2011, was to the twin-30wt when 1,824 moths of 96 species - including four Dotted Rustics - were identified and counted from a catch that must have exceeded 2,500 moths (loads flew off as each egg-tray was brought out for inspection). Thankfully nights like that are few and far between!

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