Luquetia lobella

Trapping over weekend proved moths are out there but still in small numbers though still lots of species I still haven't yet seen that would have expected to have by now. Of interest was a larval nest of Small Eggar in Oxfordshire in the Cotswolds, the first I've seen 'locally' and after last year's efforts at Chimney Meadows it is good to see that they are still in the area albeit in low numbers. This one was found by people walking from their car to the house where I ran moth traps with Mary Elford on their way to see what moths we had caught - a fantastic find. I also trapped at Bushy Bank on Saturday night until about 1:30am hoping that it would at some point get busier with moths than the first hour which was incredibly quiet. It didn't but amongst a modest list of about 75 species was one new to me, Luquetia lobella. Perhaps the best moment of the night was finally dusking around a large patch of Bladder Campion I had in my mind to look for Netted Pug for weeks - having finally got around to it it was very gratifying to find a female Netted Pug fluttering around one of the clumps - there is a lot of Bladder Campion on the site but I got no Netted Pug's at either of the two lights I had out and I looked at a quite a few clumps before I finally found the single female. Stunning moth, always pleasing to catch one. Marc Botham, Didcot

Small Eggar larval nest, Cotswolds 18/06/16

Luquetia lobella, Bushy Bank, 18/06/16

Netted Pug, Bushy Bank, 18/06/16