This clearwing moth is a great mimic of a hornet.  It even moves and behaves like a hornet when disturbed.

Another exciting way to attract moths is to use a pheromone lure.  The Clearwing family of moths are day-flying and are not attracted to light and were thought to be incredibly rare before specific lures were designed to imitate the pheromones emitted by females to attract males.  One that was thought to be extinct in the UK since 1924, until its rediscovery first in Warwickshire in 2021 and then near me in Tubney in 2023, is the Dusky clearwing.  This is an amazing wasp mimic - a brilliant trick to avoid predation!

The very warm weather and southerly winds brought some very interesting moths to the garden.  Of particular note were two Striped hawkmoths (one pictured right) and two Eastern bordered straw moths (below).  Neither breed in this country and the Eastern bordered straw is new for me.

This lovely moth arrived on Monday morning.  the Figure of eighty is aptly named due to the pale motif on the wings that resembles the number '80' (see close up).  

Two beautiful related species from my recent woodland trapping.  The first is a Mocha (left) from oak woods at Bagley Woods near Abingdon and the second (right) is a Birch mocha from the birch wood at Snelsmore Common (BBOWT) near Newbury.

Taking the total garden macro list to 379 species were the arrival of several Red-belted clearwings to the lure and a very special pug that I have admired in books and had on my wishlist for ages.  This Netted pug rocked up at the white wall, attracted by the UV LED (395nm) - a very exciting moment.  I only noticed the spectacular colours on the clearwing antennae, shoulders, legs and tail from the photo - a really magnificent moth.

This moth is so special.  A truly superb mimic of a silver birch twig.  It has evolved the most incredible patterning which makes it look just like a twig.  Even better, it has a flattened head which is coloured to look like a broken stick end and even holds its wings folded in at the back to give the impression of being a broken twig of silver birch.  

Early May saw some welcome milder nights after the last two weeks in April, and the moths responded with some decent catches over the long weekend.  Notable moths were the magnificent Puss moth (whose caterpillar is even more spectacular).  Other lovely moth included the Poplar kitten, Alder moth and Peppered moth (see photos below).

There is often a lull in moth numbers at this time of year, but the very cold nights have accentuated this dip.  Nevertheless, there have been some lovely NFY moths in the last week.  I love the Iron prominent - such beautiful colours, and like the very furry Pale tussock (photo below), a great hair style!

The mild still nights on Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th April were perfect for these mid-spring moths.  The catches were good with 40/16 on the Tuesday night and 86/18 on the Wednesday night.  The Chinese character is a marvellous moth and is very easily overlooked as it is small and very much resembles a bird dropping.

A great catch for early April in the woodland at the back of Cothill Nature Reserve (BBOWT), with 55/17 including a Scalloped thorn and Brown silver lines which were both new for me.  Also a couple of Great prominents (left) and a load of Frosted green moths made this a really exciting haul.

A couple of lovely moths visited the traps this morning.  A beautiful fresh Streamer, with lovely purple scales and an extremely early Scorched carpet.  You can see how the camouflage works when photographed against the wood.