National Moth Night - 18 Sept 2009:
A cold NNE wind and clear skies during the first half of the night followed by a warmer second half with low level cloud cover.

Provisional list of 58 species, highlights as follows:
Diamond-back Moth - 4
Rush Veneer - 7
Straw Dot - 1
Convolvulus Hawk-moth - 1 new unmarked specimen.
Pearly Underwing - 2
Turnip Moth - 2
Large Yellow Underwing - 150+
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing - 22
Angle Shades - 14
L-album Wainscot - 21
Pale Mottled Willow - 1
Silver Y - 1

Also unseasonal/second brood examples of Buff Arches and Kent Black Arches and a single Pale Pinion.

A Convolvulous Hawk-mothreported to me this morning (at Beachy Head on 10th Sept) is the 13th record we have of this species from Sussex in 2009. Hopefully we'll find some more tonight!

For those of you who cant make it out to a National Moth Night event tonight or tomorrow the Sussex Moth Group will be supporting National Moth Night and broadcasting live via Twitter throughout the evening from various locations.Check out the sussex-butterflies website for more information.

Night of 17 Sept:
Dusky Thorn - a new macro for Bawdsey
Large Thorn - 1
Convolvulus Hawk-moth - 1 (marked)
Small Mottled Willow - 1 (marked)

Also small numbers of Diamond-back Moth, Rush Veneer, Dark Sword-grass & Silver Y.

Exciting news is that Roy trapped three of my marked Large Yellow Underwings c600m away from the release site on the opposite side of the Estate! How far have all the others gone?

Leptoglossus occidentalis, Western Conifer Seed Bug, at a lighted window in Sennen Cove on evening of 11 September. First spotted by Freya Elliott and photographed by Martin Elliott and me the next morning. Not sure how far they have spread but can't get much furhter SW than this!

Just a reminder to anyone who is not aware that as part of the activities around National Moth Night (18 and 19 September) colour marking of moths has been taking place at 35 sites in Britain and Ireland, primarily coastal. Early indications are that several thousand moths have already been marked and we are encouraging people to look out for any moths bearing a spot on either the bottom left or right corner of the wing, or the outer middle edge of the left or right wing. A variety of different colours have been used, including orange, red, pink, purple, grey, blue, yellow, turquoise, green and grey. Further information at [www.nationalmothnight.info]

Night of 16 Sept:
Diamond-back Moth - 8
Rush Veneer - 2
Large Thorn - 2
Dark Sword-grass - 2
Pearly Underwing - 1
Large Yellow Underwing - 91 marked + a few escaped!
Pale Mottled Willow - 1

So far this week 418 moths have been colour-marked here and released. Species marked turquoise include Large Thorn, Dark Sword-grass, Pearly Underwing, Turnip Moth, Large Yellow Underwing, Small Mottled Willow, Pale Mottled Willow, White-point, Angle Shades, L-album Wainscot and Silver Y.

Bloxworth Snout in kitchen 16th September.

DEWICK'S PLUSIA - night of 14 Sept.

Small Mottled Willow - night of 15 Sept.

A scattering of commoner migrants too.

Saturday 13th Sept: minimum count of 615 Silver Y actively feeding, though only 14 trapped at night (11 previous night). [Also on 13/9 1030 at nearby Tramore Burrow by day(Tony Bryant) and "many thousands" on Dursey Island, Co Cork (per Derek Scott).]

Highlights in recent nights:
A. oblitella - 1 on 12/09
Diamond-back Moth - 6 on 12/09 & 12 on 13/09
Rush Veneer - 6 on 12/09 & 2 on 13/09
Large Thorn - 3 on 12/09
Dark Sword-grass - 2 on 13/09
Pearly Underwing - 1 on 12/09 & 2 on 13/09
Large Yellow Underwing - 140 counted on 12/09; not counted on 13/09.
Pale Mottled Willow - 2 on 12/09 & 1 on 13/09

I will be colour marking migrants as from Tuesday 15 September with turquoise on the right wing - please look out for them and report any sightings.