Trip to Las Descargues 8th August - 18th August - Macro Moths I made a trip back to Robin Howard's beautiful place in the Midi-pyrenees with my wife on the second week of August. We planned to stay over our anniversary but we were unsure of what the weather would be like, so very opted for a slightly longer stay of 10 days incase the weather wasn't too good.

We are very glad that we did as the first 4 days were quite wet and windy and with daytime temperatures not getting much higher than 18 degrees, it felt like the trip back in June al over again! Thankfully by Saturday the temperature had recovered and we were enjoying the sunshine finally and by Monday we made use of the stunning swimming pool that we had all to ourselves (although it was quite cold and took your breathe away). Typically on the last day (Thursday) it was really warm and the pool felt a bit warmer so we made the most of it!

Of course Moths were once again on the agenda, a I was granted permission to use traps aeound thr garden, extending to the ridge with a generator if I wanted to.

The first few nights were hard going and measly pickings but of course every trap had it's surprises in, and having not been here in August before there were plenty of moths that i'd never seen before.

2 of the traps on the first couple of nights got water-logged and then I had the challenging time of dealing with lively Hornets, albeit they are quite docile once the sun has rose and some mornings I just had to wait for it to get light before I could get near the traps.

We also lost one of the bulbs in the lower garden, I woke up to find it glowing green/white and thought it was odd and then getting nearer and realising the bulb had smashed, not good as Robin didn't have a 3-pin spare. How on earth it smashed when we had no rain that night (and it had a secure rainguard on it anyway) is beyond me. I could still see the light in my vision for about 15 minutes after which was slightly worrying!

By Saturday and Sunday, nights were really warm and temperatures kept in the high teens some nights even when the sky had cleared and working the traps in the morning (sometimes 4) was pretty hard work to say the least. Potting stuff up I didn't recognise, keeping a list on a notepad, the traps were full up and some mornings each trap had about 400 moths in, and I had 4 running! The best night I had around 160 species which is pretty incredible for August apprarently.

This first post I will list the Macro Moths that I saw on my trip.

I still have a few for identification as always but so far the Macro Moth species list stands at 193 species.

Species highlighted in red are completely new to me.

All of the Macro Moth species that I took photos of can now be viewed on my flickr page HERE

Adactylotis contaminaria Angle Shades Barred Hook-tip Beautiful Hook-tip Beautiful Marbled Beautiful Yellow Underwing Birch Mocha Bird's Wing Black Arches Black V Moth Blair's Mocha Blood-vein Bordered White Bright-line Brown-eye Brimstone Moth Broad-barred White Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing Brussels Lace Buff Arches Buff Ermine Buff Footman Buff-tip Burnished Brass Campion Chinese Character Clay Clay Triple-lines Cloaked Carpet Cloaked Minor Clouded Border Clouded Buff Clouded Silver Common Carpet Common Footman Common Rustic Common Wainscot Common Wave Common White Wave Copper Underwing Coronet Coxcomb Prominent Crescent Dart Dark Spectacle Dark Sword-grass Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet Delicate Dewick's Plusia Dingy Footman Dotted Clay Double-striped Pug Drymonia querna Dumeril's Rustic Dun-bar Dusky Marbled Brown Ear Moth Early Thorn Engrailed Epilecta linogrisea Essex Emerald Eupithecia semigraphata or impurata False Mocha Festoon Figure of Eighty Flame Shoulder Flounced Rustic Four-spotted Footman Foxglove Pug Frosted Yellow Garden Carpet Garden Tiger Gem Grass Emerald Great Dart Green Silver-lines Grey Dagger Gypsy Moth Heart & Dart Hoary Footman Horse Chestnut Humming-bird Hawk-moth Idaea deversaria Idia calvaria Iron Prominent Jersey Emerald Jersey Tiger Knot Grass Large Yellow Underwing Latin Latticed Heath Least Yellow Underwing Leopard Moth Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing Lesser Cream Wave Lesser Swallow Prominent Lesser Treble-bar Lesser Yellow Underwing Light Emerald Lime Hawk-moth Lime-speck Pug Lobster Moth Lunar Thorn Lychnis Lythria cruentaria Maiden's Blush Marbled Clover Miller Nutmeg Nut-tree Tussock Oak Eggar Oak Hook-tip Oak Processionary Orache Moth Orange Footman Paidia rica Pale Mottled Willow Pale Oak Beauty Pale Prominent Pale Shoulder Passenger Peach Blossom Peacock Moth Pebble Hook-tip Peppered Moth Phoenix Pigmy Footman Pine Hawk-moth Pine Processionary Pine-tree Lappet Pinion-streaked Snout Plum Lappet Poplar Hawk-moth Poplar Kitten Poplar Lappet Portland Riband Wave Red Twin-spot Carpet Riband Wave Rosy Footman Rosy Marbled Ruby Tiger Rustic Satin Wave Scalloped Hook-tip Scarce Bordered Straw Scarce Footman Scarce Merveille du Jour Scarlet Tiger Scopula tesselaria Scorched Wing Setaceous Hebrew Character Shark Shears Silver-Y Single-dotted Wave Small Angle Shades Small Black Arches Small Blood-vein Small Dusty Wave Small Fan-foot Small Fan-footed Wave Small Mottled Willow Small Purple-barred Small Ranunculus Small Rivulet Small White Wave Snout Speckled Beauty Spotted Sulphur Square-spotted Clay Straw Dot Straw Underwing Swallow Prominent Synopsia sociaria Tawny Prominent Tawny-barred Angle Tephronia sepiaria Toadflax Brocade Treble-bar Tree-lichen Beauty True Lover's Knot Vestal Vine's Rustic Waved Umber White Ermine White-point White-speck Willow Beauty Wood Carpet Yellow Shell Yellow-barred Brindle Yellow-headed Phoenix