THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!

I suppose it was always going to happen sooner or later. As my interest in all things that flew grew it was inevitable that I moved onto moths at some point. Its such a daunting prospect for the beginner (which I am!) as there are well over a 1000 moths in the UK! But I'm nothing if not keen. So, about 3 weeks ago I bought myself a basic moth trap, and have had a couple of go's in the back garden. I have to say its both extremely exciting and extremely frustrating in equal amounts. There are tonnes of similar looking species and making a positive i.d. is sometimes exceptionally difficult! So far I've managed to identify 19 different species that I've trapped, but many more have gone unidentified. I suppose it'll get better with experience, and nobody becomes an expert overnight. By far the commonest species is the LARGE YELLOW UNDERWING. There's always loads of them in the trap, and sometimes can be a right pain cos they very rarely settle for very long and disturb everything else in there. The prettiest one so far has to be the BRIMSTONE. Its a beautiful yellow colour, and is also reasonably common. The one's I'm really after are the Hawkmoths. Martin trapped one a few weeks ago and I'd love to trap one myself. Hopefully its just a matter of time!