On Saturday 29 July, members gathered for a ‘Mothing and Summer Party’ at Peter & Susan Twitchett’s house (Coromandel) in Upper Basildon. Despite having chosen an evening when it didn’t stop raining until about 2.30 AM, the party went remarkably well and Peter & Susan could not have been more hospitable. An excellent selection of food and drink was consumed in a marquee in the garden, while moth traps belonging to Paul Black, Norman Hall and Jan Haseler were running outside in the wet. Paul also ran a moth lamp over a sheet under a gazebo and was thus able to provide a constant supply of dry moths for examination in the marquee. We could not gather in groups around bare MV mothing lamps as we have done on all previous RDNHS mothing evenings because it is too dangerous in rainy conditions – and nobody likes getting wet.
By Sunday morning the rain had gone, so the 10 or so members who came early to view the overnight catch were very lucky – especially as Paul Black had stayed up all night and had caught many species of moths that had not been seen in the evening and were not present in other people’s traps in the morning. Coincidentally, the total number of species recorded this time (106) was exactly the same as it had been on 22 July 2006, eleven years ago, on our only previous RDNHS mothing evening at Coromandel. Even more surprising were the differences between the two catches considering that their calendar dates only differed by 7 days. Just over half the moths we recorded this time were new to Coromandel, which is really quite astonishing. It was as though the moths thought that late July was in Summer in 2006, but in Autumn in 2017. Some of us thought the same.
More detailed statistics are in the following table:
| Micros | Pyrales | Macros | Total | |
| 22/07/2006 | 21 | 18 | 67 | 106 |
| 29/07/2017 | 15 | 16 | 75 | 106 |
| Additions 2017 | 9 | 7 | 38 | 54 |
Moths seen included Rusty-dot Pearl and Rush Veneer (both of which are migrant micros), Clay Triple-lines, Least Carpet, Small Scallop, White-spotted Pug, Maple Prominent, both Hoary and Scarce Footman, Dark Sword-grass, Scarce Bordered Straw and Dark Spectacle. The highlight of these was perhaps the Scarce Bordered Straw. This moth used to occur only as a migrant. Although large numbers of them came into the country in 2006, only very few have been seen since then.
Report by Norman Hall
Pictures by Rob Stallard, Les Finch and Jan Haseler
| Monopis weaverella | 1 | |
| Argyresthia goedartella | 2 | |
| Roeslerstammia erxlebella | 1 | |
| Ypsolopha dentella | Honeysuckle Moth | 1 |
| Agonopterix heracliana | 1 | |
| Blastobasis adustella | 66 | |
| Blastobasis lacticolella | 1 | |
| Cochylimorpha straminea | 3 | |
| Agapeta hamana | 3 | |
| Pandemis corylana | Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix | 3 |
| Acleris laterana | 1 | |
| Acleris emargana | 1 | |
| Epinotia ramella | 1 | |
| Epinotia nisella | 1 | |
| Cydia splendana | 4 | |
| Chrysoteuchia culmella | 3 | |
| Crambus pascuella | 1 | |
| Agriphila straminella | 34 | |
| Agriphila tristella | 2 | |
| Agriphila inquinatella | 1 | |
| Agriphila geniculea | 1 | |
| Eudonia mercurella | 1 | |
| Anania hortulata | Small Magpie | 1 |
| Udea ferrugalis | Rusty-dot Pearl | 1 |
| Nomophila noctuella | Rush Veneer | 2 |
| Pleuroptya ruralis | Mother of Pearl | 17 |
| Hypsopygia costalis | Gold Triangle | 1 |
| Endotricha flammealis | 1 | |
| Cryptoblabes bistriga | 1 | |
| Acrobasis advenella | 1 | |
| Phycita roborella | 1 | |
| Falcaria lacertinaria | Scalloped Hook-tip | 0 |
| Drepana falcataria | Pebble Hook-tip | 4 |
| Cyclophora punctaria | Maiden’s Blush | 2 |
| Cyclophora linearia | Clay Triple-lines | 1 |
| Timandra comae | Blood-vein | 1 |
| Idaea rusticata | Least Carpet | 1 |
| Idaea biselata | Small Fan-footed Wave | 1 |
| Idaea dimidiata | Single-dotted Wave | 3 |
| Idaea emarginata | Small Scallop | 1 |
| Idaea aversata | Riband Wave | 4 |
| Xanthorhoe spadicearia | Red Twin-spot Carpet | 7 |
| Scotopteryx chenopodiata | Shaded Broad-bar | 1 |
| Epirrhoe alternata | Common Carpet | 4 |
| Pelurga comitata | Dark Spinach | 1 |
| Ecliptopera silaceata | Small Phoenix | 3 |
| Melanthia procellata | Pretty Chalk Carpet | 1 |
| Eupithecia tripunctaria | White-spotted Pug | 3 |
| Eupithecia icterata | Tawny Speckled Pug | 1 |
| Acasis viretata | Yellow-barred Brindle | 1 |
| Abraxas grossulariata | The Magpie | 1 |
| Lomaspilis marginata | Clouded Border | 1 |
| Macaria liturata | Tawny-barred Angle | 1 |
| Opisthograptis luteolata | Brimstone Moth | 33 |
| Ennomos fuscantaria | Dusky Thorn | 9 |
| Ennomos erosaria | September Thorn | 1 |
| Selenia dentaria | Early Thorn | 1 |
| Crocallis elinguaria | Scalloped Oak | 2 |
| Biston betularia | Peppered Moth | 4 |
| Peribatodes rhomboidaria | Willow Beauty | 3 |
| Hylaea fasciaria | Barred Red | 1 |
| Laothoe populi | Poplar Hawk-moth | 3 |
| Notodonta ziczac | Pebble Prominent | 1 |
| Pheosia gnoma | Lesser Swallow Prominent | 2 |
| Pheosia tremula | Swallow Prominent | 1 |
| Ptilodon capucina | Coxcomb Prominent | 2 |
| Ptilodon cucullina | Maple Prominent | 1 |
| Euproctis similis | Yellow-tail | 2 |
| Lymantria monacha | Black Arches | 14 |
| Miltochrista miniata | Rosy Footman | 6 |
| Eilema griseola | Dingy Footman | 23 |
| Eilema caniola | Hoary Footman | 1 |
| Eilema complana | Scarce Footman | 1 |
| Eilema depressa | Buff Footman | 12 |
| Phragmatobia fuliginosa | Ruby Tiger | 8 |
| Agrotis segetum | Turnip Moth | 1 |
| Agrotis ipsilon | Dark Sword-grass | 2 |
| Agrotis puta | Shuttle-shaped Dart | 1 |
| Ochropleura plecta | Flame Shoulder | 10 |
| Noctua pronuba | Large Yellow Underwing | 11 |
| Noctua comes | Lesser Yellow Underwing | 3 |
| Noctua janthe | Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing | 5 |
| Xestia c-nigrum | Setaceous Hebrew Character | 14 |
| Mythimna conigera | Brown-line Bright-eye | 1 |
| Mythimna albipuncta | White-point | 3 |
| Mythimna pallens | Common Wainscot | 1 |
| Acronicta psi | Grey Dagger | 1 |
| Acronicta psi or tridens | Grey/Dark Dagger agg | 1 |
| Craniophora ligustri | The Coronet | 1 |
| Amphipyra pyramidea | Copper Underwing | 4 |
| Thalpophila matura | Straw Underwing | 1 |
| Phlogophora meticulosa | Angle-shades | 1 |
| Cosmia trapezina | The Dun-bar | 19 |
| Apamea monoglypha | Dark Arches | 1 |
| Mesoligia furuncula | Cloaked Minor | 2 |
| Mesapamea secalis or didyma | Common Rustic agg | 6 |
| Eremobia ochroleuca | Dusky Sallow | 1 |
| Amphipoea oculea or fucosa or lucens or crinanensis | Ear Moth agg | 2 |
| Hoplodrina octogenaria | The Uncertain | 2 |
| Hoplodrina blanda or octogenaria | blanda agg | 17 |
| Hoplodrina blanda | The Rustic | 4 |
| Helicoverpa armigera | Scarce Bordered Straw | 1 |
| Colocasia coryli | Nut-tree Tussock | 2 |
| Autographa gamma | Silver Y | 5 |
| Abrostola triplasia | Dark Spectacle | 1 |
| Laspeyria flexula | Beautiful Hook-tip | 1 |
| Rivula sericealis | Straw Dot | 39 |
List by Norman Hall