Trip to Las Descargues 26th June - 03rd July - Macro Moths Last week I flew out to Limoges with Roger and Steve and then drove south for just over two hours and arrived at Las Descargues in the Midi-pyrenees just in time for the first night's moth trapping.

The weather was warm and muggy when we landed and the further sout we drove, the cloudier and darker it got when all of a sudden the heavens opened and a monsoon was experienced just at the crucial time of trying to find the supermarket for our week's shop! With the rain came wind and plummeting temperatures, in fact the first night's temperature of 17 degrees was to be the highest until Sunday where we managed 19.5c at lower altitude. Most days we were really up against the elements, with persistant rain, wind and even hail the size of 5 pence pieces. Some days the temperature didn't get above 14 degrees, ridiculous to say the least and with lows of 9 we weren't holding out for much. Sods law was that the previous weeks temperatures were between 28 and 37 degrees!

Nevertheless we were there to catch Moths, observe Butterflies and watch Birds and on some days when the weather was too grim we enjoyed a good sweep around the grass for Crickets and Grasshoppers!

The best nights were the first night that we turned up, completely shattered from travelling and the last night before we had to travel back, not ideal but we just had to make do.

Some beautiful species were observed at the traps and we made two trips out (It would have been more had the weather been better, but risk of lightning strikes and electrocution from the wet was too much of a risk) one to the Causse at Dolmen de la Pierre Martin and another to the Verdal Gorge.

Robin and Sue were great hosts throughout the whole week and I urge people to book up and have an amazing wildlife experience that is there to offer. I enjoyed it so much that I will be returning very soon.

Below are the Macro Moth highlights and some pictures of the traps, weather and scenery.

The list currently stands at 192 species of Macro Moth recorded with the best moth an Arctiidae species Dysauxes punctata which we recorded at the Causse and is a very rare moth in the Midi-pyrenees with just records from this single site.

More can be found on my flickr site www.flickr.com/photos/33398884@N03/

Species in red are new to me.

Alchymist Atypha pulmonaris Barred Hook-tip Bird's Wing Black Arches Black v moth Blair's Mocha Blood-vein Bordered Beauty Bright Wave Brimstone Brindled White Spot Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing Brown-tail Buff Arches Buff Ermine Buff Footman Buff-tip Burnished Brass Campion Caradrina aspersa Chequered Wave Chinese Character Clay fan-foot Clouded border Clouded Silver Common Carpet Common Emerald Common Footman Common Heath Common Rustic Common Wave Common White Wave Coronet Cream Wave Cyclophora lennigiaria Dark Arches Dark Umber Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet Delicate Dewick's Plusia Dingy Footman Dot Moth Double Kidney Drymonia querna Dun-bar Dwarf Cream Wave Dysauxes punctata Elephant Hawk-moth Engrailed Fan-foot Feathered Beauty Festoon Fiery Clearwing Flame Four-spotted Footman Frosted Orange Frosted Yellow Garden Carpet Garlic Mottled Goat Moth Great Oak Beauty Green silver-lines Grey Dagger Grey-pine Carpet Guernsey Underwing Handmaid Heart and Dart Heart Moth Herald Hoary Footman Hoplodrina Respersa Horse Chestnut Hummingbird Hawk-moth Idaea Deversaria Idaea subsaturata Idia Calvaria Iron Prominent Isle of Wight Wave Jersey Emerald Jubilee Fan-foot July Highflyer Kent Black Arches Knot Grass Lackey L-album Wainscot Lamprosticta Culta Large Dagger Large Emerald Large Yellow Underwing Latin Latticed Heath Least Carpet Least Yellow Underwing Lesser Yellow Underwing Light Arches Light Brocade Light Crimson Underwing Light Emerald Little Thorn Lobster Moth Lunar Thorn Lunar-spotted Pinion Map-winged Swift Marbled Minor Marbled White-spot Minor Shoulder knot Mottled Rustic Mouse Moth Muslin Footman Mythimna sicula Nut-tree Tussock Nyctobrya ravula Oak Hook-tip Oak Nycteoline Olive Crescent Orache Orange Footman Orange Moth Pale Mottled Willow Pale Oak Beauty Pale Shoulder Passenger Peacock moth Pearly Underwing Pebble Hook-tip Peppered Moth Pine Processionary Plum Lappet Poplar Hawk-moth Privet Hawk-moth Purple Bar Red-necked Footman Rhodostrophia calabra Rhodostrophia vibicaria Rosy Footman Rosy Marbled Rustic Sandy Carpet Scarce Bordered Straw Scarce Chocolate-tip Scarce Footman Scarce Hook-tip Scarce Silver-lines Scarlet Tiger Scorched Carpet Scorched Wing September Thorn Setaceous Hebrew Character Shark Shears Silver-Y Single Dotted Wave Small Black Arches Small Dusty Wave Small fan-footed Wave Small Marbled Small Mottled Willow Small Phoenix Small purple-barred Small Ranunculus Small White Wave Snout Southern Buff-tip Spanish Character Speckled Footman Speckled Yellow Spotted Sulphur Spurge Hawk-moth Sub-angled Wave Swallow Prominent Sycamore Tawny Wave Tephronia cremiaria Three-humped Prominent Toadflax Brocade Treble bar Treble Brown Spot True Lover's Knot Turnip Moth Uncertain Vapourer Varied Coronet V-pug Waved Umber Weavers Wave White Satin White Speck White-point Willow Beauty Yellow Shell