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For a week or two we'd had superb moth conditions. Warm days followed by warm evenings, low wind and just the right amount of cloud!

So when the moth night arrived on Friday 9^th September we had great expectations! As a public event hosted by the National Wildflower Centre we started slightly earlier than usual to give people an introduction. Giving time to set up and have a little chat with families and interested members of the public. Stylishly later several MBAN members also joined the fray with the welcome addition of the Lancashire Moth Groups Colin Daly.

Unfortunatly it seemed that we would be thwarted with the threat of rain in brief drizzles and a persistant high wind. The trap rapidly filled with a range of insects (Wasps on the rampage!) but hardly a moth in sight..

Then as the wing dropped slightly moths started to appear, few ventured too close the the trap, but a cohourt of well prepared netters were on hand to ensure the moths could be captured, potted and identified. By the end of the night a small but interesting list of species was compiled. 17 in all, including the somewhat elusive Old Lady (Mormo maura), plentiful but colourful Common Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma truncata) and three species of 'underwing', the Large Yellow 'brute' (Noctua pronuba), Copper (Amphipyra pyramidea) and Broad Bordered (Noctua fimbriata).

Perhaps the most surpising moth of the night was in the arrival of a single Orange Sallow (Tiliacea citrago) which, while not noted as being unusual, was a new species for the already pretty extensive Court Hey Park moth species list.

Thanks to Damian, Chris and Alison from the NWC for staying late and hosting, Colin Daly for helping with identification and capture, Tony and Lorna from the World Museum for their skills and also MBAN members Steve, Susan, Rachel, Mark, Jim and family and in fact everyone else that attended an helped out!

The current species list is below. if you have anything else to add from the night then please let us know.