Deep-brown Dart - new for garden

This is my first record of Deep-brown Dart in the garden and only my second for Derbyshire. It looks like this is a species that is moving in to the area as Simon Roddis has caught 3 or 4 in Darley Dale in the last couple of years.

Deep-brown Dart

Deep-brown Dart

Simon Roddis caught this Deep-brown Dart last night in Darley Dale. Last year at the very end of September Simon, Brian Statham and I caught one just this side of Hartington. The previous record for Derbyshire was 2006 as far as I could establish so this is a rare moth in the County. With the poor weather recently and low night time temperatures Simon has been rewarded for his persistence in running the trap.

Deep-brown Dart

Deep-brown Dart - Hartington Quarry

Travelled to Hartington Quarry with Brian Statham and Simon Roddis and set up traps by the quarry entrance with the temperature at 18 Centigrade we were hoping for a decent number of moths with Brindled Ochre the main target. In all we caught 6 moths of 5 species in 2 hours, it difficult to explain such a poor catch in what appeared to be ideal conditions.
Fortunately for us one of the 6 was a female Deep-brown Dart a Derbyshire rarity. The status of this species and the Northern Deep-brown Dart is still somewhat unclear, so can't entirely rule this out although the habitat certainly favours the former.
The most recently reported Derbyshire records are attributed to the Northern Deep-brown Dart involving two individuals taken separately at Pleasley and Creswell in the NE of the county in 2006.

Deep-brown Dart