So, March 2013 has come to an end with no more trapping undertaken at all. Species count for the site ended at 12, the worst March since the mid 1990′s, when I had 12sp in 1995, 6sp in 1996 and 9sp in 1997. Felt lucky getting in just that one decent night on the 6th considering how bad the rest of the month has been.
Only sighting I’ve had of a moth since was on the 31st, when I found a Common quaker in the middle of a path on Purdis heath. Picked it up to move it to a place where it wouldn’t get squashed and found it was already dead, probably due to the cold as it was intact.
Unless the jet stream sorts itself out I can’t see Spring arriving anytime soon!
Neil
Similar with me Neil, I had 11 species trapped over just 4 nights. Two of these, the only Orthosias seen so far (one each of Small Quaker and Hebrew Character) were caught on a trip to Somerset on the 20th. So this year, just one Small Quaker seen in March (none local), last year 620 Small Quaker in March. What a contrast!