With the incessant NE wind having died down a bit this evening I decided to get out a couple of traps and try the sheltered side of the woodland nearby. There was a bit of cloud cover but the temp was only about 5 deg. when I switched on at 8.15, not with any great expectation as the air felt very chilly. Even if a couple of moths had turned up I would have been happy, but they soon started to come in a steady stream especially in the first half hour. As the temp dropped away to 3 deg. by 9.45 I started to pack up, even then there was still the odd one or two coming in. The bonus was that everything was bone dry, so I came home with dry equipment.
Final count was 22 moths of 11 species in the one and a half hours, far more than I expected. Yellow Horned was the most abundant (5). A couple of Chestnut with singles of Satellite and Dotted Border, remnants from the late winter species. A male Oak Beauty, 3 x Grey Shoulder Knot (NFY) and at last a few Orthosias, Small Quaker (2), and three firsts for the year – Common Quaker (3), with one each of Clouded Drab and Twin-spotted Quaker. The only micro was A. heracliana.
Nothing very exciting about that lot, but it was just great to get out and find some moths!
May even be some more to come over the weekend.
Brian
That’s very encouraging Brian. Albeit nothing exiting it does mean spring is here at last. My look at the forecast suggested Monday may be a good night to try but you have encouraged me to try earlier.
I did try again last night in a different area Raymond, but with no cloud and calm air the temp dropped very quickly. So saw just 5 species, the only new one for the year being D.
flagella.
Brian
Brian, I also tried for a couple of hours last night but caught only a single Oak Beauty. I think we need several warm days here to get things moving on the cold claylands.
Mark
Gave it a go on 7th and got March, Oak Beauty and Hebrew Character. 11 moths. Does promise to get warmer in the next week.
Also had another go last night as there was thin cloud cover and got the same 3 species as you Raymond. Which is also exactly the same mix as I was getting in early March.