A decent week’s trapping at IGC.

Have had a reasonable few nights of trapping at the golf course this week, alternating between running lights at work and out in the garden. Have used the twin 30w Robinson a bit too. Micros have definitely been more interesting than the macros. Like others have been seeing good numbers of both Brindled pug (30 one night the maximum) and Double striped pug (11 seen one night). Orthosias in very low numbers, not had nowhere near the numbers I would expect to see at this site and they appear to be going over! Interesting to see that others are noting this as well, maybe all down to the poor spring/summer we had last year when these moths would have been feeding up as larvae. Other macro sightings have included: Frosted green, Early tooth-striped, Brindled beauty, Lunar marbled brown, Lesser swallow prominent, Herald, Water carpet (4 on 24th was a good count here, with 3 in the actinic), Red-green carpet and a Tawny barred angle.
Micros: Epermenia chaerophyllella (found flying at dusk in my greenhouse, only my third record), Pammene giganteana (2 on 24th, not a common moth here or anywhere!), Agonopterix scopariella, Acrolepiopsis assectella, Plutella xylostella, Caloptilia betulicola and Eriocrania subpurpurella (outside of actinic trap covered in them on 24th, at least 200 there with an additional 165 in the 125w MV on the same night).

Neil

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2 Responses to A decent week’s trapping at IGC.

  1. Brian says:

    Similar results with Small Quaker for me Neil. In 2012 I recorded 661 individuals trapped over 25 trapping sessions with a highest one-night haul of 166. This year so far in 18 sessions that I have had Small Quaker in the traps, I have recorded just 53 individuals with highest one-night catch of 11 and as you say their season is just about ending.
    I noted some observations on this 12 months ago (dated 17/4/2012), saved it to the computer, but never got as far as putting them on the blog-spot. This is what I wrote at the time:-

    Small Quaker prospects for 2013.
    “The large numbers of Small Quaker in March this year and then this cold weather in April, set me wondering about what their prospects for next year might be.
    Small Quaker seems to favour oak as a food source; I think this is backed up by the fact that the majority of adults are trapped in and around oaks.
    In 2011 the oak trees leafed up very early due to the very warm spring weather and the Small Quaker larva would have had an abundance upon emerging from the egg stage. Large numbers of larva were seen last year 2011, especially on oaks and very large numbers have been trapped this spring (the recordings listed on ‘Norfolk Moths’ is one evidence of this). Because of the present long cold spell this year 2012, there is going to be a long gap between when the eggs laid in March and early April start to emerge about a week or so after being laid and when the oaks finally come into leaf, so the larva from eggs laid on oak trees will have to go looking elsewhere for food and many will be picked off by the birds.
    Just a personal observation. Time will tell if it’s correct!”

    On the other hand, in 2012 my records for Brindled Pug show just 12 individuals trapped. This year they are still going strong with plenty of fresh individual being trapped and my count so far is at least 63, with very high numbers on 25th when I stopped counting when they got to 45.
    As yet, I haven’t thought about the reason for this!

    Brian

  2. Neil says:

    Also on this subject of moths feeding last year during the wet spring I saw evidence that the continual heavy rain knocked a lot of larvae out of the trees. A walk through any area of woodland on the site last year at that time revealed many dead and dying caterpillars on the ground. Birds took full advantage of this temporary glut of food, saw many Great and Blue tits picking up beakfuls to feed their young. Unfortunately this food didn’t last long and during my regular nest box check for the BTO I found quite a few abandoned broods. With all the damp conditions around I would say diseases would have wiped out a lot of larvae too. Be interesting too see what the rest of the year is like, especially as it has been a cold winter. That is supposed to be good for a lot of moth species. My only thoughts on Brindled pug is that the larvae of those feed on the Oak flowers, so perhaps they fed up quickly, with the flowers being more nutritious.

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