Three good catches… migrants… traps.

The last three nights being warm and humid have provided me with good catches from my garden in Hollesley. Species numbers of 118, 112 and 110 from 18th to 20th June. Still low on micros, but coming up, at a ratio of 2:1 for macros:micros. That’s bearing in mind that I do look at everything from Privet Hawk-moth down to Ocnerostoma piniariella and Stigmella samiatella that my traps provide.
Hawk-moths have been routine this year with Poplar, Privet, Eyed, Lime, Elephant and Small Elephant all turning up in good numbers, but no Pine yet and no exotics! A good selection of Pugs over the last 3 days too- Narrow-winged, Common, Freyer’s, Green, Lime-speck, Mottled, Netted, Grey, Haworth’s, Foxglove and my first Toadflax. Large Yellow Underwing season is well underway and picked up the first Lunar Y. U. too. First Common Footman and a couple of July Highfliers along with the May Highfliers.
Some nice micros to add to my site list- Nemapogon cloacella, Glyphipterix simpliciella and Telechrysis tripuncta.
As for migrants- these have been noted around. Regulars such as Silver Y, Rush Veneer, Ostrinia nubilalis and Plutella xylostella along with Evergestis limbata as a migrant being too early considering the weather this year for a local emergence. My best migrants however have been a couple of micros- Eupoecilia ambiguella and Crocidosema plebejana both on 19th June.
There have been some comments on traps so I thought I would add my piece. I regularly run three trap, each different. Each has its spot in the garden. First is a 125W MV Robinson. This turns up by far the biggest and diverse catch. Second is the 60W (twin 30W) Skinner Actinic. This has always provided a greater number of the physically larger species than the Robinson but has a poorer diversity with few micros. However because it has a dominance of larger species it improves the overall diversity of a night’s catch. I feel the micros tend not to drop in and can also escape through the joints. My third trap is a small one thrown together by me from bits of plastic and a 40W actinic. It is based on the Robinson design but is rather small. This has a smaller catch but equally as diverse as the 125W MV Robinson. The three together give an excellent diversity, though I am considering converting the twin actinic into a Robinson to aid retention.

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