In the last week moth numbers have really taken off at the site in the warm conditions. I’ve run traps in the garden, at the work sheds and also on a piece of heath on the site. The garden produced c.90sp from a 125w MV plus the twin actinic, whilst the last 2 nights I’ve recorded around 134sp both times in 2 125w MV’s. Yesterday there were more moths trapped when I ran them around the worksheds, today there were less moths but a slightly different variety given the different habitat.
Here are a few of my interesting observations. First, 2 new micros were recorded at the woodland site: Ethmia dodecea and Yarrow plume G.pallidactyla. Can’t remember the last time I saw 2 new species in one night’s trapping here, was a long time ago! Festoon, Shaded fan foot (both regular in low numbers), Schreckensteinia festaliella (in garden), Kent black arches (one so far), L-Album wainscot (1), Archips xylosteana (common, with a high count of c.300 at the wood site), Alemmia loeflingana (again very common, with high count of c.750 at the wood site), C. culmella (again now common with c.200 at the wood site), Totrix viridana (starting to go over a bit but still c.130 at the wood site), Blotched emerald (regular in low numbers), Orange footman ( a late one on 15th), Purple clay, Scalloped oak (first ones for year), Vitula biviella (1), Capperia britanniodactyla (3 so far), Common swift (still on the wing, think this is late for me), A. bistriatella (1), Dun bar (first records for year, ), Plain wave (c.25 seen on the heath, a good count), Leopard, Grass emerald, Blue-bordered carpet, Agdistis bennetii, O. nubilalis and Ling pug. What I’ve noticed about a lot of the moths I have been catching is they have mainly been very fresh, showing that they have only just emerged at this site in the recent warm weather. Have they been waiting for it, I wonder? Certainly the number of butterflies I’m seeing around the site has increased dramatically in the last week. Let us hope that this good spell of weather allows the struggling populations of our lepidoptera to recover from last years disaster season.
Neil