A Sallow surprise!

With an improvement in the night-time weather conditions, traps were out at IGC last night for the first time since last week.
A good number of moths were present this morning, certainly cheering me up as its been a pretty dreary period for recording this year.
Was very surprised to find I had caught a Pink-barred sallow, my earliest ever record by a long way. Previous earliest was on 8th Sept 2008. Surely a sign that autumn is upon us! I have been wondering why this moth has appeared – has it emerged early as the season has been running early all year? Or has it been blown down from the northern part of the UK where it does emerge in August? Guess I will never know.
Rest of the trap contents pretty much run of the mill for the time of year, with my first year sightings of Square-spot rustic, Six-striped rustic, Agriphila geniculea and Rosy rustic. 70sp in all trapped so not bad at all. Numbers of Hornets in the traps also now on the increase, but not too much of a problem in the cooler conditions.

Neil

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