The warmish nights in the latter part of the week tempted me to try some trapping. This resulted in the capture of the last 2 expected species for the year here at IGC – Scarce umber and the Northern Winter moth.
Ran 2 125w traps on the night of the 27th (1 in the garden plus the other in the woods). 17sp caught (103 moths). Good numbers of Mottled umber (19) and December moth (53). Northern winter (2), Scarce umber (5) and most surprisingly a Dotted border (my first ever at this time of year, normally seen in Feb/March) provided the interesting sightings.
Ran 3 125w traps on the 28th (1 at home again plus 2 in the woods). Although it was still mild the sky was clear and this had the effect of a dramatic reduction in the number of moths caught. 11sp and 38 moths caught. Mottled umber total 4 with the December moth total 6. More Northern winter (4) and Scarce umber (7).
With cooler nights now on the way and the year list complete it’s time to pack the traps away till next year when it all starts over again!
Neil