First event of the year promised much with a warm day, but it cooled down fairly quickly after dusk. 5 moth-ers turned up for the evening and first job was to look for trap sites. Unfortunately the wood has become very overgrown since the group last visited and there was no real access in from the public footpath. I did push through a less thick area but it was the same story in the wood, so we had to abandon trapping there and go to Wolves wood instead. 6 lights were deployed along the tracks to try and avoid close encounters with ticks, as a few had already been located on my trousers – as people who know me know that I am a bit of a magnet for them!
Moths were slow coming in as it rapidly cooled down. My final count when we packed up at midnight was 34sp – 31 moths and 3sp of larvae. Poplar lutestring, Seraphim and Ancylis laetana were common reflecting the abundant Aspen in the wood. Very little else of note apart from Cream wave and a late Hebrew character.
This year certainly seems to be a struggle. We are just not getting enough warm nights at the moment!
Neil