After the warm spring-like day yesterday I ran a couple of traps for a while after dusk in the woodland, but the temperature dropped off so quickly with clear skies that not much came to the traps. A walk round the woodland with the torch was far more rewarding with Dotted Border seen in abundance. Males perched on twigs were everywhere with a few seen paired up with females. During the hour and half I was there, 15 moths of 4 species came to the 2 traps (1 x actinic & 1 x UV LED). But by torchlight I counted at least 40 Dotted Border, all within 100 meters of the traps and not one came to the lights!
(sorry about the poor quality of the photo, it was taken with my phone camera)
Brian
Yes, I’ve noticed this myself Brian. I think that the moths are just active for a short time after dusk while it is still slightly warm hence why a few come in to light. Once it gets cold they just stop flying. I also think that Dotted border is not strongly drawn to mv light either.