Bumblebee queens have been very busy foraging this week. What has become apparent is that numbers on my bee-friendly patch (the surrounding fields are a desert) are generally healthy – B. pratorum, lucorum, terrestris and hypnorum are all numerous. B pascuorum and hortorum always seem to be a couple of weeks later than the others. However, what is very clear is that B lapidarius, the large red-tailed, has had a catastrophic couple of years. It used to be the commonest of the early bees, but I haven’t seen one yet this year. Anyone else noticed an absence?

Incidentally, what is the general opinion about MV bulbs? Years ago I was taught that the moth catch decreases with the age of the bulb, but recently I spoke to an equipment dealer who was adamant that age makes no difference. Any thoughts?

My formative years as a moth-hunter were in the ’60s. I remember buying some second-hand books at an AES exhibition around 1965 (titles included ‘Days with a Butterfly Net’ and ‘A Moth-hunter’s Gossip’), which were written in the ’30s and were lamenting the decrease in butterflies and moths that had occurred in the 1900s. When I explored some of the best British sites and habitats in the mid-60s I found many species had declined or disappeared since those books were written – in fact the ‘40s and ’50s were considered black decades for wildlife conservation. Then in 1980 I went to live in Northumberland and when I came back south, to Suffolk in 2005, I was disheartened to see how sparse most moths had become in the meantime: it was something I hadn’t expected. And having exhumed my Suffolk garden records from a decade ago I find the total numbers of moths has decreased again: the best nights in late July/August 2017 are only 60% of what they were in the ‘average’ years of the mid ‘00s.

So, in my mostly ‘anecdotal’ experience, we are now seeing only fractions of fractions of what moths were around a century or so ago (I would hazard an estimate of less than 5%). The decline has been continuous and has accelerated. The future isn’t looking bright.

I must admit, I wasn’t here in June/early July so I missed the best of ’17. I spent those balmy (too hot) weeks in France: I have always thought the ‘typical’ French countryside resembles what Britain was like fifty to a hundred years ago, but French naturalists are quick to point to a similar decline in moth numbers there. There seems to be no way to escape the eco-disaster that may be unfolding.

If I was a teenager now I hope I would be more optimistic. Having spent most of my life in conservation and environmental education I can’t help but think my generation has failed – we have spawned Donald Trump and global warming, and have supported, by proxy, the despoliation and sterilisation of the British countryside. Not to mention the advent of Boris Johnson, Ant and Dec and neonicotinoids. Maybe we don’t deserve any better.

Sorry for this unseemly rant, but it’s probably better out than in. My only moth sighting this past week has been a dotted border at the kitchen window. But it’s a pretty creature and it gave me a lot of pleasure.

Tony H.

Tony H.

Small marbled.

Tony H.

Tony H.

Took the grandchildren down to Southwold beach yesterday and found a cypress pug sitting on the toilet-block window. Not sure how excited I should be about this but I thought I’d share it with you; over the years, toilet blocks (i.e. their lights!) seem to have figured large in my moth-hunting adventures.

Tony H.

I got back a few days ago from a self-indulgent mothing month in Cenral/Souther France. Saw a lot of wonderful things (and rediscovered the joys of sugaring), but what was entirely absent was any migrants. After about 30 nights of MV trapping spread over four distant and different sites I caught a total of 2 Silver Y and no dark sword grass (or diamond-back, or anything else). There was also a marked absence of migrant butterflies like clouded yellow and painted lady – I know there is an in-between time for generations, but this was really quite eerie.
I have experienced some quite magical migrations in the past – including seeing hundreds of convolvulus hawks in Northern Italy, then driving through Central and Northern France and seeing dozens every evening all the way to Calais – and then catching several in my garden MV. I really felt I had travelled with them across Europe.
But nothing this year. Last night, with the big storm, I did wonder if there might be a few intrepid rush veneers etc, but there were no migrants at all (unless they were Continental nutmegs and lesser yellow underwings sheltering in the windswept corners of my MV.). Things will change through August I have no doubt. But it’s salutary to realise that Europe isn’t always (or often) awash with death’s heads and flame brocades.

Tony H.

Tony H.

Looking at one of my old notebooks I see that I first used a moth trap (as opposed to dusking) exactly 52 years ago. This qualifies me to be a Grumpy Old Aurelian. I have two current grumbles. The first is that I do wish more people would contribute their experiences on this site; I applaud stalwarts like Keith, Raymond, Brian and Paul, but I don’t understand why other good experienced moth-hunters can’t share their knowledge with riffraff like me. The second is a specific rail against the entomological fates. I know I am a lazy recluse and a little bit shy of social gatherings like moth nights, so perhaps I don’t deserve any better. But is it fair that Brian et al should bag 14 Alder kittens in one night? Surely not!! It is a species I have lusted after for decades (along with reed leopard, plumed prominent and death’s head hawk). But that’s mothing for you. If I want to see these glorious creatures I will have to stir myself and get out more. I have already decided that the only way I’ll ever see a death’s-head is by getting lucky on a package holiday to Tunisia.

Tony H.