Author Archives: tonyhopkins

With the mild nights over the past few days I’ve been looking at the weather maps and hoping for a few migrants. I’m ten miles from the coast so whatever I get is about 5% of what a coastal site … Continue reading →

Arrived home yesterday from France, where I did some MV trapping. I’ve not tried before at this time of year, so didn’t know what to expect. The couple of sites I worked on the north coast, in Picardy and Normandy, … Continue reading →

Over the past couple of weeks my garden trap has been a bit average, despite the warm nights. Total moth numbers generally low, though with good range of species (so I’m not complaining!). Some obvious ups and downs – rustic … Continue reading →

Good numbers of nice moths over the past week, though still nothing mega. What has impressed me has been the variety of predators gathering at night around my garden MV. Two species of bats are regular (pipistrelle and a gang … Continue reading →

I was at Minsmere yesterday – saw the pratincole but not the yellow-legged tortoiseshell. Interesting that the east winds that brought the tortoiseshells to Holland and Suffolk did not bring many moth migrants (at least, apart from a few diamond-backs … Continue reading →

Three humming-bird hawks together at the garden valerian this afternoon at 16.00 (when the weather changed and it was suddenly warm and sunny). Then another two (or two of the same three) at 17.00.

A big influx of Episyrphus balteaus, the marmalade hoverfly. Probably a migration swarm. The hummer still resident around my valerian. Any more migrants around? I saw a clouded yellow in Hampshire last week…

Spent May in the USA – tried a moth trap but the nights in Maryland were too cold! For the past fortnight I’ve been in Salisbury, Wilts. Ran an actinic trap on several nights and caught a few nice things. … Continue reading →

Over the ten years I’ve lived in the clay heart of Suffolk I’ve noticed that my garden gets off to a slow start for both flowers and moths. This season is probably the same compared with other moth bloggers’ first … Continue reading →

Over the last two nights (30th/31st) numbers of moths at MV in the garden have gone up fivefold. It had been a poor spring for small quaker, but now up to 50 per night. Similar numbers of common quaker and … Continue reading →