With the rise in temperature today and cloud cover, this evening was a good opportunity to find some January 1st moths. I took the 22w actinic to the nearby SWT reserve along with the spare car battery and set it up out of the wind over a sheet (without a trap) in the woodland just after dusk, while I spent an hour checking tree trunks with the torch. I counted about 75 Winter Moth on the trunks of which 15 or so were females in cop. Lots of other insects crawling up the trunks on the mild night air. At the sheet there were another 10 Winter Moth, 5 Mottled Umber and an Early Moth.
It’s easy to spot which Winter Moth males are attached to females. The head of the male is always pointing down the trunk and the female up the trunk as she makes progress toward the higher branches (in most cases tonight on Sycamore) with him in tow. I was back home by 6pm.
All the best for the new mothing year and may it be an enjoyable and rewarding one for us all.
Brian