Hello Everyone
A single trap in the garden on the night of the 11th didn’t produce anything too unexpected for the time of year, but a good number of Orthosias were seen. 8 species, 97 moths. Highlights included:
Small quaker – 67
Oak beauty – 5
Yellow horned – 13
Clouded drab – 1 (First for year)
Trap is out again tonight so hopefully more things of interest will appear. Really feels like spring now with the warm sunshine the last couple of days.
Neil
I think it’s time for a change to blog banner picture – one reflecting that spring is in the air would be more appropriate. If anyone has any suitable pictures then I’ll see about loading one or two up over the next few weeks.
On a different subject I’ll have a look at the weekend into including updates to the blog into the members notification emails that the web site sends out. I’ll let you know when it’s done. This will save checking the blog site or RSS feed to see if there’s anything new.
Cheers, Tony
Hi,
I found this moth (I hope the image is attached) by the bread bin in the kitchen of an old farmhouse in Denham near Eye on the 3rd March. Supporting circumstantial evidence for N. granella?
Paul.
Paul.
Hello again
Trap results not as good here at IGC as the previous night, although I did only run the one trap in the garden away from the wooded areas of the site, and it rained. Still, some moths of interest seen. One more species seen compared to the 24th – 13 noted, but numbers down to 73 moths.
Notables included:
Yellow horned – 8
Pine beauty – 3 (first for year)
Common quaker – 8 (first for year)
Small brindled beauty – 12
Lead-coloured drab – 1 male
Satellite – 1
Agonopterix scopariella – 1
I did also go out yesterday evening before the rain searching tree trunks for flightless female moths of some species seen this time of year. I found singles of both Dotted border and Small brindled beauty but none of the hoped for March moth. Looks like that will be it for trapping for a short while with cold nights forecast.
Neil.
Hello Everyone
With temperatures not dropping below 7 degrees C last night, the 2 traps I put out at the golf course last night had quite a few moths in them, even more than I had expected actually. There were 362 moths of 12 species. List as follows:
Small Brindled beauty – 136 (highest ever total beating the 71 seen one night in 2010)
March – 121
Tortricodes alternella – 72
Dotted border – 14
Yellow horned – 5
Chestnut – 3
Oak beauty – 3
Small quaker – 3
Spring usher – 2
Alucita hexadactyla – 1
Pale brindled beauty – 1
Acleris ferrugana – 1
Hope you had success if you did try. May try a trap at home in the garden tonight as it is forecast to be warm but there is some rain coming in so may not be as good.
Neil
Hello again everyone
Didn’t take too long before trying a trap here again at IGC – put one out in my garden for the first time last night, despite the rain it was very mild and a few interesting bits and pieces were recorded. Highlights included:
Small brindled beauty – 2
Hebrew character – 1 First Orthosia for the year
Tortricodes alternella – 26
Plus the similar commoner species seen the other night.
Also had an Acleris hastiana attracted to the Kitchen window. Looks like it will be a short while before trapping can continue with some cold nights forecast.
Neil
Hello Everyone
Finally there was a mild night last night when it was not windy, so I ran a single trap at the golf course to see what was about. Results were not as good as I thought they may have been, but still nice to get some first species records for the year. Here is the list.
Pale brindled beauty – 7
Tortricodes alternella – 15
Chestnut – 7
Spring usher – 5
Small brindled beauty – 3
March moth – 2
Acleris ferrugana – 2
Satellite – 1
Hopefully it won’t be too long before trapping can continue.
Neil
Did anyone record this species last year?
I am putting together a short article for the Entomologist’s Record detailing the occurrences of this moth in Eye over the past ten years which strongly suggest a local resident population. Last year I recorded my highest numbers ever and it would be useful to know if any other recorders had any in 2010. Tony Prichard has kindly let me have all the records for the preceding years.
Thank you in advance, Paul
A couple of tips for posting
With the recent mild days, I thought it would be worth dusting off a moth trap and giving it a go last night, and was rewarded with good results. In the one 125w Robinson trap I ran, I caught 127 moths of 6 species.
Mottled umber – 57 (highest ever total for one night by some margin)
Winter moth – 8
Spring usher – 31
Pale brindled beauty – 22
Early moth – 1
Chestnut – 8
I know I run my trap right in the middle of an area of woodland at work but perhaps it may be worth trying at garden sites as things must move around when it’s this warm. I guess another reason there were so many moths is because of the cold December delaying emergence of some.
Good luck if you do try
Neil
