Monday 7 April 2014

Northern Drab: confirmation

Genitalia examined: potential Northern Drab in garden trap last week is indeed a Northern Drab (male). Unfortunately, the photo I attached last time is the best I have. Using Botham's indication of a moth having a good year (i.e. when a moth species appears in the Wallingford Rothamsted moth trap, where no self-respecting moth should ever find itself as the site looks increasingly like a floodlit building site) I would also suggest that Dotted Chestnut is having a very good year. I have caught this everywhere I have trapped so far this year and have heard similar patterns from further south. I still would not have expected it to turn up in the Rothamsted trap but there was one in there this morning. To put this further into context, the Rothamsted trap at CEH Wallingford total number of individual moths caught over the last week, which included those lovely warm nights in which most people had their best nights this year, has not yet reached double figures. There is also some sort of Scoparid moth in the catch which i have not yet identified but looks a lot like Eudonia angustea?? Marc Botham, Benson

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