Last night's garden trap here at Westcott, Bucks produced my first zero return of the autumn so I'll be a little more selective about when I run it from now on. There are still three macro-moths which I can pretty much guarantee seeing sometime between now and the end of December before the year list can be closed out (December Moth, Winter Moth & Scarce Umber) but, now that I'm finally up-to-date with MapMate record entries, it is already clear that 2014 has been at least as good as 2013 in terms of numbers of species caught here and may actually turn out to have been better. The garden macro total has again exceeded 300 but by how many will depend upon some genitalia inspections still to be carried out on things like Daggers and Common Rustics.
What has been even more pleasing is the moth species tally achieved from surveying at our chalk grassland butterfly reserve at Holtspur Bottom near Beaconsfield, Bucks. I made ten visits between March and October this year, using two MV traps set in the same positions each time. The total from those visits currently stands at 420 but, with genitalia inspections for some 'difficult' species still to be carried out, this number should rise closer to 440. This is an excellent result for the amount of trapping effort put in. Not bad at all for a site that 15 years ago was part agricultural grazing land and part waste tip!
Dave Wilton
Your MapMate records are UP TO DATE? .....Oh.
ReplyDeleteThat's why there are fewer moths around at this time of year, Andy - they are allowing you time to get your admin sorted. Your County Moth Recorder needs those records!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Dave! And on all the work out into this blog which has proved such a success, interesting, instructive and a source of expertise for the frequently baffled, such as myself. On which point, if you or one of the others has time to adjudicate on my Carpet shown several posts below, I'd be very grateful. I think it's a Juniper. I'm going to the Kirtlington talk tonight on the Death's Heads which should be good - and am also keeping an eye out for tiny white eggs on the sloes. All warm wishes and thanks again to all, Martin
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