There were 42 moths of 15 species in the garden actinic trap at
Westcott last night but the only new one for the year was a Mottled Pug (an easy one to recognise, coming to a garden near you very soon!).
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| Mottled Pug, Westcott 5th May |
I also ran two MV traps in
Finemere Wood, Bucks for the usual three hours and did reasonably well, getting 45 species in that time. New macro-moths for the year included Cream Wave, Small White Wave, Scalloped Hazel, Orange Footman, Coronet & Pale-shouldered Brocade. However, more pleasing was to get past double figures with micro species and they included
Pseudoswammerdamia combinella,
Scrobipalpa costella,
Ancylis mitterbacheriana &
Pammene argyrana.
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| Ancylis mitterbacheriana, Finemere Wood 5th May |
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| Orange Footman, Finemere Wood 5th May |
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| Pale-shouldered Brocade, Finemere Wood 5th May |
Perhaps the most interesting sighting at Finemere, though, was this fully-grown Merveille du Jour caterpillar which I found slowly making its way down the trunk of an oak.
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| Larva of Merveille du Jour, Finemere Wood 5th May |
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
I don't know if anyone else is getting very poor catches at the moment. Last night for example I got 7 moths of 3 species. I have had no new species in May so far. I am hoping that the wind drops tonight.
ReplyDeleteResults at the moment vary considerably from place to place, Andy, and a lot of people have been complaining about very low catches and some of no moths at all! If you can't escape this NE breeze, which we seem to have been stuck with forever, then catches are bound to be low. I'm probably lucky in that I can always find a very sheltered spot in my garden whatever the wind direction and if there's cloud cover helping to keep the temperature up I find that moths will be out there on the lee side of hedges and fences, etc.
ReplyDeleteAndy my garden on top of the hill has had that north-east wind roaring across it. Nothing last night and other days haven't been much better.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the replies. It is good to know I am not the only one. I had hoped last night would be better but only got 5 Hebrew Character and a very battered Swallow Prominent. Things can only get better I hope!
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