In woodland in VC22 exactly the same spot as I caught Clifden there three years ago I caught another one sitting on the outside of the trap in pretty much exactly the same position as the last one. The only thing different this time is that there was a second one sitting inside the other trap! I would like to think this might go some way to proving it might be resident in the area but the supporting cast consisted of a number of migrant species including Delicate, Dark Spectacle, Rush Veneer and Rusty Dot Pearl, suggesting a fair bit of movement of moths last night. Other recent local reports of Clifdens and migrant moths also point to good migration activity but then again my traps were next to a stand of Aspen and were exactly the same spot where I have recorded the species before......
Either way, despite low numbers of moths overall, it was a fantastic night with quality rather than quantity for sure, and produced a total of 39 species including my first Merveille du Jours of the year.
Marc Botham, Didcot
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| Terrible photo of the two Clidfen Nonpareil VC22 29/09/17 |
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| Dark Spectacle - VC22 29/09/17 |
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| Delicate - VC22 29/09/17 |
Wow! Certainly a night to remember!
ReplyDeleteInteresting and reminds me of 2011 Marc. Is there any real evidence that Dark Spectacle is a migrant though? I had one earlier this year that wasn't associated with known migrants. There have been one or two others in recent years in this area and may be that it is making a comeback. I have seen a number of coastal records of it attributed to immigration but in some cases perhaps some people are a bit too keen to call something a migrant when it may be just coincidence.
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