Anyone else having a bad year? I never get huge catches which is ok but
checking I've bearly seen 80 species this year compared to 100 by this
time last year. Numbers of many of the common ones seem well down or
absent. But Treble-lines seems very abundant this year.
Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.
Species wise, things seem to be ticking along reasonably well at the moment in my own garden although overall moth numbers may be down somewhat. The weather conditions play a big role in what we get and when. We didn't have a "proper" winter this year in the way that we did in 2018 and, so far at least, June hasn't lived up to last year's heat-wave conditions. I'm sure it'll all even out in the end!
ReplyDeleteEvery year is different and there's always winners and losers, but I have yet to see quite a few common and widespread species and/or haven't seen anywhere near as many as usual this year. Winners in my garden this year so far include Shuttle-shaped Dart with ridiculous numbers totalling over 50 at peak and regularly over 40 for over two weeks. Light Brocade was I think a garden first, or maybe I have a singleton in the past but have had several this year including counts of 4 in a single night. treble Lines as has been mentioned already having a good year - don't usually get that many in garden but plenty this year. Vine's Rustic just keeps going up but seems to be a real garden lover as never get huge numbers when trapping away from garden but regularly getting counts between 20 and 40. Garden Carpet also seems to be doing well and Buttoned Snout seems to be turning up everywhere and fairly regularly to light with a couple of garden records and singletons at most sites I have trapped away from the garden recently. The other real winner I've noticed locally is Cinnabar - dozens in rothamsted trap at CEH whereas normally get a couple, seen them by day in good numbers at several localaties and more in garden trap than previous years too. A site I trapped a few weeks back resulted in almost 500 to 2 MV light traps and an actinic. On the flipside Prominents seem to have largely given my garden a miss this half of the year and I generally have not seen great numbers anywhere. I still haven't seen Puss Moth anywhere after seeing plenty last year and the other kittens have also been hard to come by as has Chocolate-tip.
ReplyDeletethanks for the replies both. It's true I've trapped alot less this year - I was trapless for a week in April and the weather hasn't been great recently..
ReplyDeleteBeing in the same village my species total is down to about about 90 but the weather has been a bit up and down. When we get a hot day followed by a warm night again? I hope my totals will recover a bit. Micro's have suffered the most for me. Always good here SSD, currently Heart and Dart and previously Triple Lines As Marc mentioned a few more Cinnabars than normal
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