Anyone got a collective term for more than one of these - a pair in the MV trap this morning. What an incredible success story the Clifden Nonpareil is! Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon
A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Anyone got a collective term for more than one of these - a pair in the MV trap this morning. What an incredible success story the Clifden Nonpareil is! Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon
Hi Martin,
ReplyDeleteI don't know about any collective noun for the moths but there's a descriptive term for the trap operator: "you lucky so-and-so"! That will be a night to remember!!
Translating the French part of its vernacular name, perhaps one could say that Martin has an unequalled collection of Nonpareils.
ReplyDeleteSuch a statement will perhaps result in the happy event of someone disproving my statement by posting that they have three or more.
I'm afraid I'm about to do it, sorry - had 4 in one trap and one in another nearby at Bagley last night. Crazy, especially considering there wasn't actually that many moths in total and aside from the CNPs it was a very poor night.
ReplyDeleteBlimey!!!
DeleteThis is amazing! I think Tim's suggestion is excellent. Is there are noun for 'unequaldness'?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the thinking behind this wonderful turn of events? Did warmer weather bring them here and now they've established a critical mass and numbers are growing exponentially (hope I've used that word correctly). I plan to do some Googling but we have so many experts on the blog that it's probably better and more up-to-date to ask here.
Anyway, the new target is six. Well done Marc!
I think 2 in a garden trap is a considerably better record than 5 in a woodland where they are breeding :). Only ever had singles here in Didcot garden. They seem pretty common in woodlands locally now. Every woodland I've trapped in locally has produced them over the last couple of years or so and in Bagley they are just becoming more and more abundant. I suspect climate has to be a key driver but also suspect there is much more to it and that. Whatever, it is a very welcome addition, especially recently when numbers and diversity of other moths have been, in my experiences at least, pretty dire.
DeleteI have come up with "an unsurpassedness", which Blogger has treated with red wiggly-line scorn while I'm writing this. Alternatives include "an incomparability" which although not earning any scorn from Blogger, is perhaps fractionally more challenging to lips and tongue.
ReplyDeleteThey look like Vulcan bombers so maybe a squadron ;)
ReplyDelete