Monday 27 February 2017

February mothing

The lack of recent reports here suggests that there must be a lot of moth-traps still in winter storage! In an effort to persuade more of you to become active again, I thought it worth mentioning that I've had moths in the garden trap every night for the last 15 nights, which is probably an unprecedented run here for February without drawing a blank.  A quick look back just over the past ten seasons gives an average of 13 adult moth species recorded here at Westcott during the first two months of the year.  The best result (18 by the end of February 2012) has already been surpassed this year, last night's Grey Shoulder-knot being the 20th garden species for 2017.  Let us hope this trend continues!

Grey Shoulder-knot, Westcott 26th February
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

3 comments:

  1. Dave, had the trap out six times during February - still waiting.

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  2. Not so good here. Having had my trap out 6 times in January and 8 times in February I have recorded 10 species. None of the Orthosia species have yet put in an appearance. The only micro has been Agonopterix heracliana which on several occasions has been the only species recorded. On a few occasions when the temperature has been relatively mild I have put the poor catches down to the wind.

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  3. All I've had in my garden is a single Spring Usher, with a Brown House Moth in my bathroom...

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