Thursday 31st
Overcast, windless, conditions kept the temperature above 12.7°C and ensured a varied catch. There are rarely big catches at this time of year and 42 moths of 22 species was a fair return. Migrants continue to show up with two Gems, five Rusty-dot Pearls, a Pearly Underwing, a Turnip, and a Scarce Bordered Straw last night. The locals continued to be a mixture of species still going such as Box Tree Moth, Deep-brown Dart, and Sallow and more expected ones such as Feathered Thorn and November Moth agg.
A few late records of a Vapourer and Cosmopterix pulchrimella along the Worth track, along with feeding signs of Phyllonorycter cerasicolella and Phyllonorycter lantanella.
Friday 25th
Down to six species. Most numerous was Rusty-dot Pearl.
Thursday 24th
A reasonable diversity of 14 species consisting of all the usual characters. Mallow led the way with four followed by Delicate and Lunar Underwing on three. There was another Gem.
A few actinics in The Elms produced 45 moths of 19 species. Highlights included Spruce Carpet, two Pine Carpets, six Red-green Carpets, and our first Merveille du Jour.
Friday 18th
A slight drop in migrants but another Gem was caught. Our first November Moth agg. of the year was in the Feeders trap.
Thursday 16th
An impressive 25 species in the carpark trap after a warm calm night. Of note were four Gems, one Dark Sword-grass, two Delicates, five Rusty-dot Pearls, two Rush Veneers, one Palpita vitrealis, and one Radford's Flame Shoulder on the migrant front. There was another Blair's Shoulder-knot. Another two Gems were in the Feeders trap and two Choreutis nemorana were unusual.
Tuesday 15th
Low cloud and warm temperatures overnight. Lunar Underwing was most numerous with 18. Clancy's Rustic and six Rusty-dot Pearls were of note.
Thursday 10th
The wind persisted but is shifting into a cooler quarter. Last night remained in double figures with a minimum of 11°C. There were 104 moths of 19 species. Another late autumn species put in an appearance - a Blair's Shoulder-knot. Newly established species continue to show with another Radford's Flame Shoulder and a Hoary Footman. I do not expect migrants will hang on for much longer but there were two Scarce Bordered Straws, a Rush Veneer and a Rusty-dot Pearl.
Visitors trap turned up a Dotted Chestnut and a late Bulrush Wainscot.
Wednesday 9th
I was pleased to find the trap still in one piece after the heavy squalls which passed through last night. Not surprisingly there were less moths but we still added Dusky-lemon Sallow to the year list. Migrants consisted of two Pearly Underwings, two Scarce Bordered Straws and a Rush Veneer. There was a Common Newt sheltering under the trap.
Tuesday 8th
Another showery night ensured there was enough cloud to keep the temperature above 12.6°C. There were 159 moths of 28 species. This included five Rusty-dot Pearls, three each of Scarce Bordered Straw (still no Bordered Straws) and Clancy's Rustic, plus two more Radford's Flame Shoulders.
Whilst some autumnal species seem to be motoring nicely there are some which have not yet appeared. The various Sallows remain scarce, none having totalled double figures yet for instance.
Monday 7th
The value of planting Nicotiana was re-emphasised as a Convolvulus Hawk-moth was feeding at one over the weekend.
It was wet at times last night and the cloud did not help keep it warmer and there was a minimum of 10.8°C. There were 100 moths of 16 species. This included five Rusty-dot Pearls and three Rush Veneers. Silver Y (1) was outnumbered by two recent colonists- Radford's Flame Shoulder (2) and Clancy's Rustic (2).
Sunday 6th
It clouded over last night but the breeze got up. The temperature did not go below 11.8°C. The catch went up to 117 moths of 19 species. There were five Silver Ys, three Rusty-dot Pearls and two Rush Veneers.
Saturday 5th
With the moth night tonight two traps were set. Despite the temperature dropping to 3.8°C the car park got 75 moths of 20 species and the Feeders trap 29 moths of 12 species.
Migrants included two Scarce Bordered Straws (what a good late autumn they are having), four Rusty-dot Pearls, a Rush Veneer and a Clancy's Rustic.
With one or two locals having run traps as well we will have a good variety of typical autumn moths and some migrants.
Friday 4th
The wind persisted until after midnight and then the sky cleared allowing the temperature down to 5.4°C. There were 84 moths of 15 species. The highlight was the first Radford's Flame Shoulder of the autumn. There were also three Rush Veneers, two Scarce Bordered Straws plus single Dark Sword-grass and Clancy's Rustic.
Thursday 3rd
It remained much more breezy overnight than forecast and 77 moths of 15 species were recorded. Despite the wind there were still some migrants - singles of Silver Y, Dark Sword-grass, Rush Veneer, and Rusty-dot Pearl.
Wednesday 2nd
After a couple of days off - one due to horrible weather and one due to electrical problems - we were keen to get the trap back in action. We did not hold out a lot of hope as last night was still full of blustery showers and a minimum temperature of 10.3°C. However, there was a good catch of 271 moths of 33 species. This was a positive omen for Saturdays Moth Night. The wind still had north in it but there was a good mix of migrants - five Scarce Bordered Straws, six Rush Veneers, three Rusty-dot Pearls, two Clancy's Rustics and singles of Dark Sword-grass, Silver Y and Palpita vitrealis. The most notable count was 33 Delicates - they really have settled in well and outnumber Silver Ys.