Number of species:
This month: 6
Saturday 30 & Sunday 31 January 2010
Very cold, clear and frosty nights with a very bright full moon (well, full on Saturday), possibly the most hugely unsuitable conditions imaginable.
Friday 29 January 2010
Spring Usher - Agriopis leucophaearia
Overcast, light rain, 4°C, still.
Well, at least there was something in the trap this morning. I also got a better Spring Usher shot so have replaced the one from last Sunday.
Geometridae
- 1 Spring Usher Agriopis leucophaearia D. & S.
Noctuidae
- 1 Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.
Wednesday 27 & Thursday 28 January 2010
No trap - still seems a bit pointless.
Tuesday 26 January 2010
Clear spells, 1°C, light wind.
Thought there was a possibility of catching something but it wasn’t to be.
Monday 25 January 2010
No trap - too cold. It was pointed out to me by Ken Noble that I had made my first cock-up of the year having misidentified yesterday’s photo as a Mottled Umber rather than a Spring Usher - doh! I failed to engage brain there I think. The irritating thing is that I have now already failed in my plan to photograph every species this year as what was undoubtedly a mottled umber was ignored as it was the same chestnut colour as most of those already recorded before Christmas. It struck me at the time that it just didn’t look right but it really didn’t occur to me to wonder if it might have been something else.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Overcast, 3°C, still.
Well, as I said I’m committed to putting up a photo of each new species that arrives in the trap this year so here’s another Mottled Umber shot.
Geometridae
- 1 Spring Usher Agriopis leucophaearia D. & S.
- 1 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.
Saturday 23 January 2010
Probably would have been a better night, it was milder than it’s been of late but it was just too wet.
Friday 22 January 2010
Mainly overcast, 0°C, light wind.
Ho - hum… another no-show.
Thursday 21 January 2010
Nasty, dank, cold night - could’t see the point.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Overcast, 1°C, fairly windy.
I positioned the trap in just the right place to leave it exposed to a really rather nasty, bitingly cold, south-easterly wind (not deliberately, I might add), leaving it as an entirely undesirable spot in which to spend the night. The result was a moth-less trap, the logical conclusion of the downward trend of the past couple of nights.
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Mainly overcast, 2°C, misty, still.
Not quite as exciting as Saturday night but at least there was something in the trap. There was also a large black beetle of some sort that was terribly mite infested - no idea of the species, (looked a bit like a Bloody-nosed Beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa) but I don’t recall having encountered anything like it at this time of year before.
Noctuidae
- 3 Satellite Eupsilia transversa Hufn.
Monday 18 January 2010
Common Flat-body - Agonopterix heracliana
Thought better of it as far as putting the trap out was concerned, the forecast was for a frost and foggy night which it duly turned out to be, nevertheless, I did snaffle the first "micro" of the year on the kitchen window last night, a Common Flat-body.
Sunday 17 January 2010
December Moth - Poecilocampa populi
Satellite - Eupsilia transversa
Chestnut - Conistra vaccinii
Relatively mild (4°C), misty and wet, clearing and becoming frosty.
It probably isn’t easy for a non moth enthusiast to understand quite how exciting the sight of the first moth for a month actually is. To be honest, I was pretty chuffed that the weather conditions meant that even the thought of putting the trap out wasn’t a ludicrous one. Well, what a surprise I had when I looked through the egg trays this morning! Ten moths of three species and not only that, but the largest number of Satellites we’ve had on any one night. Also, it’s the first January record of December Moth, presumably held back by the cold snowy weather we had before Christmas.
Same as last year, I’m determined that I will have at least one photo of every species we see so that’s the first three sorted though I’m sure photos of these three will reappear in the autumn (if not sooner).
Lasiocampidae
- 1 December Moth Poecilocampa populi Linn.
Noctuidae
Friday 08 - Saturday 16 January 2010
More snow and disruption with another heavy dose of the white stuff on the night of the 12th leaving us with about 20cm of lying snow and, frankly, it’s all getting a little tedious.
Friday 01 - Thursday 07 January 2010
Well, Happy New Year to anyone who might be bored enough to be reading this, I’m afraid I can’t bring any good news though. 15cm of snow lying and night time temperatures being well below zero (last night’s reading was about -8°C) there seems to be little prospect of any trapping in the foreseeable future.
