Lindfield Moth Diary - December ’07

e-mail: moths@littlesnails.com

Monday 31 December 2007

Weather: Cool, overcast, still.

Day 210… Another cold but not frosty night and well, frankly, a fine way to end the year - another new species: a Spring Usher.

The total number of species for the year in Lindfield was 322 (give or take a few that have either been misidentified, unidentified or grouped - the Minors (Oligia) and November Moths (Epirrita) for example). There were 14 other species we recorded in South Devon in August but have not, as yet, seen in Lindfield.

Given the fact that 2007 was more or less universally acknowledged to have been a pretty dreadful year for moths, hopefully this total can be substantially improved upon in 2008.

Of the moths that we did see:

There were 60 species for which we only had one record.
Large Yellow Underwings were the most numerous (101 recorded on 24 August).
There was at least one Light-brown Apple Moth recorded in every month.
Most unusual sighting: Lesser Yellow Underwing ab. sagittifer - first in Sussex for 10 years!
There were only 8 species of which I didn’t manage to get a photo. (Better luck in 2008 I hope.)
That means though, that there are still 328 species I did get photos of and nearly 500 photos in all.

Last night’s catch was as follows:

Geometridae

1 Spring Usher Agriopis leucophaearia D & S

Noctuidae

1 Common Quaker Orthosia cerasi D & S

Spring Usher

Sunday 30 December 2007

Weather: Cool, mostly clear, light wind.

Day 209… Bingo! There I was just beginning to think that December was going to play itself out as a dull 0-0 draw and we get a stoppage time winner, the first new species of the month: a Pale Brindled Beauty, not only that but it was the only moth in the trap too. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

1 Pale Brindled Beauty Apocheima pilosaria D & S

Pale Brindled Beauty

Saturday 29 December 2007

Weather: Mild, heavy rain, windy.

Foul weather. Didn’t bother.

Friday 28 December 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, very windy.

Day 208… Although it was very mild the catch was disappointing - no doubt because of the wind as the conditions would otherwise seem as good as they could be for the time of year. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

1 Winter Moth Operophtera brumata Linn.

Wednesday 26 - Thursday 27 December 2007

Although the weather was OK I seemed to have to many other things to do instead of putting the trap out - can’t think what…? Possibly spending hour after hour building Lego bulldozers might have had something to do with it.

Tuesday 25 December 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, occasional light rain, still.

Day 207… Ah, that’s better, moths at last. I did have visions of checking the trap this morning with a glass of something deliciously fizzy in my hand, but even on Christmas day I found it hard to justify that sort of decadence (this early in the morning). Four moths were in the trap including a very early sign that spring might be on the way in the not too far future: a Common Quaker. The catch was as follows:

Lasiocampidae

1 December Moth Poecilocampa populi Linn.

Geometridae

2 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.

Noctuidae

1 Common Quaker Orthosia cerasi D & S

Monday 24 December 2007

Weather: Cool, foggy at first, clearing later, still.

Day 206… Must… put… trap… out… Need… to… see… moths… Cold… Turkey… setting… in… Agghhh!!! No Moths!!!.

Tuesday 11 - Sunday 23 December 2007

Hard frosts almost every night and little better during the day, caused nearly a fortnight of traplessness.

Monday 10 December 2007

Weather: Cool, mostly overcast, occasional light rain, very windy.

Day 205… Again I deluded myself into thinking that there were all sorts of interesting moths all itching to be lured by the light of my trap, so out I went and, well one record is infinitely more than nothing at all. My aim though, is for just one new species, it would be a shame to go through the entire month without a photograph to show for it. The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

1 The Sprawler Brachionycha sphinx Hufn.

Sunday 09 December 2007

No trap.

Saturday 08 December 2007

Weather: Cool, mostly clear at first, heavy cloud cover by dawn, light winds.

Day 204… My prime motivation when putting the trap out last night was that it was forecast to be dry, so I thought "what the hec - you never know?" At least it wasn’t entirely futile. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

1 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.

Thursday 06 - Friday 07 December 2007

No trap, no point.

Wednesday 05 December 2007

Weather: Very mild, overcast, breezy start, becoming very wet and windy later.

Day 203… I thought things were just about perfect when I put the trap out, little did I realise that somewhat less than perfect conditions were to follow, all in all it was a bit of a waste of electricity as all the moths that were in the trap this morning had arrived there before 19:00 yesterday evening (except possibly, one of the Light-brown Apple Moths - which, incidentally, I have now recorded in every month since April). The catch was as follows:

Lasiocampidae

1 December Moth Poecilocampa populi Linn.

Geometridae

2 Winter Moth Operophtera brumata Linn.

Tortricidae

2 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Pyralidae

1 Rusty Dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis Hb.

Saturday 01 to Tuesday 04 December 2007

Various shades of foul weather meant setting the trap out would have been a little pointless, I can’t help but think that trapping nights are likely to become fairly few and far between for the next couple of months - roll on spring!