Saturday 1 October 2011

Autumn moths

With the birds being quiet at the moment due to the pleasant(*?) hot weather and Westerly air flow at least the warm nights have brought a few moths into the trap. *The reason I question the word pleasant is because I have started the winter work programme at Strumpshaw Fen, meaning we have been in the fen burning and chainsawing in the heat = unpleasant and very hot!
Over the past 3 nights I have recorded a total of 36 species, this is particularly good for late Sept/early Oct, certainly compared to past years records. Although the temperatures have been far warmer than average, each morning this week there has been a heavy fog in the valley which has meant that the early am temps were as low as 7 degrees while Norwich was basking in 13 degrees at 7am, still a fair few moths have been flying about. This morning there were even a few migrants to liven up the list, they were the most common, expected species but migrants all the same. Six Merveille du jour added a splash of green to the traps, while the 8 Hornets and 14 wasps added a certain splash of yellow, luckily they were not hungry and left the majority of moths in tact. As always a few photos showing some of the catch.



Merv du jour

L-Brown Spot Pinion, R-Beaded Chestnut

Vapourer
Brick
Silver Y

Brindled Green


Dark Sward Grass

3 comments:

  1. I'm rather jealous of your Merveille du Jour! We got Brown-spot Pinion, Beaded Chestnut, Brindled Green, Lunar Underwing, Large Wainscot and Barred Sallow over the weekend in Norwich.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They are pretty gorgeous moths, put a trap under an oak tree and its almost guaranteed at this time of the year.
    Happy mothing!

    ReplyDelete