Mildly Disappointing .....

[SteveH]

Mildly Disappointing .....:

Morning Folks,

I'm guessing that the last couple of weeks have been really good for mothing - all the time of which we've been away in cooler climes. So it was that I had an air of great expectations last night - only of course it decided to get a little cold !

Net result, 'just' 178 moths of 54 species and seven NFY. Most pleased to see Chinese Character as they are another of the growing list of species turning up less and less these days but another Garden Tiger was nice and three Dun-bars a little unusual for us.

Cheers,
Steve

[melbellingham]

Hi Steve,

Mildly disappointing, or, for some, a reasonable night, depends on location, location, location .....

Living in the moth metropolis of Elton, you have obviously been spoilt, and lost sight of what makes a good or disappointing night.

My catch (15/07/2018) consisted of 120 moths of 56 species, which was one of only a few nights this year when I have exceeded 50 species. It included 5 NFY, and I thought it was rather a good night in fact.

Now, last night (16/07/2018) with only 32 moths of 17 species is what I would consider a rather disappointing night. Nothing NFY, and only 4 species with multiple counts. The temperature was down about 4 degrees on the previous night, but it was still over 12C.

I've not had Chinese Character yet this year. It has never been regular and like yourself, I find it less and less these days, but one or two Dun-bar most nights at present. Sadly though, I'm still waiting for my fist Garden Tiger record for my garden, and if I ever do record one, I won't care what else is in the trap, because it will be a good night.

Mel.

[stevehind]

I do well here for moths, with 211 of 86 species on 15/07/2018 and 172 of 54 species last night, 16/07/2018 but no Chinese Character here yet this year and never had Garden Tiger in the 25 years I've been trapping here.

Regards,
Steve

[SteveH]

Moth metropolis of Elton made me smile Mel so thanks for that. What's the opposite of metropolis, as that's the case between November and March. Campsite ?

Out of interest I thought I'd produce some charts of the three species, just to see if my suspicions were right.

Dunbar at Elton 1991-2018

Chinese Character at Elton 1991-2018

Garden Tiger at Elton 1991-2018

Cheers,
Steve

[/color]

[melbellingham]

Having looked at your charts, I was now interested to see how my records compared with yours. Although I knew they would be different, as I trap more often than you do, I was keen to see if your peak counts corresponded with any that I had.

I didn't start recording until 2003, and it is already obvious from your charts, and everything I read about moths, confirms that I missed the better years.

I couldn't produce bar charts or any other charts, so I have produced a small table comparing Chinese Character and Dun-bar. I didn't bother with Garden Tiger for obvious reasons.

Chinese Character and Dun-bar records 2003 - 16/07/2018

Forum 17 08 2018.JPG (36.77 KiB) Viewed 8988 times

I assumed peak years would have been similar, but that has not proved to be so. More to this moth-ing than we realize.

Mel.

[/color]