Morning all,
what with not having trapped last night (plus missing the total lunar eclipse thanks to the first cloudy night in weeks!) and since its wetting itself outside at the moment I thought I'd pen a wee note on what the year has held thus far for us here in Elton.
Each year I set out with the hope of recording 300 species in the garden, something achieved eight times since 2000 along with near misses of 298 in 2001, 299 in 2004 and 295 in 2005; the all-time high was 360 in 2014 and I don't include 'aggregates' in these counts. This year has in many ways been extraordinary, since now we are both retired we've been spending more time on holiday in Europe and elsewhere which of course that means less opportunity to trap at home. Up to to-day we've had the trap on 'just' 31 times, recording 2,704 moths of 275 species, which I consider little short of superb.
If that's the plus side, then the number of times I've found myself writing: <moth name> - 1 in my notebook has been quite depressing, its far and away the most common count each session. Nonetheless, the species spread is very good, includes some we've not recorded for anything up to 15 or more years and no less than TEN new for the garden, which is incredible but perhaps in keeping with the likes of Mike Dale and Steve Hind, both of whom are also recording good numbers of new or very unusual species from their gardens, the lists for which are significantly in excess of that of our own. Perhaps its actually a good year for moths! (It's not been bad for butterflies either as it happens).
You can pretty much make figures say what you want, but to give a fairly crude assessment of how each species is doing or has done thus far (and appreciating that some are still on the wing and whose numbers will increase) as we stand today, of the 275 recorded, 193 have been less in number than the average over the period 1991-present, and 79 better than the norm. Three therefore are exactly average and 404 have not been recorded at all.
A selection of those doing significantly better than normal are: Argyresthia cupressella, Yponomeuta evonymella, Tachystola acroxantha, Hedya nubiferana, Dipleurina lacustrata, Small Magpie, Riband Wave, Double-striped Pug, The Magpie, Light Emerald, The Dun-bar, Straw Dot and Small Fan-foot.
On the other side of the coin, those species currently significantly below the norm include: Gracillaria syringella, Paraswammerdamia nebulella, Lyonetia clerkella, Blastobasis adustella, Pandemis heparana, Epiphyas postvittana, Celypha striana, Chrysoteuchia culmella, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, Small Blood-vein, Garden Carpet, Green Carpet, Brimstone Moth, Mottled Beauty, Buff Ermine, Heart & Dart, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Cabbage Moth, Marbled Beauty, Dark Arches and The Snout.
Further, a fair number will have gone unrecorded simply through us not being around during their flight period and some have turned up in the best numbers for years but are still well below the overall average between 1991and the present. On average this year we are currently catching 87 moths per session, which is artificially high as once the autumn is with us, nightly catches will go down to single digits, bringing it down. The average per session for the last four years has been: 83, 67, 56 and 57; notice the downward trend.
So, in conclusion, there are as always, some good things to say about the year and some not so good but I'm thinking its going to be good overall, if not for us, since we're away for a food deal of whats left of it and will be missing out on a lot come their time; still hoping we can make 300 though!
Cheers,
Steve