A Biodiversity Information System for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington & Wirral

Shockingly low catches recently compared to 12 months ago. Only 1 moth last night but is was a nice Lime Hawk-moth. I assume everyone else is having a similarly poor May. I am relatively new to moth trapping having only revived my interest in 2020. Is this sort of low catch in May unprecedented?

Cheers, John

Only one moth in the trap in Tytherington, Macc on Wednesday night (19th May 2021). Minimum overnight temperature was only 5.6 degrees C.

I nearly missed it: Nematopogon swammerdamella. It was the first record of that species for my garden, though!

From my own garden records, I can only compare with similar dates from the last five years:

16th May 2020 [5.1 deg C]: One moth.
21st May 2020 [14.1 deg C]: 27 moths of 17 species.

13th May 2019 [8 deg C]: 4 of 4.
17th May 2019 [10 deg C]: 22 of 15.

13th May 2018: 3 of 2.
20th May 2018: 15 of 9.

3rd May 2017: 6 of 5.
18th May 2017: 7 of 5.

6th May 2016: 6 of 4.
19th May 2016: 4 of 4.

I had four moths in the trap last night:

2 Brimstone
1 Scalloped Hazel
1 Oak-tree Pug.

May has been getting steadily worse - definitely the poorest spell I’ve had since I started mothing 8 years ago.

Cheers
Paul

I would have been happy with one moth last night, but I blanked.

Mel.

So, the next question is what is going on? Have those early May frosts killed emerging insects/pupae/larvae, or just delayed them?

Cheers, John