Tuesday 31 December 2013

Well we've reached the end of another year so I decided to have a look at the results from my moth trap over the last 4 years. Despite a couple of good months weather this summer the results in the following table suggest that this year was no better than last. I did go away for 2 weeks in July this year but I think this year's total moth numbers would still have been lower than last year's even if I'd stayed at home. I'm hoping numbers will recover a bit next year. Below are a couple of Canadian Moths which I will identify shortly.

Happy New Year!
 


2010
2010
2011
2011
2012
2012
2013
2013

Number
Species
Number
Species
Number
Species
Number
Species
Macro Moths
5090
180
4833
187
2972
160
2719
160
Micro Moths
1310
86
1215
96
1348
97
945
96
Total
6400
266
6048
283
4320
257
3664
256
























Olive-Green Cutworm
One-eyed Sphinx Moth

Thursday 26 December 2013

Needless to say there's not been much use of the Moth trap recently. I did make a brief visit to Hampton Pier, Herne Bay, this morning to check for Purple Sandpipers. The tide was going out but I managed to see just one feeding with Turnstones by the Pier.

Purple Sandpiper

Sunday 15 December 2013

Had another Winter Moth yesterday morning making 4 this winter so far which is good for species I don't record every year. Made a visit to Dunge last Thursday which was "quiet" but much less windy than the previous visit. Usual suspects included 3 Great White Egrets, 4 Marsh Harriers, 2 Smew, a Goosander and a Kingfisher on the ARC pit. A Stonechat posed near Boulderwall Farm.

 Stonechat
            

Sunday 8 December 2013

This morning with the sun shining I decided to make a 2nd visit to Hemsted Forest to see if I could see the Two-barred Crossbill, having seen the Parrot Crossbill on my previous visit. I only had to wait about 20 minutes before it showed up the isolated Oak Tree, where it's been regularly seen. About 10 Common Crossbills also seen. There was a suggestion yesterday that the Winter Moth might have been a Northern Winter Moth, which would be a new species for my garden, although I did record this species at my previous address. However, it was a small specimen with brownish hind wing. This morning there was another slightly larger "Winter" Moth near the trap and I examined a bit more closely. This is a better marked specimen, but the wing length was 14-15mm and again the hind wing was brownish so I guess it's another Winter Moth.
 Two-barred Crossbill
 Common Crossbill
 Winter Moth
 

Saturday 7 December 2013

Another Moth

There was a Winter Moth underneath the trap this morning. This species is not a regular in my garden, this being the 9th in 14 years and the first since January 2011. On Friday I paid a visit to Dunge in a gale. Sticking mainly to the hides we saw the usual Great White Egrets, Marsh Harriers, Black-necked Grebe, 2 Chiffchaffs and my first Smew of the winter. Two Peregrines hunting near the Dengemarsh road finished a better than expected day.
Winter Moth

 Great White Egret

 Marsh Harrier

Monday 2 December 2013

Finally got a moth in the trap this morning-Dark Chestnut. This is not a species I get every year and brings the year's macro total to 159, just 1 short of last year's.

 Dark Chestnut