At the end of March the garden moth list stands at 26 which is slightly better than the same period last year when it stood at 23. Highlight of the month was Zelleria hepariella, which was new for the site. Grey Shoulder-knot was only my 4th and the first for 10 years, and C. stigmatella is always nice to see. Best bird of the month was the Green-winged Teal at Seasalter on the 31st.

 Zelleria hepariella

 

Grey Shoulder-knotC. 

 

Caloptilia stigmatella

 

Green-winged Teal

 

February brought a milder spell of weather so by the end of the month the garden moth list had reached 14, mostly consisting of the usual suspects but Tawny Pinion was only my 2nd record. There were also 2 examples of Acleris cristana and one of Acleris ferrugana/notana. I also went on a trip to South Africa during the month and pictures, mostly from the Kruger National Park, can be found on my Flickr site. 

Tawny Pinion

 

Acleris cristana

 

Acleris ferrugana/notana

 

Leopards-Kruger National Park

I seem to have missed my end of month posting for January, probably because I recorded only 1 moth in the whole month: a Light brown Apple Moth. On the plus side 3 species of Owl were seen.

Long-eared Owl

 

Short-eared Owl

Barn Owl

We've reached the end of another year with 367 species of Moth recorded in the garden, which is 37 fewer than the previous year. However, there were 15 species new for the Garden List bringing it to 745. Blue-bordered Carpet was my favourite of these. Interesting birds seen in December were Great Northern and Black-throated Divers at Dungeness, Whooper and Bewick's Swans on Walland Marsh and a single Waxwing at Graveney. 

 Waxwing

Wild Swans

Black-throated Diver

Great Northern Diver

Blue-bordered Carpet