Since my last post I've been slowly getting a few moths in the trap. Year list is 24 now which is fewer than the same time last year. Oak Beauty and Lead-coloured Drab probably the most interesting, along with an Emperor Moth in the garden which didn't pose for a photo. Interesting birds since my last post include: Long-eared Owl at Elmley, Smew at Dungeness and Mandarins at Selling Pond. 

 Oak Beauty

Lead-coloured Drab

Long-eared Owl

Smew

Mandarins

Well January came and went with just 1 species of Moth recorded: Mottled Umber. Interesting birds seen in Kent during January included: Little Owl, Purple Sandpiper and Snow Buntings. Pictures from my recent Canada trip can be found on my Flickr site.

 Little Owl

 

Snow Buntings

 

Purple Sandpiper

 

Mottled Umber

 

 It's the end of the year. In December just 2 species were added to the moth year list: Mottled Umber and Winter Moth. The final total for 2024 is 352-the worst year since 2015. However, there were 13 new species for the garden list which means the grand total is now 759. New species were: Large Red-belted Clearwing, Barred Red, Oak Rustic, Webb's Wainscot, Porter's Rustic, A. innoxiella, C. longana, D. plumbana, T. acroxantha, E. scutalana, C. honoratella, and Z. hepariella.  

 Barred Red

Oak Rustic

Webb's Wainscot

 

Porter's Rustic

  

 A combination of frost and rain has meant much reduced moth trapping in November, which has resulted in no new species for the year being recorded in that month. So the year list stays at 349. Interesting birds seen include a Purple Sandpiper and Snow Bunting at Swalecliffe, plus up to 22 Cattle Egrets on the Dungeness RSPB Reserve.

 Snow Bunting

 

Purple Sandpiper

Cattle Egrets

Another month has come and gone. Moth list for the year stands at 348. Interesting records in October include my first Oak Rustic, the first female Gem, and 2 Merveille Du Jour. 

Oak Rustic

The Gem

Merveille Du Jour

I was away in Canada for the first half of the month-pictures on my Flickr site. At the end of what became a rather wet September, the garden moth list stands at 330. At the same stage last year this figure was 349. New for the year in September included a couple of the Autumn regulars: Feathered Ranunculus  and Barred Sallow. Dark Spectacle was also new for the year.

Barred Sallow

 

Feathered Ranunculus

Sea Otter, Vancouver Island, B.C.

We've reached September and the year's moth list stands at 323. Trapping results have improved this month and for the first time this year I'm ahead of the the 307 at the same stage last year. Records in August include 2 new macro species for the site: Porter's Rustic and Webb's Wainscot, with 2nd and 3rd records for both The Mocha and Epermenia chaerophyllella. 

Porter's Rustic

 

Epermenia chaerophyllella

 

Mocha

Web's Wainscot