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

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

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

            

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

 

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

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