The second half of 2014 was very different, with most of our trapping being done at home, apart from returning back to trap occasionally at Lound Wood and a couple of trips to Spalford Warren (NWT) largely in search of Archer's Dart.

Running an MV light in our Market Warsop garden had been something we had never done before, apart from the occasional hour or so in 2013.

We'd never wanted to start trapping from home, knowing that it would become addictive and we would very soon not want to miss a night. We'd warned someone else before about starting it and very soon, we ignored our own advice and ended up running the light for several hours on many favourable evenings.

Moth trapping's an addictive and a rather isolating pastime, but it can often be extremely rewarding for any concerted effort put in. That's pretty much how it turned out to be from the garden, with some unexpected species turning up, several of which were completely new to us.

Moths new to us were the micromoths Ectoedemia decentella (left) on 28/09/14, Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla on 12/07/14, Donacaula forficella on 25/07/14 and Eudonia pallida the following evening. New macromoths included a Plain Pug on 16/07/14 and singles of Juniper Carpet on 18/10/14, 22/10/14 and 23/10/14.

Bird's-wing (16/07/14) and Bulrush Wainscot (02/09/14) were two surprise garden moths, but most unexpected was the True Lover's Knot which turned up on 21/07/14. This heathland species is common in the Sherwood Forest area, but had never been considered as a likely garden addition and it had been just as surprising when one had turned up at Lound Wood, Eakring a few nights earlier.

Despite knowing many moths are prone to wander in suitable weather, out of habitat species are always exciting to see. So when we trapped at Bevercotes Pit Wood on 21/04/14, Scarce Prominent was not on the 'hoped for' list. Another was also attracted to MV light at Sherwood Forest Country Park on 29/04/14. Bevercotes Pit Wood is one of only two regular sites for Lead-coloured Drab in Nottinghamshire and was specifically (and successfully) trapped for on 05/04/14, when a single turned up at the light. Two evenings later we returned try again, this time in a different area of the site and were surprised when a fresh Chocolate Tip turned up on what turned out to be a shortened trapping session due to quickly lowering temperatures.

Another moth which had so far eluded us was Small Yellow Wave, so we were delighted to finally trap one at Clipstone Old Quarter on 19/06/14. Records of the day-flying Orange Underwing came from Clipstone Old Quarter, Sherwood Forest CP and Strawberry Hill Heath (NWT) near Mansfield.

A Grass Wave was disturbed from Heather during the day from the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's reserve at Rainworth Heath on 11/06/14, which will be a site well worth regular trapping in 2015.

Other good micro records were Ancylis diminutana to MV light at the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's Gamston Wood on 17/05/14 and Cydia fagiglandana, which landed on the car while we were driving through Mansfield Woodhouse on 10/05/14. The year was also notable for much larger than normal numbers of Pseudargyrotoza conwagana. This moth is often common flying during the late afternoon along hedgerows and the edges of woodland, but even appeared in our garden and was recorded on numerous dates flying around two mature Lilacs. Along the UK's south coast, P. conwagana turned up at some moth traps in their hundreds, so whether it just had one of those exceptional years, or there was a genuine influx of moths from the near continent is unknown.

It was not to be an exceptional year for recording migrant moths in most inland counties. Even the most common and regular migrants, produced meagre yearly totals of just 28 Plutella xylostella between July 11th and November 13th and 55 Silver Y between May 30th and November 1st. We recorded a single Nomophila noctuella to MV light at Lound Wood on 19/09/14 and just one Dark Sword-grass at Market Warsop on 20/09/14.

However, 2014 was another good year for Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Recorded at many Nottinghamshire sites, virtually all of our records were from our garden, with a total of 26 adults nectaring at Valerian on 12 dates.

There were two June records (17th and 30th) which represented the first influx of migrants, but peak counts came between September 12-16th (16 individuals) including five single adults present at 10:50h, 14:40h, 17:10h, 18:10h and 19:20h throughout September 13th.