Although running a moth trap in the garden is restrictive as to the number and variety of species caught, there are many benefits to domestic moth trapping. There's very little packing up to do, no heavy generator to carry, you can't get closer to home and so are always close to all home comforts.

But despite the limited number of likely species to trap, running a moth trap from home is frequently rewarding.

We actually started to trap at home mid-way through 2014, so we missed all of the late Winter, Spring and early Summer species. Therefore, we made the effort to run the trap as often as possible in 2015 and certainly whenever conditions looked promising.

This small Coleophorid was not known to have previously occurred in Nottinghamshire before, but it was suggested to us by Martin Gray (the county moth recorder for south Lincolnshire) that we look for the larval cases of Coleophora juncicolella, a few days after he had recently recorded Lincolnshire's first record on April 10th 2015.

The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire county micromoth recorder Dave Budworth reports that "it looks to be a first for Notts". He notes that J.W. Carr does not mention the species, although there could well be a later record lurking somewhere. MOGBI shows a record from Notts but this may be difficult to trace.

On checking the Derbyshire records, Dave was surprised to find very few, with only one for last century from the Goyt Valley in 1956 by the late Hugh Michaelis. He says, "there are a group of more recent Derbyshire records, but these are again all along the western moorland border of the county. This latter distribution is essentially the result of the efforts of Steve Hind, but it is strange that it has not been reported from the central region of the county. Likewise one would have expected records from the heathlands of Notts over the years".

Pick of the moths recorded during May and June were Shears Hada plebeja 22/05/15, Treble Lines Charanyca trigrammica at Market Warsop on 26/05/15 and Lound Wood on 19/06/15, Anania perlucidalis and Scallop Shell Hydria undulata which arrived just before dawn on 30/05/15, Seraphim Lobophora halterata on 12/06/15, Nottinghamshire's first record of Argyresthia cupressella on 13/06/15, our first ever record of Eyed Hawk-moth Smerinthus ocellata at MV light on 23/06/15 and Privet Hawk-moth Sphinx ligustri on 27/06/15.

A small Argyresthia species, attracted to MV light operated in our Market Warsop garden on June 13th 2015, turned out to be A. cupressella and a new moth for Nottinghamshire. Confirmation later came from the county recorder Dave Budworth.

Originally a North American species, Argyresthia cupressella is found in the UK after being introduced here via the horticultural trade. It was first recorded in Suffolk as recently as 1997 and there are records as far west as Wales, but very few from Midland counties.

Despite the lack of records, this moth is probably widespread in many urban and suburban areas of Nottinghamshire. We had additional records of A. cupressella on a further nine nights between June 13th and July 4th.

The first Silver Y was recorded at MV light on 04/06/15 and sitting by the Valerian in the garden, did become something of an obsession for the rest of the year, after the first Hummingbird Hawk-moth appeared on 08/06/15. During 2015, we recorded 49 identifiably different Hummingbird Hawk-moths in Nottinghamshire, with most of these being recorded in the garden. Its a total which may seem unbelievable from an inland county, but the truth is that if you spent time regularly watching any large patch of Valerian in Nottinghamshire, you would undoubtedly have recorded at least one.

We recorded numerous different individual Hummingbird Hawk-moths, which could be identified through a combination of wear, size and markings via photographs. Numbers peaked with five on September 10th and four on September 11th. The total number of recorded visits for each day was 23 and 20 respectively.

We were able to devote virtually complete coverage on September 10th, 11th and later September 19th, to the moths visiting the Valerian growing in our Market Warsop garden. This enabled us to gather some interesting data on the duration of visits by feeding moths.

On the morning of September 19th, M2 appeared on the rear wall of the house and remained for over an hour (from 09:00h - 10:18h) before flying down to feed for four minutes at 10:19h. It left and was not seen for the rest of the day and presumed gone.

M1 arrived to feed at 10:05h for four minutes, before returning at 10:24h for a further four minutes. It then developed a pattern of feeding/resting for the rest of the day. At one point it rested on the rear wall of 16 Day Street, then later rested on the fence of 12 Day Street.

Despite the high numbers of Hummingbird Hawk-moths, finally recording Bordered Straw Heliothis peltigera, possibly represented our biggest highlight of the year. We missed out on this attractive migrant in 2006, so it had been nine years waiting, before one suddenly appeared at the garden MV light on June 20th, followed by another nectaring on Valerian at dusk on July 15th.

Other good garden ticks during the remainer of the Summer and Autumn included a single Blackneck Lygephila pastinum on 31/07/15, Tissue Triphosa dubitata on 03/08/15, Twin-spotted Wainscot Lenisa geminipuncta on 12/08/15, and only our second ever record of Tawny Speckled Pug Eupithecia icterata subfulvata on 29/08/15.

At the end of the year, the garden moth list stood at a respectable 396 species, falling just short of our 400 species target, but a trip to Newark proved rewarding in finding a second for Nottinghamshire. The entrance to Newark Railway Station, hardly seemed the place to record something unusual, but turned up a second county site for Dahlica triquetrella on November 1st. Dahlica triquetrella is currently rarer than both Dahlica lichenella and Dahlica inconspicuella in Nottinghamshire and the only other known site is the flood wall at Attenborough NR, where it was discovered new to the county by Richard Rogers back in 2012.