We'd mentioned to others in the moth trapping fraternity (or Numpty Club) as one small group delightfully, but inaccurately call themselves, that we'd had a quiet year trapping this year.

It certainly seemed that way on occasions and many evenings seemed to provide very little to get excited about. Totals to the garden trap were low and at times, it could go painfully quiet with very few moths. Thankfully, some of the county's moth trappers had more success than we did, recording Clifden Nonpareil (Ian Hunt and Phil Cadman) and Least Carpet (Phil Lee) new to Nottinghamshire during 2017.

A cool and very dry Spring was believed to have led to the slow start to the year and we rarely ran the moth trap during the first half of 2017. A generally warm and dry Summer then followed, which seemed to curtail the flight periods and second broods of many species, effectively ending them earlier than expected. So much so, that by late August, it already seemed like the year was winding down.

However (thankfully) it was'nt until we started to pick through our records for this review, that we realised we'd recorded a surprising number of new additions to the garden list. From what we can make out, some 22 moths were new to the garden which took the total number of species recorded within the confines of our garden to 443. On reflection, its not a bad running total, after we only started to run the garden trap midway through 2014 and shows the value of recording invertebrates from the confines of any garden. Some interesting records will always turn up.

The full list of new moths for the garden in 2017 and the date they were first recorded, included :- Yponomeuta cagnagella Spindle Ermine 18/07/17; Yponomeuta rorrella Willow Ermine 14/07/17; Paraswammerdamia nebulella 15/07/17; Argyresthia albistria 21/08/17; Carpatolechia fugitivella 14/06/17; Cochylis nana 14/06/17; Cochylis dubitana 21/08/17; Cochylis atricapitana 31/05/17; Cochylimorpha straminea 21/08/17; Hedya ochroleucana 14/06/17; Epiblema scutulana (by day) 23/05/17; Pammene fasciana two on 15/07/17; Cryptoblabes bistriga 05/07/17; Pyrausta purpuralis 19/07/17; Elophila nymphaeata Brown China-mark 20/08/17; Hydrelia flammeolaria Small Yellow Wave 14/06/17; Erannis defoliaria Mottled Umber 03/10/17; Zeuzera pyrina Leopard Moth 21/06/17; Autographa jota Plain Golden Y 12/07/17; Tiliacea citrago Orange Sallow 06/10/17; Diarsia mendica Ingrailed Clay 14/06/17 and Diarsia brunnea Purple Clay 30/06/17.

What we believe may ultimately turn out to be good garden records included Pyrausta purpuralis on July 19th and Brown China-mark on August 20th, which was only our second record. Small Yellow Wave was nice to get and it was pleasing to finally record Mottled Umber in October, after recording Scarce Umber a couple of years previous. The Leopard Moth of June 21st (right) was probably the years highlight. Its a striking moth we have only ever trapped occasionally ourselves, but seems to be common enough in the county.

The first of two Hedya ochroleucana were trapped on June 14th. It was initially suspected of being Apotomis betuletana, but was retained to be photographed the next day as it did'nt seem quite right at the time and it turned out justifiably so.

During our research, we picked out the following list of moths that we had expected to record in much better numbers. These are all typically common garden moths, but it seemed to have a poor year for Agriphila tristella; Colostygia pectinataria Green Carpet; Opisthograptis luteolata Brimstone; Pheosia gnoma Lesser Swallow Prominent; Euproctis similis Yellow-tail; Phragmatobia fuliginosa Ruby Tiger; Amphipyra pyramidea Copper Underwing; Bryophila domestica Marbled Beauty; Apamea monoglypha Dark Arches; Mythimna pallens Common Wainscot; Axylia putris Flame; Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing; Noctua comes Lesser Yellow Underwing and Noctua janthe Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing.

We could have added Plutella xylostella and Silver Y to the above list. These are both common migrants that normally arrive in sufficient numbers each year to make them common enough, but we trapped just single Plutella xylostella on 21/06/17, 30/06/17 and on 05/07/17 and only recorded just 69 Silver Y between 22/05/17 and 27/09/17. Despite some promising conditions for migrant arrivals along the south coast and even inland, 2017 was not a migrant year in our part of Nottinghamshire.

In Spring, Valerian once again attracted Hummingbird Hawk-moths to our garden on 30/05/17 and 01/06/17, then attracted four more passing through between 05/09/17 and 20/09/17. Six for the year was good and meant that over the years, we have now recorded approximately 150 Hummingbird Hawk-moths in Nottinghamshire. We did expect more records to come during the Autumn and did spend an enormous amount of time waiting for them. The only other migrant moth of 2017, was the Dark Sword-grass that was attracted to MV light on September 25th.

A Grey Shoulder-knot was found on the wall of the Alders Public House at Sherwood Heath SSSI on October 7th, after being attracted to an outside light during the previous night. Its not a moth we have recorded much in the past few years and one has yet to be attracted to our garden trap and is one for us to look out for.

Always nice to find, single Red Underwings were recorded on the exterior walls of a Fish and Chip shop on High Hoe Road, Worksop on 27/07/17 and on the walls of nearby Worksop Priory the following day. Red Underwings rarely come to light in our experience, so one to MV light in our own Market Warsop garden on 20/08/17, was very welcome.

By far our best evening's trapping was our visit to Gamston Wood on July 17th. Its the only night we trapped away from the garden and we 394 moths of 93 species in 2.5 hours.

Three Currant Clearwing were sunning themselves early morning, at a site on Manor Road in Mansfield Woodhouse on June 14th. We recorded them at the same site last year, but the Blackcurrant bushes they frequented were later removed when the garden was redesigned. Another was recorded again from Mapperley, Nottingham on June 24th. The Six-belted Clearwing continues to increase its range in Nottinghamshire, when we swept one from Bird's-foot Trefoil at the former Bilsthorpe Colliery on July 27th.

The years following the discovery saw a continued, dramatic rise in the levels of C. ohridella infestation throughout Nottinghamshire. Even self-sown saplings and isolated roadside trees several miles from other Horse Chestnuts are affected.

By late July, many trees show some sign of defoliation to their lower branches and a trip to see the Bee-eaters at East Leake in June, enabled us to map the increase in the moth's range across the more southerly parts of Nottinghamshire.

In early July, we paid a brief visit to Colwick CP and soon found the mines of Stigmella trimaculella and Phyllocnistis unipunctella on Lambardy Poplar growing near the Fishing Lodge. A short visit to Ransom Wood at Mansfield in August, also showed the value of having a wider interest in our smaller lepidoptera. A short period of time spent searching for leaf mines, provided new 'dots on the maps' for a host of moths including Stigmella lapponica and S samiatella, Coptotriche marginea, Caloptilia robustella, Acrocercops brongniardella, Parornix anglicella, Phyllonorycter sorbi, P. corylifoliella and P. ulmifoliella.