We run a mounted MV light on a white ground sheet and stay at the light, so immediately notice as soon as any moth drops in. And if its one of the less regular migrant moths, then it can make the difference between packing up after a couple of hours, or continue trapping for much longer.

We occasionally used to trap with the possibility of migrants in mind and had success when trapping at open, elevated sites in the Eakring area a number of years ago. In 2006, we watched moths coming to the light, across open fields from the south-west on several occasions.

Migrant moths - what species to expect

Apart from Silver Y and Plutella xylostella (Diamond-back Moth), migrant moths inland are relatively uncommon against the background of resident species. Both are annually occurring migrants which reach Nottinghamshire and other inland counties each year. While having these turn up at the light can occasionally be indicative of large-scale migration, more often than not, they are purely the resulting offspring of moths arriving earlier in the year.

Our three commonest migratory micro moths are Plutella xylostella (Diamond-back Moth) Nemophila noctuella (Rush Veneer) and Udea ferrugalis (Rusty Dot Pearl) and usually in that order of frequency. Not all turn up in Nottinghamshire each year and of the three, we have only recorded Udea ferrugalis occasionally, but all three will eventually turn up in most peoples light traps at some time. 

While lepidopteran heavyweights with a big wingspan represent the larger end of the scale, there are many smaller moths that make it to the UK's south coast and occasionally even futher inland. Most are from the families Crambidae and Pyralidae and include a range of attractive species such as Palpita vitrealis, Antigastra catalaunalis, Ostrinia nubilalis (European Corn-borer) and Spoladea recurvalis are typically hoped for species, with all four having been recorded in Nottinghamshire.

Right:- Great Brocade trapped by David Yates at Southwell in August 2010

Silver Y's are very common, expected and largely ignored for most of the time, but paying attention to the number of Silver Y's visting a patch of Valerian in the garden, can show when numbers are peaking and an indicator of when other (potentially much rarer) species are perhaps more likely.

Peaks in numbers are due to either an emergence of fresh moths resulting from arrivals earlier in the Spring, or part of an influx of new migrants reaching the UK.

Good 'migrant years' don't happen very often and are sometimes heralded by the early arrival of common migrants such as the Silver Y. 2013 was relatvely good, but the last big influx of migrants was as long ago now as 2006, when even inland counties had their fair share of the action.

There are three Nottinghamshire records, with the first being found freshly emerged on the skirting board of a Mansfield nursing home and believed to have originated from a larva brought in with a bunch of cut flowers on October 14th 2011 (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.). There have since been records of singles to MV light at Misterton in 2013 (Lee, P.) and Market Warsop  on September 1st 2018 (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.) and Market Warsop again on October 7th 2023 (Pendleton, T.A.).

The first Nottinghamshire records came from Bestwood Village on July 5th 2018 (Tobin, S.) and Ravenshead on July 17th 2018 (McGeever, D. and McGeever, V.). Regarded as a pest species of Box (Buxus sp) and has become increasingly more common in the county.

The last Nottinghamshire records are from East Retford on July 4th 1966 (Shaw, G.) and Lound GP (now the Idle Valley NR) on September 10th 1995 (Hobson, G. and Hobson, P.) although the latter record was not submitted to the county recorder.

Vestals have also turned up at West Bridgford in August 2012 (Freestone, R.), from Rampton (Watkin, C.) Sutton-in-Ashfield (Turton, J.) and Carlton in 2016 (Adcock, A.) and twice at the Idle Valley NR in October 2017 (Cadman, P. and Hunt, I.).

Recent years have seen additional Vestal records, but this moth has not shown any trend towards greater frequency and it is still only occasional here. There are recent records from Sutton-in-Ashfield in 2018, Retford and Sherwood Forest Golf Course in 2019, West Bridgeford in 2021, then South Musham, Keyworth, Misterton, Ravenshead and Wollaton in 2022. Three records to date from 2023, with moths at Stanton-on-the-Wolds, Mansfield and Broadholme.

J.W. Carr lists an undated record from Sherwood Forest by W.J. Sterland, despite lacking trust in many of Sterland's records. Carr felt that Sterland's list contained so many improbable species and records (and to be honest it did) that he thought they must have been collected by Trueman from other parts of the country, or recieved by him from other collectors.

References:- Nottinghamshire macro moth reports for the years 2003 to 2022 (Wright, S).

Influxes of genuine migrants often contain some common species resident in the UK. Large Yellow Underwing, Turnip Moth, Angle Shades and Pale Mottled Willow are four moths often quoted in trap lists from coastal sites as being migrants. Other species such as Scarlet Tiger, have certainly appeared in Nottinghamshire during spells of hot and humid weather.

But there are numerous other moths with resident UK populations, which probably often occur as genuine migrants along the UK south coast. These can sometimes be detected by their appearance at the light trap well out of season, or in some instances habitat.

Determining just what is a genuine migrant can be hindered by occasional or partial second broods later in the year, which certainly happened during August and September 2006, so moth trappers should take this into consideration before they record some resident moths as genuine migrants.

This following list contains all our own migrant moth records since 2004. Scrolling through the listed records, will certainly give an insight into how each year is different for moth migration - either in numbers, or the particular species involved. For all monthly totals in table form, please click on the link below.

Migrant occurrences by month 2000-2023