September summary

There was only one night's trapping conducted on the 15th.

Although (like most trapping sessions) only lasting for an hour, it was successful in adding two new moths to the species list - the beautifully marked Pink-barred Sallow pictured on the right and a Red-green Carpet.

Numbers of The Snout remained good, these being from the year's second brood. These adults tend to be smaller than those of flying earlier in the Summer. The Light Emerald was also a second brood individual.

August summary

Though trapping only occurred on three nights, some interesting species were recorded.

New species for the area were Least Yellow Underwing trapped at Eakring Flash and Willow Beauty at Lound Wood, but by far the commonest was the Mother of Pearl, which was abundant at most sites visited. At Eakring Flash, most flower spikes of Rosebay Willowherb held one of these moths at dusk, but significant numbers were attracted to light.

Silver Y moths were also extremely common as large numbers moved through the area during the month. This was the only migrant species attracted to light.

There was also a taste of March, with adult Emmelina monodactyla and Agonopteryx heracliana trapped, as they began to emerge once again.

July summary

Trapping occurred on just two nights - both at Eakring Flash. Although numbers and species' variety were down, July did produce some three new species for the area.

The highlight of the month was the area's first Small Elephant Hawk-moth and another Grade 3 listed species. It was netted as it flew around the trap and was also my first sighting of the species away from captivity. Carcina quercana and Dipleurina lacustrata were other area firsts taken.

Small Elephant Hawk-moth

By far the commonest species was the Mother of Pearl, present in large numbers at most sites where Nettles grew in profusion. The Snout quickly became scarce as July continued after providing large counts in June. Crambus pascuella and Common Wainscot also were attracted to the light.

June summary

Huge numbers of moths appeared on the wing during June. A drive along any of the roads here soon showing hundreds along the roadsides. Much of the weather was condusive to good catches, being warm and calm. Main sites used were again both woodlands, but trapping took place along the old hedge at Eakring Flash on a couple of occasions and proved very positive, with a new range of species not found in numbers at the more traditional site of Lound Wood.

Trapping occurred from dusk onwards, which is why few members of the Noctuidae group were taken. A total of 430 moths, of 46 species were caught at light during June. Trapping near large patches of Nettles provided good counts of Silver-ground Carpet, The Snout and Small Magpie.

Light-trapping on each night carried out, proved productive and three new species for the area were caught. These included July Highflyer, Map-winged Swift and LIttle Emerald (The latter species taken at Eakring Flash)

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July Highflyer

Common species caught were again Silver-ground Carpet, The Rivulet and White-shouldered House-moth. As the month progressed, large numbers of The Snout appeared and by the end of June, considerably out-numbered Silver-ground Carpet - as their flight season came to an end.

Udea olivalis was a common Pyralid found at all sites and area numbers of that species are much larger than actual trapping counts suggest.

Of the more spectacular or unusual moths, species like The Drinker, Pale Prominent and Ghost Moth were all recorded. Casual observations seemed to indicate a good year for Ghost Moths, with favoured sites providing gatherings of these white males.

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Map-winged Swift

The area's first Map-winged Swift was attracted to light in Lound Wood and represented another Grade 3 species addition for the area. Regular coverage continues to pay dividends and a huge amount of work remains to be done on recording the moths found here.

May summary

May's counts suffered from a prolonged period of cool often wet weather, meaning that trapping counts were often very low. It was'nt until the last week of the month, that counts (and the numbers of moths on the wing in the area generally) began to increase.

With increasing numbers came some distinctive species, of which the Peach Blossom (below) is a fine example of just how surprisingly beautiful moths can be.

Late May saw the emergence of Small White Wave and Common White Wave. These are superficially similar, but vary a great deal in size. Both though, began to be found in Lound and Hare Hill Woods.

Commonest species attracted to and netted at light were The Rivulet, producing a mothly total well in excess of any other species. Both Silver-ground Carpet and Water Carpet were among several which managed double-figure totals, although the latter species failed to appear after mid-month.

Like the preceding months, trapping usually began at dusk -this probably accounting for the fact that most of the species recorded were members of the Geometridae family, which in general are most active for an hour or two around dusk.

April summary

The month opened with a run of very cold nights with either no moths or very few attracted during hourly early-evening sessions. Towards the end of April, trapping sessions began to become longer as more species were attracted to the light. With a limited number of species on the wing, April's catches were still generally pleasing in terms of variety.

By mid-month, species being caught began to change, as previously regulars to the light-trap came to the end of their flight season. This was particularly noticable in the case of Diurnea fagella and The Satellite. The same few days also saw emergences of Purple Thorn and Water Carpet - this latter moth taking over as the most regularly caught species from Diurnea fagella.

Lound Wood saw most of the light-trapping during April. Three trapping points were used with success far from being gauranteed on consecutive nights at any one and the placement of the light was generally determined by weather conditions, or more especially - wind direction/strength. The commonest site used was just inside the wood's entrance.

A total of 116 moths of 21 species were trapped during April. Diurnea fagella headed the month's catch list purely on the basis of it's commoness during the first half of April.

Lunar Marbled Brown

New species for the area to be attracted to light (rather than being netted) were Brindled Pug, Purple Thorn and Lunar Marbled Brown.

The female Lunar Marbled Brown's capture represents a seventh record of a Grade 3 Nottinghamshire species for the area, proving the value of regular trapping and came on a night which produced eight species in just over an hour.

Coverage during March was more extensive than in previous years and it proved to be an entertaining and surprisingly varied month, with a relative array of recording/capture techniques being used, including checking Sallow flowers by torchlight, portable light-trapping, searching tree trunks and netting. Some nine species out of a total of 18 recorded were new, although no Nottinghamshire "graded" species were among those taken. However, there were some intersting moths including Twin-spotted Quaker, Pale Brindled Beauty and Semioscopis avellanella. The only hoped for species which failed to appear were Early Grey and Oak Beauty.

Much of the trapping was conducted at Lound Wood, both within the centre and just at it's entrance. Sessions lasted for an hour each night, with a variation in times producing different catches. Ealry evening proved slightly disappointing in terms of Noctuid numbers, but probably allowed most species to be recorded. Certainly more species were recorded from the centre of the wood itself and most often in greater numbers. Sessions at Hare Hill Wood proved disappointing in comparison.

New species for the area were not only secured by this method of capture alone.

Traditional roadside netting methods also produced new moths and is a method that possibly still creates a better overall picture of species distribution and population over the whole of an area by both random netting and the visible recognition of species in flight.

Both male and the stunted-winged females of Diurnea fagella were easy to find at rest during the day on the trunks of Oaks. How a species which proved to be almost abundantly common here during March had previously escaped attention is strange. A dusk search of ten Oaks in Lound Wood, proved to have males on six of them!

Digital photography allowed quality images to be taken the following morning of all moths found throughout March, including this Common Quaker (left) taken at light in Lound Wood.