Thursday 7 March 2024

February brought a milder spell of weather so by the end of the month the garden moth list had reached 14, mostly consisting of the usual suspects but Tawny Pinion was only my 2nd record. There were also 2 examples of Acleris cristana and one of Acleris ferrugana/notana. I also went on a trip to South Africa during the month and pictures, mostly from the Kruger National Park, can be found on my Flickr site. 

Tawny Pinion

 
Acleris cristana
 
Acleris ferrugana/notana
 
Leopards-Kruger National Park


Monday 19 February 2024

I seem to have missed my end of month posting for January, probably because I recorded only 1 moth in the whole month: a Light brown Apple Moth. On the plus side 3 species of Owl were seen.

Long-eared Owl

 
Short-eared Owl

Barn Owl


Saturday 6 January 2024

We've reached the end of another year with 367 species of Moth recorded in the garden, which is 37 fewer than the previous year. However, there were 15 species new for the Garden List bringing it to 745. Blue-bordered Carpet was my favourite of these. Interesting birds seen in December were Great Northern and Black-throated Divers at Dungeness, Whooper and Bewick's Swans on Walland Marsh and a single Waxwing at Graveney. 

 Waxwing


Wild Swans

Black-throated Diver

Great Northern Diver

Blue-bordered Carpet



Saturday 2 December 2023

November proved to be a difficult month for moth trapping with just 4 species being added to the year list which now stands at 367, with December Moth and Acleris umbrana being new for the year. Interesting birds seen in November include the Solitary Sandpiper at Stodmarsh and a Purple Sandpiper at Swalecliffe.

Acleris umbrana

 
December Moth
 
Solitary Sandpiper
 
Purple Sandpiper


Thursday 2 November 2023

At the end of October the garden moth list stood at 363. However, all the additions to the list were added in the first half of the month. Since then the weather has intervened and numbers have plummeted in the second half. Regular Autumn favourites in October included The Satellite, The Brick, The Sallow and Beaded Chestnut.

 The Satellite

 

The Sallow

The Brick

Beaded Chestnut


 

Sunday 1 October 2023


Another month gone and the garden moth list for the year stands at 349 which is 31 fewer than at the same time last year. Interesting species recorded in September included a male Four-spotted Footman which was completely new for me, 2 Convolvulus Hawk-moths, 2 Merveille du Jour, 2 Brindled Green and a Scarce Bordered Straw. 

Four-spotted Footman

                                                    

Convolvulus Hawk-moth

Merveille du Jour

Brindled Green

Scarce Bordered Straw


 

 







 

Saturday 2 September 2023

We've arrived at the end of August and the moth year total is well behind last year's at the same time. However there were still 3 new species for the garden recorded during the month: Anania lancealis, Nemapogon clematella, and Choreutis nemorana. Elsewhere it was nice to see male and female Long-winged Coneheads on the Dungeness RSPB Reserve in August. 

Anania lancealis

 
Nemapogon clematella
 
Choreutis nemorana
 
Long-winged Conehead (f)
 
Long-winged Conehead (m)