A morning with Moths

Leaders: Margaret Tomsett & Andy Swan (HNHS members)

In a disappointing summer for weather, we would have been lucky to find a really good night for moths. Light traps were set up in a Killinghurst garden in the evening of a fair day, but during the night the sky cleared and the temperature dropped to around 8oC. When 10 HNHS members gathered in the morning for the reveal of trap contents, there was plenty to see but not the abundance that one would hope for in late June.

The most striking species was the Great Oak Beauty, an impressively-sized moth. At the other end of the scale, there were good numbers of the diminutive Least Black Arches. The pale brown chevron-striped Lackey was the most numerous. One of the most interesting discoveries was a single example of The Delicate, customarily regarded as a cross-channel migrant, but there is a suspicion that earlier examples may have bred in this country.

The total number of species was 31, which compares very unfavourably with the 64 in the previous year.  Click for species list.