Back garden MV


Living in suburbia and running an MV trap do not make good bedfellows. There is a lot of extra light pollution to contend with (which may reduce the effectiveness of the MV) but the main problem is that of running such a bright light in the vicinity of other peoples houses. I'm lucky in as much as my immediate neighbours are highly tolerant of my activities. I do try to lessen the impact of the MV however - it is placed behind a garage, up against a wall and is also shielded from other house's windows by a mature ash tree. Although this cuts down the area from which the light can be 'seen' by moths it hasn't stopped this site producing some very good migrants over the years, plus (when moths seemed more plentiful), 500-600 macros in a night. The garden macro list currently stands at 389. Micros are work in progress...

I still get excited when I go to check the trap. At the moment counts are very depressed. This morning, after a cloudy and quite mild night, my high hopes were soon cut down to size. Only two noctuids were present, one being the season's first Heart and Dart, the first of several hundred no doubt.


This morning there was also a Grey Pine Carpet (above), Broken-barred Carpet, Red-green Carpet, 3 Brimstone Moths... I could go on, but not that much further and the quality only falls away from there. So far, this year has been pretty dismal moth wise. I have a few target species that I want to find, away from the safety of the north downs, and some of them fly in June. I'll let you know how I get on.

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