NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Last night the garden MV was switched on for the first time this year. In previous winters I have run it throughout January and February, accepting each blank as something to endure in my quest to record those few species that do fly when the nights are long and cold. As the years have rolled by my enthusiasm for these nil returns has faded somewhat. However, it was mild enough overnight to expect something in the trap, and so it proved to be, with two Pale Brindled Beauties (above) and a Light-brown Apple Moth - both species to be expected but welcome all the same. While photographing the moths this morning in gloriously mild and sunny weather, the Stinking Hellebores were attracting a few insects to their flowers, with Buff-tailed Bumblebees ( Bombus terrestri s, below) and Western Honey Bees ( Apis mellifera ) being the most numerous. By early afternoon I was surprised not to have seen a butterfly. I am assuming that the top images are of a worker, with the bottom ima...

There is something about my back garden that means that there will be a lack of moths until March. I have, in the past, used the MV successfully during the months of January and February, trapped the usual suspects (Small Brindled Beauty, Brindled Beauty, Chestnut, Early Moth, Dotted Border, etc), but... it is by no means a done deal that anything will come to the light at Gale Towers. So far this year I have trapped on three nights, admittedly with poor maximum temperatures (3-4 degrees) and have amassed the grand total of ZERO moths - not even a Light Brown Apple Moth. Meanwhile there are other local lepidopterists happily trapping away and getting results. It's got to the point where I'm switching my bulbs over just in case something is wrong with them! I have noticed that during the winter it is easier to trap larger numbers of moths, and of a wider range of species, out in the countryside, preferably in woodland. The suburbs just doesn't cut it. My fellow Surrey mo...