NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Living in the south-east of the UK does have its compensations, none more so than being in a geographical hot-spot for the welcoming of colonising species of moth, whether they be from the continent or breaking away from a previous coastal distribution. Global warming might be a convenient reason behind such movements, but it is most probably more compilcated than that. The species outlined below would have all been the subject of pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking when I first switched on the Banstead moth trap back in 1987... Small Ranunculus (below) This species used to be a resident in the south-east of England until the early part of the 20th century, when it suddenly disappeared. It was then rediscovered along the Thames Estuary in the 1990s, slowly spreading eastwards and reaching the garden on August 5 2004. It is almost annual here now, but no more than 2-3 are recorded in a single year. Toadflax Brocade (below) I used to see this species at Dungeness when it was cons...

Green-brindled Crescent. This one lacked the 'green' sheen. The beauty of running an inland MV trap, at times of migrant activity, is that you are just as likely to trap a few good moths as a worker would at a coastal site. The MV trap by the sea might get higher numbers and more species, but us 'inlanders' need not be totally gripped. The current wave of good moths that have been recorded along the south coast has found its way into Surrey and the London area, with Vestals, Four-spotted Footmen, Scarce Bordered Straws and Palpita vitrealis all being recorded. It's the birding equivalent of getting back garden Wrynecks and Yellow-browed Warblers! So far this week I have managed a Vestal, a Dark-sword Grass and a noctuella - my expectations for tonight are thus heightened. Sometimes 'inland' can top trump the coast. Back in June 1996 I was staggered to find SIX Bordered Straws in the garden trap, a migrant species that I had not recorded before unt...

The MV welcomed the second new macro moth species of 2013 onto the garden list - a White-point (above). I hadn't really been expecting one to come along, but really should have done. The most up-to-date distribution maps shows a plethora of dots all around me - if you live south of a line from The Wash to the Bristol Channel then you're in with a shout. The second garden 'first' was also a pan-species tick - an Oak Bush-cricket. Admittedly they are common, and I have most probably seen this species many times before, but this is the first time that I've bothered to put a name to it.