First up, I've had details through for two of the colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls in the last post (no news so far on the Polish bird). VH85 was the most interesting as it is a new individual for Leicestershire. It was ringed as a pullus on 05/06/2010 at Hirsholm near to Frederikshavn in Denmark (same place and ringer as Red V028 I posted about last week). It was recorded at Knott End-on-Sea near to Fleetwood, Lancashire on 09/02/2011, and then no further reports until mine. JAN4 from Norway is not quite so enigmatic, as it has now been reported from Watermead Park by six different recorders. It was ringed as an adult male at Grünerbrua on the outskirts of Oslo in Norway on 20/04/2010, recorded at Watermead Park on 10/12/2010, back in Norway at two different sites near to Oslo on 15/04/2011 and 20/09/2011, and then back at Watermead Park on 01/11/2011 and 10/11/2011, and then again on 7 dates between 04/02/2012 to my sighting on 09/03/2012. It is 1086km as the gull flies between the ringing site and Watermead Park ...
Garden mothing with the Synergetic/CFL trap on Thursday was pants - just 2 of 2sp:
08/03/2012
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 1
1497 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 1
Friday night was better, with both the Synergetic and MV traps running and the first spring noctuid species at last, but still a bit rubbish with 22 of 6sp. although a late Early Moth was a bonus.
09/03/2012
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 2
1497 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 2
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 4
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 1
1960 Early Moth (Theria primaria) 1 (NFY)
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 12 (NFY)
Agonopterix heracliana
Amblyptilia acanthadactyla
Common Quaker
Early Moth
No garden mothing last night. I decided that with so few moths coming to me, I was going to go to them in big style. I planned to take six traps and a sheet kit all the way over to Pickworth Great Wood where I was sure there would be some moths. Adrian was keen, and joined me with another couple of traps after he'd also left two running at nearby Lady Wood. I knew when I had arrived, as the in-built twatnav in the car showed me stuck in a big roadless green patch ...
Pickworth has got brilliant access all through the wood, though some rides can be a bit damp and the main gate to get in is a right pain in the arse. For this early season session I opted to run at the eastern side of the wood which meant I didn't have to open the gate. I set up three traps along the main ride first and got them going, then another three along a parallel ride and the sheet at a turning point along the entrance track. When Adrian turned up he ran two traps further along the eastern ride from the sheet. This ride and the entrance track are pretty much the boundary with Lincs (Holywell Wood is in Lincs).
Red dot is 125W MV over sheet, orange dots are 125W MV traps, green dot is Synergetic trap,
cyan dot is an actinic combo trap
A good sight, lights = working gennie and traps
This sight wasn't quite so good initially - the nearest MV trap seems to have a dodgy choke wire ....
Moths on the sheet early on - a very small fraction of what we recorded
Plenty of bits to photograph, and it will be a substantial list for an early season session - I reckon there will be close to 2000 Small Quakers alone ......
2 comments:
Interesting process for studying moths. I just learned something new again:) And it makes sense...just didn't know how it was done.
Yes, light trapping is the most widely used method of attracting and recording moths these days. There are quite a few different sorts of traps and light sources that can be used.
See the 'Moth Traps' label over on the right hand column for older posts with pictures of traps and lights.
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