Up until a couple of days ago it's been very slow here in my central Oxford garden to say the least. My year list total was languishing on a lowly 7 species and when I did manage to catch anything in the trap it was always variations on the basic four spring moths of Early Grey, Common Quaker, Clouded Drab and Hebrew Character. Suddenly however on Saturday as the warm weather finally reappeared it all kicked off. I went from a year list best catch total of just 7 moths all the way up to the dizzying heights of 22 and then last night 27 moths. Not great compared to some of the magnificent catches reported here but for an urban garden with a current garden list total of around 250 it's not at all bad for this time of year.
The big change was the sudden appearance of Double-striped Pugs and I finally started to get some micros in the form of Common and Beautiful Plume as well as a White-shouldered House Moth. The highlight however has been a couple of new garden ticks with a (rather battered) Herald and a Small Quaker both finally making it on to my paltry garden list.
Brindled Pug from a couple of weeks ago was another NFG moth
The suddenly ubiquitous Double-striped Pug
Early Thorn
A battered Herald (NFG)
A worn Small Quaker (also NFG)
As this is my first posting this year I'll treat you to my entire year list in all it's glory. My target for the year is to beat 250. Looking back to last year's notes I realise that I'm already ahead of last year when because of the poor early spring weather I didn't even start putting the trap out until a couple of weeks from now.
01/01/2014 Clothes Moth
18/03/2014 Clouded Drab
18/03/2014 Hebrew Character
18/03/2014 Brindled Pug
19/03/2014 Common Quaker
19/03/2014 Early Grey
29/03/2014 Scarlet Tiger Moth (larva)
30/03/2014 Double-striped Pug
30/03/2014 Common Plume
30/03/2014 White-shouldered House Moth
30/03/2014 Beautiful Plume
31/03/2014 Early Thorn
31/03/2014 Herald
31/03/2014 Small Quaker
Butterflies:
Brimstone
Peacock
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