From the edge of the Long Mynd

I am a relative newcomer to moth trapping. I have always had some interest, but had never got round to getting my own trap. Then one morning last July I found a Drinker resting in my porch (moth, obviously) and was just blown away by having such an incredible insect in my garden. I promptly got my first moth trap, a 20w actinic heath from Paul Batty, and have very quickly become completely moth obsessed!

The Drinker

I trap in my garden in a village on the edge of the Long Mynd in Shropshire and have now recorded over 100 species since I started in August. Despite the poor conditions I have managed to record 26 moth species this year. I try to trap two or three times a week if the weather is willing, though I think I may have to try some other search tactics to try to boost my totals!

Small Quaker

Along with a friend in the next village, I run a local mothing blog http://strettonmoths.blogspot.co.uk/ (he is far more of an expert than me and catches far more moths!). We also run a moth survey group for our local area trapping in peoples gardens to encourage more people to start moth recording themselves. Despite having access to several gardens, my totals for this will just be for my own!

Good luck all. I suspect I will finish towards the lower end of the table, but looking forward to seeing what others are catching. If you like you can follow me on twitter @mike_shurmer