Three nights ago I put out a moth trap at home and caught 60 moths of 14 species including a male Brindled Beauty and three Grey Birch. The former appears to be only the third record for the vice-county. Only the males come to light and do so very late in the night, so if you take in your moth trap before going to bed you will probably never see one.
I initially thought that the Grey Birch were also new to my home list, but I felt I had seen one before and so looked back at images from earlier times and found that I had misidentified one in early May last year.
Buoyed up by these results, last night I put out a trap at Loch Eadar da Bhaile, about 6 km north of home and in a different 10 km square of the British National Grid. I caught 89 moths of just seven species, the only slightly less common one being a single Water Carpet.
Tags: Moths
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles 
April 21, 2023 at 11:11 pm |
Great stuff buddy! I’ve just restarted light trapping this month after a long break from it. Male Brindled Beauty trapped here in Cornwall too. Best night so far was 67 of 20 species earlier this week, much on a par with you. So far…
April 23, 2023 at 10:03 am |
Thanks, Seth. I suspect you will get a greater variety in your new abode!