2012 highlights

Not a brilliant year but a few highlights nonetheless; some just because they're handsome beasts - Speckled Yellow, Mother Shipton, Ruddy Carpet; some new to the garden - Waved Black, Four-dotted Footman; plus a few of the (many) great moths from my trip to SW France - Passenger, Frosted Yellow, Purple Cloud, Orache Moth, Dewick's Plusia.

In the 70's

Not  a reference to the decade that fashion forgot but to a run of three consecutive nights with over 70 species to the garden trap.

What fascinates me too about this is that it is far from the same 70+ species each night, of course there's a core of about 50 or so 'usual suspects' - Heart and Dart, Dark Arches, Common Footman, Chrysoteuchia culmella etc etc - but there is great variation on top of this.

The beauty of MapMate is that I can readily tell what has been going on and quick analysis shows that for these three species-rich, Halcyon days there have been a total of 138 species in the garden which has of course helped to push the garden year list on very nicely to 264 species (all stages).

Highlights of late include:

Festoon
 

 Four-dotted Footman (new to the garden)

Sciota adelphella (also new to the garden)

 Ruddy Carpet


Ethmia terminella (a lifer)


Dave