Garden Moth Review 2010

A new species for the garden in 2010 was the Pyrausta despicata, which was found in my Moth trap on 20/08/10. This is rather a plain micro moth, but it is unusual in as much as it is normally found on dry calcareous soils, cliffs and downs. Why it should turn up in my garden on clay soil is one of lifes great mysteries.

On with the review. For my 60th birthday on January 1st, my two children, Paul and Jenny gave me a wonderful 125W Robinson moth trap. This replaced my home made ‘Skinner’ type of trap and enabled me to increase my catch quite substantially.
New species recorded for 2010 only increased by 12 giving me a garden life list of 164. The year by year tally is shown below:

2005 Life list = 51.
2006 Life list = 81. New species = 30.
2007 Life list = 104. New species = 23.
2008 Life list = 125. New species = 21.
2009 Life list = 152. New species = 27.
2010 Life list = 164. New species = 12.

The number of species was down slightly at 75, but the number of individuals caught increased quite dramatically to 322. Below is a yearly breakdown of the number of species recorded and the number of individuals:

2005 Species = 51. Individuals = 99.
2006 Species = 50. Individuals = 142.
2007 Species = 53. Individuals = 161.
2008 Species = 68. Individuals = 178.
2009 Species = 79. Individuals = 229.
2010 Species = 75. Individuals = 322.

The list below shows my top 10 most abundant species for 2010 (actually 11 moths).
The biggest surprise is the Small Quaker at No.1 which increased from 8 in 2009 to a staggering 53 in 2010. This is quickly followed by another huge increase at No.3 for the Common Quaker, up from 3 in 2009 to 26 in 2010. I think this is partly due to the Robinson type trap and it will be interesting to see what happens in 2011.

1. Small Quaker Orthosia cruda = 53.
2. Heart & Dart Agrotis exclamationis = 34.
3. Common Quaker Orthosia cerasi = 26.
4. Dark Arches Apamea monoglypha = 15.
=5. Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba = 12.
=5. Shuttle-shaped Dart Agrotis puta = 12.
7. Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana = 11.
8. Vine's Rustic Hoplodrina ambigua = 10.
=9. Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis = 8.
=9. Hebrew Character Orthosia gothica = 8.
=9. Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes = 8.

Overall since I have started mothing in 2005, the Light Brown Apple Moth is the most abundant species found in the garden with a total of 110, followed by the Heart & Dart with 83.

Leaving the garden for a moment, my life list now stands at 227.