Garden Moth Review 2016

The photo above shows a Micro Moth trapped in my garden on 18th July 2016. The species name is Oncocera semirubella and is a Nationally Scarce B moth. This means it has only been recorded in 31-100 10Km squares since 1980, which equates to 3.5% of the land area of Britain.

Overall, 237 individuals were captured of 72 different species, and of these 11 were new for the garden.
The Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana was easily the most common with 59 individuals (up from 3rd place last year). 2nd place went to Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba with 12 individuals (down from 1st place last year). Heart and Dart Agrotis exclamationis dropped out of the top 10 with just 1 individual (2nd place last year).

Since recording began in 2005, the top 3 recorded species are as follows:
1.Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana - 313 Individuals
2.Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba - 202 Individuals
3.Heart and Dart Agrotis exclamationis - 161 Individuals

I have been recording and trapping Moths since 2005 using a 125W Mercury Vapour Light. The first 5 years I used a home made trap which worked reasonably well. Then from 2010 onwards I used a purpose built 'Robinson' trap which increased my catches by quite a considerable amount. However, comparison of the number individuals caught and hence the number of different species is really dependant on the number of times the trap is operated. I usually aim for once a month, but in 2016 I only put it out on 6 occasions. I took a year off in 2017 largely due to health problems, but hope to have a better year in 2018.