Male Early Moth on the door of one of the buildings at the University of Bath today - probably attracted to the overnight lights.

One Light Brown Apple Moth emerged in the house this morning - the larva had been feeding on Pelargonium on the bedroom windowsill.

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe - Min temp 2 degrees

Nothing in the trap for GMS night but one Winter Moth at an actinic light in a window.

GMS 22/1/10

One winter Moth outside the trap last night - blustery NW wind and min temp 2˚C

Just to remind everyone about the Butterfly Conservation work parties that are coming up in the next few weeks. There is a meeting at Collard Hill on Saturday January 30th, to improve the habitat of the Large Blue butterfly. Of perhaps more interest to the mothing fraternity is the work party at Shapwick on Sunday February 7th which will be to clear new areas and improve habitat for the Argent and Sable moth. This species is continuing to breed successfully at Shapwick despite being in decline at other English sites. It would be great to see a few moth group members turning up to this work party. Please contact Bernadette Noake if you are attending this event. 01929 406004

Argent and Sable larva

Kara Wadham, the organiser, has asked me to publicise Bugfest 5 which will take place at Bucklers Mead Sports Centre, Yeovil, on Saturday 20th February. Opening times: 11.30am - 3.30pm. Admission: adults £2 (16yrs +) children £1 (4 yrs +). Children in fancy dress: free entry.

One of the female December Moths laid dozens of eggs - it will be interesting to try to document the eggs hatching and the larvae developing!

Female December Moth Poecilocampa populi

Eggs of December Moth Poecilocampa populi

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe - Min Temp 3 degrees

First night of the year on which it has been sensible to put the trap out and we had fifteen December Moths including two pairs in cop. We also had two Winter Moths and one further December Moth at a lighted window.

GMS 16 January
Nothing to compare with Ian's catch - our garden was a bit windswept with lashing rain at times but there were 3 December Moth in the trap this morning - all females, plus a Winter Moth which I found this afternoon.

Last night was numerically my best ever January night with 9 December Moths, 4 Winter Moths and a Mottled Umber in the trap.

Sunday 7 February 2010 : 11.00 to 16:00

One day BENHS joint meeting with Bristol Museum.

Organiser: Ray Barnett, Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives Service, Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 1RL. The topic will be Lepidoptera in the Bristol area.

I'll add details of the day as soon as I know more.

My first moth of the year this morning was a very small and tatty December Moth.

I have just put my trap out for the first time since 7/12/09. All the snow has gone here and it promises to stay a few degrees above freezing. My enthusiasm has been reignited by two recent events. The first was reading a novel by Poppy Adams called "The behaviour of Moths." It is set a few miles from here in North West Dorset and the central character is an odd female moth collector. There are a number of mothing errors that only sad people like ourselves would pick up on but it is a novel that I would highly recommend despite the search for the elusive Norwegian Dogtail moth!
The second event was a night spent entering my 2009 records onto my card index. Looking at the numbers and different species I caught last year confirms the impression I received at the time that it was a decent year. A number of moths are still in the doldrums here but most have easily recovered from the poor previous two years. All the common species that I had taken yearly up until 2007 were found again and the only species that I failed to see last year that I have taken annually since 2003 was Large Nutmeg.
In an attempt to easily compare years in my garden I have devised my own statistical method of ranking the year. It basically compares the total numbers caught of the 20 most numerous Somerset moths according to the 2000 Atlas and multiplies that number by the number of different macro species caught that year. For anybody interested the results are as follows in my garden for the 7 years from 2003.

• 1st 2004 with a score of 122
• 2nd 2006 ....117
• 3rd 2005......109
• 4th 2009......108
• 5th 2003......100
• 6th 2008......83
• 7th 2007......48

GMS 1st January yielded nothing. However, this morning, I noticed a Tortricid on the bedroom windowsill and an empty pupal case sticking out of spun Pelargonium leaves. A look through Manley ID'd it as 985 Cacoecimorpha pronubana and James McGill kindly confirmed this. A new species for Quantock View - not at all welcome! I now have to inspect all the house plants.



985 Cacoecimorpha pronubana (Carnation Tortrix) female

I'll post this blog at the beginning of each month

Mike Ridge has organised the following moth nights, open to the public, for 2010. All meetings are on Friday evenings except 29th May and 3rd July (both Saturdays). Click on the grid reference to see a map/aerial photograph of the area.

May 7th Cothelstone Hill ST185366 19.30 Meet at car park
May 14th Henlade Wood ST272225 20.00 Off minor road east of Stoke St Mary
May 21st Berrow ST293524 20.00 Meet at Berrow Church
May 28th Adcombe Wood ST222178 20.00 Off minor road Corfe-Feltham at Adcombe Hill
May 29th (Saturday) Shapwick Heath ST423411 20.00 Meet at bridge
June 4th Staple Common ST266158 20.30 Approx. 2 miles south of Staple Fitzpaine. Meet at gate
June 18th Haddon Hill SS979285 20.30 Meet at car parking area near entrance gate opposite Britannia Shield Wood
June 25th Shervage Wood/Woodland Hill ST165403 20.30 Meet at car park at Shervage Wood
July 3rd (Saturday) Langport Ranges ST425306 20.30 Meet at Ham Cemetery
July 9th Shapwick Heath ST423411 20.30 Meet at bridge
July 16th Beacon Hill Wood ST639459 20.00 North-east of Shepton Mallet, off old Frome Road
July 23rd Dead Woman’s Ditch ST162382 20.00 Off minor road west of Over Stowey
July 30th Swell Wood ST361239 20.00 Car park north of A378 between Fivehead & Curry Rivel
August 13th Ham Wall ST444398 19.30 Meet at car park near Railway Inn, Ashcott Corner
August 20th Hurlstone Point/Bossington SS897480 19.30 Meet at NT car park at Bossington
August 27th Steart ST275459 19.00 Meet at car park near Dowells Farm
September 3rd Berrow ST293524 20.00 Meet at Berrow Church
September 10th Ham Hill Country Park ST468169 18.30 Meet at car park south of Stoke-sub-Hamdon
September 24th Wimbleball/Hurstcombe SS974308 18.00 Meet at car park at Bessom Bridge
October 1st Wessex Water land ST252163 17.30 Meet at Mount Fancy Farm, end of minor road near Burford
October 8th Hurlstone Point SS89748017.30 Meet at NT car park at Bossington

Note: further meetings will be arranged during the year, but not all will be public events.
Please contact the organiser, Mike Ridge, beforehand on 01278 450793 if there is any uncertainty about the weather.