I wonder if anyone can help. I found this micro indoors on 22nd Jan. The nearest match I have found is a Brown-dotted Clothes Moth - 237 Niditinea fuscella. Could any-one confirm this? It is way outside its quoted flight period though there appears to be one Somerset record for January.
Also it is listed as rare and very local so I would like confirmation. I still have the moth.

The scale is in millimeters

Hi everyone

NORTHUMBERLAND MOTH GROUP
Tom Tams of the Northumberland Moth Group has asked me to add a link to their website - I have now done this (see 'Links' page).

MOTHING IN LANGPORT I have put the trap out each Friday night as part of the Winter Garden Moth Scheme survey, but with no success. There was a single Agonopterix alstromeriana and a Winter Moth on the kitchen window last week, and a Ruby Tiger larva on the house wall on Wednesday morning.

Quiet here in Weston with the only productive date being the 9th January when a Silver Y, Acleris schalleriana, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla and Epiphyas postvittana caught. The only other capture was Mompha subbistrigella found in the house. A few larvae have been spotted around the moth trap, the first being Lesser Yellow Underwing which died during a cold snap. Two found yesterday still need to be identified.

Tried again, with MV & Actinic traps, as there was a new moon and fairly mild conditions (although there was some rain in the night) - the result ?  Not a thing, as before. Where are the Early Moths and the other early moths ? Ho hum.

Seeing Ian's & James's comments, I thought I'd do a bit of investigation into my own records for this species, looking at the two broods to see if there was a pattern. I think there may be, but it will need someone else to confirm my ideas. I started trapping here in East Lydford in August 2005, so 1st brood figures are not available for that year, but there were 26 records totalling 40 individuals up to the end of August.  The following figures show some interesting aspects.

2006 1st brood 19 records 57 individuals 2nd brood 32 records 128 individuals (hot dry Summer) 2007 1st brood 10 records 19 individuals 2nd brood 6 records 8 individuals (cool wet Summer) 2008 1st brood 11 records 30 individuals 2nd brood 12 records 40 individuals (average Summer) 2009 1st brood 17 records 58 individuals 2nd brood 11 records 50 individuals (cool Summer) 2010 1st brood 12 records 47 individuals 2nd brood 1 record 2 individuals (cool Summer) 2011 1st brood 5 records 10 individuals 2nd brood 1 record 1 individual (cool Summer)

It seems to me that the succession of cool Summers in recent years has had a cumulative adverse effect on this species. Whether this is merely speculation on my part, and whether other species have experienced the same levels of decline is open to debate. I remember that the cold & wet Summer of 2007 had a disastrous effect on numbers of Lunar Underwings in particular after record numbers the previous year. (From 2/300 per night to barely double figures).  Food for thought.

The only moth seen so far- I fished out of a lake very much alive. A very soggy Polyphemus moth -15cm wing span and surprisingly strong. I kept it until dry enough to fly.

Ian, for comparison here is some data from my garden in Taunton. The format is 2011 count - average 1997-2011 - 2011 as percentage of average. Mostly the trends are the same, though late summer species were more numerous here. I did not notice the Small Square-spot decline at the time but it is very striking at both sites.

Bright-line Brown-eye - 101 - 170 - 60%
Brimstone Moth - 239 - 410 - 58%
Buff Ermine - 115 - 113 - 102%
Common Footman - 367 - 445 - 83%
Common Wainscot - 31 - 68 - 45%
Dark Arches - 964 - 409 - 236%
Flame Shoulder - 272 - 440 - 62%
Heart and Dart - 4182 - 1985 - 211%
Hebrew Character - 389 - 269 - 145%
Large Yellow Underwing - 5906 - 3688 - 160%
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing - 559 - 473 - 118%
Lesser Yellow Underwing - 482 - 372 - 130%
Lunar Underwing - 967 - 443 - 218%
Riband Wave - 235 - 233 - 101%
Setaceous Hebrew Character - 1330 - 1080 - 123%
Shuttle-shaped Dart - 2994 - 801 - 374%
Silver Y - 107 - 189 - 57%
Small Square-spot - 3 - 108 - 3%
Uncertain - 931 - 416 - 224%

After the recent frosts, a mild night forecast, so I thought I would do a spot of trapping. Sadly, a nil return on the moth front, merely a couple of flies. Never mind, keep on trying.

This quiet time of year has given me a chance to catch up with last years records. I thought that 2011 was a much better year than my records show and I was surprised therfore that my ranking system put it at only 6th in the 9 years that I have been keeping records here. The start of the year was very good and I feel it ended reasonably well but there was a quiet period between July and early September that stopped it being a very good year. 
My ranking system is based on the abudance of the 20 most abundant moths in the Somerset distribution atlas. There were huge swings in fortunes for some species and I thought the figures may be of interest.

• 2011 Highest catch(year) Lowest catch(year) average catch 2011 % of ave
• • Brimstone 182 260 (2005) 101 (2007) 195 93%
  • Bright-line Brown-eye 111 399 (2003) 88 (2007) 200 56%
  • Buff Ermine 100 143 (2010) 40 (2007) 89 112%
  • Common Footman 219 1001 (2005) 62 (2007) 387 57%
  • Common Rustic 790 923 (2006) 140 (2007) 569 139%
  • Common Wainscot 112 913 (2003) 426 (2006) 646 17%
  • Dark Arches 1079 832 (2003) 142 (2007) 501 215%
  • Flame Shoulder 193 1673 (2008) 230 (2005) 717 27%
  • Hebrew Character 518 456 (2010) 133 (2008) 228 227%
  • Heart and Dart 3276 1703 (2004) 334 (2008) 1271 258%
  • Large Yellow U.W.  895 2175(2005) 880(2006) 1301 69%
  • Lesser BBY U.W.  121 311(2004) 26(2007) 140 86%
  • Lesser Yellow U.W.  60 178 (2004) 50 (2007) 119 50%
  • Lunar underwing 141 562 (2005) 34 (2008) 236 60%
  • Riband Wave 149 244 (2006) 41 (2007) 145 103%
  • Setacious H. Character 1009 4368 (2010) 800 (2007) 2305 44%
  • Shuttle Shaped Dart 158 216 (2010) 44 (2005) 135 117%
  • Silver Y 42 330 (2003) 40 (2007) 130 32%
  • Small Square Spot 6 273 (2009) 30 (2007) 95 6%
  • Uncertain 348 250 (2004) 31 (2008) 115 303%

Having spent ages typing them into neat readable columns I apologise for the unreadable way that they have been transfered onto the page.  The Figures following the species are my 2011 catch total, my best years total, my worst years total. my average count between 2003 and 2010 followed by my 2011 figure as a percentage of the average.

Zoe Randle of Butterfly Conservation sends me BC's e-moth newsletter - the electronic update of the Moths Count project and National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS) - as a .pdf (Acrobat) file.

If anyone would like a copy please email me and I'll send one.

john.bebbingtonfrps@btinternet.com

Driving back from Bruton just after dark, there were lots of moths in the headlights, so I thought there might be a chance of catching some in my traps. Sadly, only one Hebrew Character was all there was, not even a Winter Moth on the wall !! This is by about 6 weeks the earliest H.C. I've ever recorded, so the mild weather continues to affect the species around. Just a pity they don't come here when I want them.

A full moon, but otherwise I thought suitable for trapping, now that the fierce winds of the last few days have abated, but there was only one solitary Winter Moth sitting on the wall, and none inside the traps. Seems to be par for the course at the moment. I did however have a very dead Agonopterix arenella in the kitchen on Jan.3rd,which was my first record of the year (spotted by a sharp-eyed grandson, I have to say). As they do fly through the Winter, I assume it hadn't been dead for very long.

Whitefield, Wiveliscombe - Min Temp 4 degrees

One December moth. It always amuses me in the New Year when Mapmate, clearly correctly, points out that "Date seems early for this taxon"

One solitary December Moth between two traps, and none on the walls this time. Let's hope 2012 starts better than 2011 ended.

Happy New year to everyone.