Whilst ringing the church bells for a Holford resident's 100 th birthday today , a Herald flew down and settled on the treble ringers back . We no doubt had disturbed it with our ringing . Everyone was very interested to see it and I especially was pleased to see a moth again !

Another grim week in the garden trap, just expected orthosias, dire compared to last year.

Hugo Brooke reported a Humming-bird Hawk-moth from Sion Hill in Bath on Sunday last, 25th March

Parasitised Large Yellow Underwing larva with Braconid Wasp sp. cocoons found in my recycling bin this morning.

A 3rd instar Garden Tiger larva found while weeding yesterday. In the trap: Small Eggar 1, Oak Beauty 1, Hebrew Character 6.

Whilst out walking the dog this morning I happened to notice at least 229 Luffia ferchaultella actively feeding on lichen on top of a concrete post and adjacent wall. Seemed like quite a good count to me so worthy of note.

Luffia ferchaultella

Luffia ferchaultella

Coleophora laricella case found today at Stockhill, Mendip.

13 moths of 7 species.  FFY were : Yellow Horned (2) ; Shoulder Stripe (1) ; Mottled Grey (1) ; Common Quaker (1) ; Small Quaker (3)

24/3/18 - 41 moths last night, 7 species, including one FFY, an Early Moth, and two FFG Acleris cristana. Otherwise, the usual selection of Orthosias, and March Moths.

22/3/18 - Some rain in the night, so few moths, just 4 Hebrew Characters and 8 Common Quakers, and that's yer lot !!

Sixteen moths of six species - FFY were, Early Thorn, Early Grey and Hebrew Character (all singletons).

20/3/18 - Even though a frost was foreast (and happened) I thought I would try with the traps anyway, and Lo! and Behold!  3 moths - 1 each Hebrew Character and Common Quaker, and a very nice surprise, a FFG Pale PInion.

I fully expect to get a quite few FFGs from now on, as my previous trappng here was only from 2002 to 2005, and the species list is only just over 200 from that period.  Also, I wasn't using an MV trap then either.  Watch this space!!

My December Moth eggs from the end of last year have started to hatch - 3 out this morning. One of them sat still for a few seconds!

December Moth (Poecilocampa populi) newly hatched larva

Tim Howard took a very worn micro at Kestrels Rise on 17th August last year. Paul Wilkins, after exhaustive work, has completed a gen det and the moth turms out to be 35.129 (BF828) Caryocolum viscariella (Gelechiidae). Steve Palmer who runs the Gelechiid recording scheme has kindly allowed me to use one of his images.

Caryocolum viscariella ©Steve Palmer
There are only 5 previous Somerset records and the most recent was 2002! The foodplant is Red Campion which is found throughout Somerset There is more info and larval photos on the UK Moths website - http://ukmoths.org.uk/species/caryocolum-viscariella/ and on the Gelechiid recording scheme website at http://gelechiid.co.uk/species/caryocolum-viscariella#tabs-0-accordion-1. Thanks to Paul and Steve for ID and image.

16/3/18.  A decent catch last night, 48 moths, but only 6 species.  22 Hebrew Characters, 13 March Moths, 6 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs (FFY) and 1 each Dotted Border and Small Quaker.  Given the forecast for the next few nights, I won't bother to put the traps out, as I imagine the moths (if they've got any sense at all) won't be out and about anyway.

Last night 4 Oak Beauty , 2 Hebrew Character , 2 Satellite , 4 Small Quaker , and one FFY a Yellow Horned .

13/3/18 - At last,some moths, but not a lot.  11 altogether, 5 Hebrew Characters, 3 March Moths, and singletons of Dotted Border, and Common & Small Quaker.  It's a start.

Last night was my 10th trapping of the year. The previous nine had trapped a total of only 36 moths so it was a pleasant surprise to find a grand total of 45 in the trap this morning. Species were limited but I'm not complaining. The totals were 27 Common Quaker, 15 Hebrew Character, 2 Clouded Drab and a Grey Shoulder Knot.

Only 5 moths last night . 2 Oak Beauty and 3 Satellite .

Saturday night ( 10th )saw 10 moths 2 Small Quaker FFY , 5 Satellite , 1 Oak Beauty , 1 March Moth and 1 Pale Brindled Beauty . Last night 22 moths 1 Pale Brindled Beauty ,10 Satellite , 4 Oak Beauty , 3 Chestnut , 2 March Moth ,1 Hebrew Character and 1 Dotted Border .

First time for a few weeks with the trap - just 5 moths. Oak Beauty 2, Hebrew Character 2, Common Quaker 1.

Plus an Oak Beauty on a lighted window at Strode Theatre this afternoon.

I'm glad to see there was some success last night. My first session of the year ended up with no moths in the trap and a White-shouldered House Moth on the back door! I don't think I've ever done so badly. A mix of clear and misty skies and a cool wind perhaps accounted for the abyssmal results.

My first session for a month resulted in a surprising 41 moths. Nothing spectacular but a record 17 March Moths and 6 Oak Beauty plus my first Pale Brindled Beauty for three years. Other moths were - Common Quaker (8), Small Quaker (2), Chestnut (5), A. heracliana and a Coleophora ssp.

A chilly night but the snow has all gone (just).  14 moths of 4 species.  March Moth (6) ; Oak Beauty (2) ; Chestnut (5) ; Hebrew Character (1).

First outing for ages, and moths at last, 27 in total, 10 Hebrew Ch. 6 Common Quaker, 2 each of Small and Red-line Quaker, 2 Oak Beauty, 1 each of Clouded Drab, Dotted Chestnut, March Moth and Grey Shoulder-knot and an Anon.alstromeriana

Apologies for the very late posting of my only moth trappings during February. 18th - Pale Brindled Beauty 2, Chestnut 1, Satellite 1, Hebrew Character 1 and Agonopterix heracliana / ciliella. 19th - Similar to the previous night but with the addition of Early Moth 1, Dotted Border 1,Chestnut 3, Acleris ferrugana / notana and Acleris cristana. Very welcome to at least make a start on seeing a few moths this year!!

7/3/18 - well, I tried !  Having finally got an outside power supply for the MV, and a new battery for the Actinic, and the foreast didn't look too awful, (especially after last week's shenanigans) I put the traps out.  Result? Zero.  Oh well, try again in a couple of days' time.  Nice to be back on track anyway.