24/1/19 - Hooray, a moth !!  One solitary FFG Dark Chestnut in the Actinic trap last night.  Curious that such a common species hasn't turned up here before, but we get there in the end.

I found a Pale Brindled Beauty on the garage wall yesterday - over a month earlier than my previous first sighting for this species.

14/1/19 - Yet another Nil Return.  It wasn't all that cold last night, and hardly any wind, so why did they all stay home?  No idea !

6.55 pm - my first moth of the year (at last) A Depressaria daucella fluttering around the indoor porch light.  Makes a change from Winter Moths.

Last weekend I collected some tenanted Alder catkins at Longrun Meadow. With a bit of luck I'll be able to rear them through; pupation should be in March with the adults emerging in April.

10/1/19 - well, Tim, that's 3 more moths than I got last night.  Yet another Nil Return here.

First time trapping this year brought one Winter Moth and two Chestnut. Hardly worth the effort.

At bellringing last night we spotted a caterpillar / larva on the curtain . I couldn't begin to guess which species it is . Can anyone help ? No moths seen here in my garden in Holford yet this year .

A Common Plume and Ectodemia heringella mines at Thurlbear today - as far as I am aware this is the only known VC5 site for the latter. Also mines of Coptotriche marginea and the ubiquitous Stigmella aurella on Bramble.

Common Plume

Ectodemia heringella

Two Winter Moths two Dark Chestnuts and one Chestnut for me.

First trapping of the year produced my first moths of 2019. 2 Winter Moths and 2 Chestnuts. Not a bad start.

First moth of the year (and last of 2018) was a Winter Moth on the house wall overnight.

5/1/19 - still no moths, but then it was pretty cold last night, albeit no actual frost.  Keep trying.

7/1/19 - same again !!

One to watch out for at the moment is the Black-spotted Chestnut, which has turned up for the first time in a couple of south-eastern counties in the last few weeks.  It was in Dorset in 2016 so might just have made its way over the border.

1/1/19 - another nil return last night, sadly starting the year in the same way as ending 2018.

My first moth of 2019 - a rather worn Double-striped Pug found on the side of the house this morning.