Oct

October Moths – This Weeks Moth Trapping

Alan on October 10th, 2009

3rd October 2009

Our second night of Moth Trapping. It started out really windy so I lashed the trap to a breeze-block to stop it from blowing away. Not ideal mothing conditions, and that was further compounded by a full moon. The wind was forecast to ease overnight though so I was still hoping for a catch.

I the end, the wind did gradually ease from around 25 knots NW to 5-10 knots. The temperature in the garden remained pretty steady and mild at 12ºC and there was no rain.

And in the morning we had six moths:

3 x Lunar Underwing
2 x Black Rustic
1 x Square Spot Rustic *

5th October 2009

It looked like a lovely evening, full moon, some clouds and barely any wind, but a little cool at around 10ºC and with rain forecast for later. We therefore put the trap out at dusk, but I retrieved it at around 10pm before the rain came. I’m glad I did as it started pouring down at around 2am and by 6am we had already had 11 mm of rain!

Still, there were a few moths in the trap despite the short time that the trap was out.

2x Common Marbled Carpet *
1x Lunar Underwing
1x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Blair’s Shoulder Knot *
1x Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple Moth)

7th October 2009

A cold night with temperatures down to 2.1ºC, but light winds and no rain.

5x Lunar Underwing

9th October 2009

A very mild night with temperatures only dropping to 13.7ºC. Quite wet to start with but it cleared later and winds were relatively light, with a maximum gust of 17.2 knots. Perfect for moth-trapping!