This post is a look back on this year - what's done well, and what hasn't. Let's start with the positives! What's done well this year, well both Heart and Dart and Heart and Club have done fantastically, with 895 Heart and Darts and 325 Heart and Clubs (almost all in my garden), but some other common species haven't done too well. Common species doing badly include the Large Yellow Underwing, with only 114 to date. This is a moth which in 2011 had about 1500 or so in the garden, and in 2012 about 700. Not good for them. Admittedly, August is usually the month to pop numbers up, but things are still pretty low at the moment, as they are will Lesser Yellow Underwing, with only 23 records for the garden this year. Vine's Rustic, with 2 peaks in my area, had a poor start, with only 50 of what is usually hundreds. In 2011, I'd get about that in a night in May! Another poor goer has been the Shuttle-shaped Dart, which, being my favourite moth, I am most upset with. The second generation is just starting up now, so let's hope for a bumper one!
Geometrids have no idea on what to do, with some geometrids doing well, some not. Swallow-tailed Moths are doing pretty decent, best year for them with me, while Scalloped Oaks are doing badly, with about 1/2 the usual numbers for this time of year, despite being fairly similar to the Swallow-tailed. Riband Waves did well this year, with 222 as the year total so far, probably raise a tinsy bit in the coming weeks though. Garden Carpets too are doing well, but there are drops in numbers in Treble Brown Spot and Common Carpet.
Buff-tips, many people's favourite moths, have had a fantastic year this year, with double my usual numbers in the garden. Very pleased with that, though other similar species aren't doing too well. This year, I've only seen 1 Swallow Prominent in the garden, no Iron, Pebble, or Pale Prominents about this year, oh no! Hopefully again, they will pick up again soon.
A rather nice Heart and Dart abb.
Micros now. This is my second year of micros, so I can't say as much as I can about macros, but let's start with my most common micros (usually). Tachystola acroxantha and Light Brown Apple Moth, both species which in 2012 I had about 500 of each in the year - this year, just passed 100 Tachys, and just under 100 for the LBAMs! Some micros have done well though, with Endotricha flammealis in good numbers, better than last year, as well as Anania coronata and Small Magpie. Bryotropha terrella and Blastobasis adustella are both doing pretty miserably this year, and Beautiful Plume and Leek Moth are both doing shockingly!
There has been a few nice additions to the garden on both the micro and macro front, with new macros including Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, True Lover's Knot, Beautiful Hook-tip, and Muslin Footman. New micros for the garden have been a bit more plentiful, with highlights being Callisto denticulella, Piniphila bifasciana, and Grapholita lobarzewskii (What a fantastic name!!).
Some pics now. Some completely irrelevant.
Beautiful Hook-tip - new for garden and 2 in one night! Great moth
Bordered Sallow - 3 so far this year, 2 previous garden records.
Ghost Moth, female - 2nd garden record. One of several species which avoided me last year, including Miller, Least Carpet and Phoenix.
Grey Arches - apparently common, but rare where I am. New for garden.
Scarlet Tiger - 2 in the garden traps two nights apart (same individual, maybe? Didn't trap on the night in between though). Didn't think they came to light, but, apparently they do!
And a True Lover's Knot - managed to find about 150 while trapping at Morden Bog, but managed 3 in the garden since.
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