Things the past wouldn't give me..

Had a decent night last night, 19 species was all that occurred, but one new for garden, and an additional rarity.

The new for garden was a Flame Brocade, which, if you haven't seen one, if the most well behaved moth there is, none of the flapping about nonsense, it just sits there, you put it in a pot, it just falls over, upside down! It isn't dead, honest, a quick wiggling of the legs told me that, before it gave up and stayed upside down, as I tilted the pot to right the moth,

The second rarity was another immigrant moth, which there were 2 of, Clancy's Rustic, which, rather dull they may be, has only been seen by me once before, in the garden in 2011, when one turned up in the trap.

The Triplets (would call it 'Threesome' but fear that would attract the wrong kind of people..)

Now, mothing has changed a lot in recent years, or at least I'm told that. As I've only been mothing for 3 years now, anything pre-2011 I know nothing about, and go to far back, and I'm not there at all (damn my youthfulness!).
Anyhow, I hear people talk of the "good ol' days", in which there were a lot of moths about, and not just the small numbers we get now.
But I like to think of the positives, 10 years back, to get a Flame Brocade and a Clancy's Rustic on the same night - same week even - would be like winning the lottery, but it has happened, to a lucky few of us, and now I am one of those lucky few.
Not just migrants becoming more regular, there are various Jersey thingy-me-jibs which 10 years ago we very rare, or not at all. The first mainland Jersey Mocha was recorded in 2003, 10 years later, it is no doubt breeding locally to me, as well as elsewhere in the country. Jersey Tigers have spread amazingly, my most common tiger species, and then you get some people (up North) who've never seen it, but, it won't be long till it comes, it very common down 'ere in cider loving Dorset!

And it's not just the moths, Actinic bulbs are, as far as I'm aware, a fairly recent advancement, but how long till there is a low energy, not very bright bulb which is far more attractive to moths on the market?? Not long I think, then we can go mothing the countryside unknown to passer-bys, netting and spilling moth sugar-beer on ourselves (wrecked a pair of perfectly good new jeans by doing that!), without the outside (or should that be inside) world knowing about it

I must admit, I look forward to the days when I'll be saying, "I remember when Bloxworth Snout was a rare moth", as I stare down to a trap full of them, with their accompanying species of Patton's Tigers, Ringed Borders, and Jersey Black Arches, with the occasional Setina ramosa thrown in for good measure (go on, look that one up, how hard can it be!?)