My First Mothing Year

 

The first week in August marked the end of my first full year of mothing or at least the end of my first year trapping in the garden and recording the moths that I see. 

I started the mothing to give myself an extra interest during lockdown. I have a small urban garden close to the sea in Worthing, about three to four kilometres from the nearest countryside as the crow flies. That's probably a lot more as the moth flies so my expectations were not high. I thought perhaps a target of 100 different species  in a year was possible, if I included those I would see whilst out walking on the downs. 

It appears that there are a lot more moths in Worthing than I had expected and my target of 100 species was soon achieved and revised up to 200. I had a bit of a setback during the winter months, adding just five to my list in the first two weeks of November and then nothing until an Early Grey appeared in the trap on the 21st of March. I think the distance from my home to the countryside was beginning to have an impact.

Early Grey - Xylocampa areola

April and May were slow, although I don't think I was alone in finding low numbers in the trap, but with better weather in June and July the numbers began to build again. My cut off date for the year was the 5th of August so I made the most of my last few nights to add a few more to my list.

Ruby Tiger - Phragmatobia fuliginosa

Scarce Silver-lines - Bena bicolorana

Shaded Broad-bar - Scotopteryx chenopodiata

Single-dotted Wave - Idaea dimidiata

Grey Knot-horn - Acrobasis advenella

Ringed China-mark - Parapoynx stratiotata

My total for the year ended up at 236 species with 205 coming from the garden list. The figure of 205 explaining why I needed to fit in a couple of last minute trapping sessions. There are also another ten to fifteen that I have not yet been able to identify so the number may yet creep up by another two or three.

I know numbers and lists don't really matter but I don't think I ever really outgrew the trainspotting phase and keeping lists and having targets adds to the enjoyment.

Talking of targets, 2021 was going to be the year of the clearwings. We purchased the lures, did the research and took the lures out for regular long walks around target areas. This worked for the Emperor Moth but we drew a blank on the clearwings. The closest we got was a comment  from a passing butterflier of "What's that thing on the back of your rucksack with the fluffy tail". Needless to say that by the time I got the rucksack off, the clearwing, if there was one, was nowhere to be seen.

We still have the rest of August when there should be a good chance of finding a Clearwing, that is if it stops raining. However, I have already revised my target for these down to one and I am not really very hopeful of achieving that. It looks as though the lures will be returned to the freezer for the winter with a new plan being worked on for next year.

Botany Bay

 

Monday and I was out with Dave hoping to pick up Purple Hairstreaks and perhaps a late Purple Emperor to add to my year list. It didn't look very promising. The forecast had been for some good sunny spells but we had rain down on the coast so we headed north looking for a break in the cloud cover.

Our usual hunting spots looked wet and muddy and in the end we decided to head over to Chiddingfold Forest in the hope that it would brighten up by the time we got there. We parked up at the Botany Bay entrance. It had stopped raining but with it still being overcast and the temperature stuck at fifteen degrees there was nothing flying.

We walked in to the triangle and I can't remember seeing a single butterfly on the way. A more detailed search when we got there turned up our first Wood White and once we had our eye in we found dozens of them. For once the wet and cold conditions worked to our advantage. The Wood Whites were still perched up in their roost positions with many of them still covered in dew.

The light was dull but it seems to suit the Wood Whites, better still there was no wind to disturb these delicate looking butterflies, so there were plenty of picture opportunities.

And a shot from a few days earlier. The Wood Whites were flying and nectaring that day but with a stronger wind it was difficult to get sharp pictures.

We waited around until early afternoon in the hope that the weather would break. No luck unfortunately but it did give me the chance to find a few moths.

I spotted four different species that I was interested in, plus a few Grass Veneers. The most common was the Shaded Broad-bar with something like half a dozen seen. They were difficult to photograph in the dense undergrowth but eventually I got a decent shot.

Shaded Broad-bar - Scotopteryx chenopodiata

I also saw a Common Carpet but I couldn't get close to that. There were also a number of micros there but two in particular were new for me.

Common Roller - Ancylis badiana

Ochreous Pearl - Anania crocealis

In the end I had to pot the Ochreous Pearl in order to keep it still long enough to get a picture.

This is only the second time I have been out actively searching the undergrowth for Moths, the first being the visit to the South Stoke Water Meadows. Getting decent pictures is harder but an active hunt is certainly more interesting than just emptying the trap in the morning.