25/01/20 - Moth records

It's that time when we have been busy compiling last year’s records and submitting them to the various county and national recording schemes. We’ve recently just finished inputting our moth recording data – no mean feat with 12,661 moths recorded of 250 species over 92 trapping nights during 2019.  

It’s always interesting to see what new and unusual species have occurred, last year a rather stunning Privet Hawk-moth was the first record for the reserve - caught at Bank Island on the 11^th July. 

Another highlight was our fourth Archers Dart at Bank Island on the 28^th June, following one in 1993 and two in 1995 – this species has a mainly coastal distribution around Britain, but can also occur inland on dry sandy heaths or breckland, such as those found in the Thornton Ellers area. Other species which have notable strongholds in the Lower Derwent Valley area include Oblique Carpet, a damp grassland species, with 27 caught between 29^th May and 29^th August, and Cream-boarded Green Pea which was recorded on four occasions. Six Oak Eggar were notable, whilst Beautiful Hook-tip continue to increase, with 39 recorded during the year including a high count of 13 on the 11^th July. 

Our peak count of moths reached around 800 during some nights in August, of which 300 Large Yellow Underwings comprised a significant proportion of the catch. Many thanks to all of our volunteers who helped us identify, count and release our catches throughout the year.