Following on from Tuesday`s trap, I also trapped on Wednesday night (19/10) and was gifted with 35+ species in the trap, an excellent tally for late October and better than some of my recent summer nights. There had been predictions of potential occurrences of scarce migrants with southerly winds from hotter climes and whilst I failed to catch anything particularly `hot` there was a good mix of commoner migrant species. This was augmented with a very good selection of autumn residents. My Clifden nonpareil turned up on the same night (see my previous blog). The evening was quite windy and this may have deterred some recorders, but the wind was correctly forecast to abate in the early hours (which it did) and the night was warm which encouraged the moths to be on the wing. Critically, the winds were from the south. There is seemingly an element of luck with migrants - I like to think that `lucky pulses` of warm air may bring rewards, though I may be talking absolute rubbish!
The migrants included 4 scarce bordered straws (my most in one trap), 2 diamond backs, 11 silver y`s (my largest count this year), 2 rush veneers, a rusty-dot pearl and a single rather brown-hued vestal.
Residents included 3 Blair`s shoulder-knots, 5 Hypsopygia glaucinalis, 2 green brindled crescent, 5 large wainscots, 6 lunar underwings, 2 large ranunculus and singles of red-green carpet, pine carpet, cypress carpet and merveille du jour .
Above: diamond-back moth
Above: two of the four scarce bordered straws. By this time they were getting restless and starting to warm up by vibrating their wings.
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