22nd December

Various localities

Managed to see 41 moths today the 22nd of December.
36 Winter Moths and 5 Mottled Umbers.

A Chepstow town walk turned up 5 Male Winter Moths.

Male

At night, I decided to try somewhat higher up than previous trap at St. Pierre's Wood to see if moths were active above 100-200 metres plus.
The first port of call in Whitelye was unfortunately out of bounds due to the excessive amounts of rainfall making placing the car and trap hazardous to say the least.
Further down the road at Upper Hale Wood there was a decent platform to set up.
The weather forecast was not too bad for the evening with showers still a possibility. Setting up the trap early and supping coffee, I then wished I had delayed for another 30 minutes or so, for the only isolated shower of that evening turned up soon after and gave the site and kit a good soaking.
Had to wait some time before big drips off the major trees relinquished before any activity arrived in the form of one moth. This winter moth prompted me to have a look around the site to see if any were nearby and sure enough there were. I quickly found 6 more all perched on lower sapling trees as if all waiting for a passing bus. None wanted to turn up at the light.

 Female winter Moth 'playing dead'

Next further down the hill at Lower Hale Wood. At the gate 3 more Winter Moths were seen but once again the site was out of bounds and virtually waterlogged. Was not prepared to risk getting stuck!

On the way back home tried for one more locality in the form of Ravensnest Wood: another site I had not visited during December.
Here, another messy set up being wet and a little muddy, but the final throw of the dice proved to be very much worth it.
The brief hour I was here I did see 23 moths, with 5 Mottled Umbers of various forms turning up within 20 minutes. Quite pleasing as I normally don't see many totals over 3.
Winter Moths dominated again. These again frequently found on lower limbs of trees like Hazel or Beech and even on grass blades.
It was here that I discovered something that I had been on the look out for several seasons..... a Female Winter Moth. These flightless moths had proved very elusive but there is nothing like seeing them up close.
These 'bug-like' insects were much smaller than I had imagined and difficult to see. Two mating pairs were found low down on grass blades of all places, making the whole mucky, damp effort, all worth it.

'Wingless' female Winter Moth now very much alive