Very warm evening is very productive

 17th July 2021

Slade Wood, Highmoor Hill

Another very warm day following on from Friday16th, which became hot into the afternoon period topping over 84f. The start of the evening remained hot with only a slow decrease in temperature as the sun dropped below the horizon. It would still remain very warm indeed right into the early hours of the morning to the point that it remained T-shirt weather virtually throughout. Set up the light trap here in plenty of time, so quite organized for a change. Into the evening the organisation factor began to be thrown into a more chaotic one as moths started to arrive in good numbers. After having a frantic few moments dancing around the light to collect moths, I stepped back for several moments to figure out what my plan of action was to be for the hours ahead. With the amount moths coming in rapidly I decided on a methodical approach to eliminate the chaos ahead and I have to say it worked with me keeping calm and collected and importantly focused.

At the finish, I can't say that counting 190 moths of 90 species at this site tonight, is the normal anywhere for me, let alone here, so it was a real shock to the system over the course 3-4 hours. 

A breakdown of the numbers were as follows: 59 Macro, 31 Micro species. Of the species count of 90, 2 were Scarce B category, 18 were localised with the rest classed as common nationally. Highest counts of individual species were reserved for Coronet-17 and Buff Arches-15 respectfully.

A new moth to me appeared in the form of Poplar Grey. This I think is due to me not trapping too often at this time of year for it appears to be fairly widespread in the county according to the maps but not spotted at this site as yet I believe.

Another new one for this site I believe again according to the maps dated up to 2020, is Waved Carpet, pictured above. This species looks to have a Wye Valley bias but there are some records in the south with this one being one of the most southerly.

One of the micro's that I was particularly pleased to see was Anania crocealis (Ochreous Pearl) featured above. I have only recently been finding it, again I believe this could due to the lack my activity during this month of July.

After reeling from the effects of tonight and sheer numbers of visitors I decided I would not trap again until August! Phew very productive but head spinning.