Wednesday 2 April 2014

Norfolk moths: Rockland St. Peter garden, 1 April 2014

The day was fairly warm perhaps 15°C but the sun has been obscured over the past several days by a kind of smog, both local air pollution from the UK Midlands and dust blown in from the Sahara. The night began overcast with high, white cloud and a temperature of 9.6°C at 21h00 (an hour after I turned on the trap). There was a thin, waxing crescent moon and a very light E wind. By 05h00 it was calm and there appeared to be a mist in the air, much of which proved to be particulate. The temperature on turning off the trap at 06h00 was 6.4°C.

The catch was about half that of the previous night, the only new moth for the year being a fresh Spectacle, flying a couple of months ahead of schedule: "this moth is out in June, sometimes late May" (South 1908). A single Pale Pinion a different individual to the one caught at the weekend  rested on a nearby wall.


An early Spectacle Abrostola tripartita   


Macro-moths (69 moths of 10 spp.); no micros:-

Alsophila aescularia March Moth 1
Selenia dentaria Early Thorn 3
Biston strataria Oak Beauty 1
Orthosia cruda Small Quaker 23
Orthosia cerasi Common Quaker 14
Orthosia incerta Clouded Drab 13
Orthosia gothica Hebrew Character 11
Lithophane hepatica Pale Pinion 1
Xylocampa areola Early Grey 1
Abrostola tripartita Spectacle 1

References

South, R. (1908) The moths of the British Isles, second series. Frederick Warne & Co.: London. 388 pp.

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