Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Moth Numbers are Dwindling

There weren't many moths in the moth trap last weekend so it didn't take long to empty. There were no new species for the year and most of the moths were Yellow Underwings! Large Yellow Underwing numbers are much lower this year compared to the last two.

Summary of Moths Trapped Sunday, 18th September

Minimum Temperature 9.8 degrees centigrade

7.00 p.m. until dawn

15w Actinic Skinner Trap


Lesser Yellow Underwing x 6
Large Yellow Underwing x 4
Common Rustic x 1
Setaceous Hebrew Character x 1


I will continue trapping until the Garden Moth Scheme finishes - you never know a Merveille du Jour may just find its way into the garden - I live in hope!!


Bird-wise the garden is fairly quiet at the moment with fewer birds at the feeders. It was great yesterday though to have a flock of 5 Long-tailed Tits feeding on suet balls and a fat-filled coconut half. A chiffchaff passed through on Monday.

Not many butterflies either -its been a poor year in the garden for these. The red admirals seem to have disappeared although I see a couple of speckled woods flying round the garden on sunnier days.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lucky you, Caroline. The LTT`s that visit my garden are hardly ever tempted by the feeders.

Ragged Robin said...

I noticed from your blog that you had a regular flock visiting. I was lucky yesterday because to be honest they rarely actually use the feeders. They just spend a few minutes foraging amongst the trees and bushes and move on!

The only exception was a winter some years back when they were regularly on the suet balls and feeders.

Stewart said...

Hi Caroline, I get Merveille du Jours in October with 2 or 3 a year. They aren't a rare moth, so I hope you get lucky, they are the finest...look just like a mint choc chip ice cream!

Ragged Robin said...

Thanks for that info and good luck wishes Stewart!

They do look rather super moths and I love your description!