The Garden Moth Scheme recommenced this weekend. This Scheme began in 2003 in the West Midlands Region and then expanded to a national project in 2007. The aim is to count the number of common moths in your moth trap for one night every week between March to November. Moths are excellent indicators of the environmental health of our towns and cities. The purpose of the Scheme is to try and find out what is happening to our Garden Moths especially as many of our more common species are declining in Britain. Taking part gives a focus to my moth trapping and its good to know you are contributing to our knowledge of moths.
GMS Week 1 Friday 1st March
Minimum Temperature 1.9 degrees centigrade
0 Moths
I trapped again on Saturday night but the temperature was even lower minus 3.2 degrees centigrade and again no moths!
Hopefully as March progresses and temperatures become milder moths will start turning up!
There is a link below to the Garden Moth Scheme in case any one is interested in finding out more or joining. (Apologies in advance if the link doesn't work - if this is the case please just copy and paste)
Edit Sorry not only has the link not worked - it hasn't even appeared on the posting!
So here's the website
gms.staffs-ecology.org.uk
Fingers crossed you start catching some soon Caroline :)
ReplyDeleteDean - Many thanks - always a slow start here. Just hope its a better year for moths (and butterflies) than 2012!
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline :-) I hope you have a good year with moths this year. My husband saw a Brimstone Butterfly at lunch time today!! :-)
ReplyDeleteRe. Blogger, I have always found it awkward when trying to put line spaces where I want them rather than where Blogger thinks they should be but putting a post together this time was even more of a nightmare with that and with formatting. I had to keep closing the browser down and opening it again, it really was incredibly frustrating :-(
Shy Songbird - Hi Jan :) Many thanks :) Would really like to catch some of the more colourful macros (thinking Hawkmoths!!!) and not so many LBJ's!
ReplyDeleteWell done to your husband :) It was really warm here today and I was keeping an eye on the garden as I ironed but no luck :( Did see a butterfly at the Nurseries last week but it was too far away to id - though think Peacock probable.
Your post was really lovely by the way. I do so look forward to reading them :) In fact, I made myself wait till this evening when I knew I would have time to enjoy it properly:)
Sorry about the problems you are having with blogger. As you can see I still can't get links to work!!!! I am not sure if you have the same blogger set up as me as I just use the basic one. But with line breaks on mine if you go on the Create a Post page on the right hand side under Post Settings there is something called "Options". If you open this up there is a circle you can choose so that line breaks appear when you press enter on the keyboard. Hope that helps because I had the same problem as you ages ago.
I haven't seen anything yet but I'm not really surprised. Last year was absolutely awful up here so fingers crossed for a better one. Hope you catch something soon!
ReplyDeleteEm Parkinson -Many thanks :) I haven't seen a moth this year. Last one was in December on the garage window!
ReplyDeleteAs you say so much hoping for a better year weather and moth/flutter wise :)
Sorry for not coming back before Caroline, I did read your reply when you first published it but got bogged down with doing my own replies. Thank you very much for the suggestion, I will try that next time. The main problem is that I am able to put all the line spaces exactly where I want them in draft but when I go to preview they are completely different. I have to keep closing the browser (Firefox), opening it up again and then adjusting the spaces again. It takes so long!! Maybe your suggestion will make all the difference:-) I haven't noticed any particular problems with links although I don't do them very often.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan - No worries Jan :) but I am ever so sorry for only just publishing your comment and responding. We have been in Norfolk since Thursday and only just returned!
ReplyDeleteThe problem you are having sounds absolutely horrendous. Its so annoying when you are trying to write a post especially a long one. I do hope my suggestion works - that's what David did when he had the same problem as you.
I really don't understand why the link thingy doesn't work. I click on link in tool bar and then copy and past the url I want in the box that opens up and it appears in the draft but then like your problem in the Preview it has disappeared. I thought it was Internet Explorer but its the same in Chrome. And yet I have no problem putting links on Twitter.
Once again apologies but we had no wifi where we were staying so haven't been able to get on the internet!
I'm glad you're doing this. What are they doing over there? It sounds like better conservation efforts are needed around the country/ies. Hopefully they will look at your data and put something together.
ReplyDeleteHere in the US, Ebird has asked us to focus our eyes on the once common Rusty Blackbird. It is rapidly declining and the data is helping scientists/researchers set aside land to protect this species. I'm hoping that the data you are collecting with others will be looked at seriously....and seriously considered to help out the disappearing critters.
Rohrerbot - Hi Chris. Some Moth and Butterfly species are in serious decline over here. The idea of GMS is that the records submitted will help build up a picture over time about declines and the species that need most help. Butterfly Conservation, a NGO and Charity, do a brilliant job in trying to conserve species.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the good work Ebird is doing in the US and I do hope that the measures taken will help increase numbers of the Rusty Blackbird.