19th April '16 - Latest garden moth trap results

Despite the 2.4 deg min temp. and a near full waxing moon there were a few moths about.
Pale Mottled Willow was expected, Nutmeg was another year first and Mullein was a good find.

Another cold snap is heading our way by the weekend and could persist for a few nights but the next two days look promising in the VC30 area.

Mullein

Nutmeg

Pale Mottled Willow

19th April '16 ... Emperor Moth

A perfect day for putting out a pheromone lure that I bought last year and kept in the freezer until today.
10 minutes later I thought I had a result which turned out to be a Comma butterfly but three hours later a male Emperor was flying around the lure.
Not bad for my garden which is in the middle of Biggleswade town, but these lures can be detected by the male up to 3 miles away so it says on the tin.
I've put the lure back in the freezer  now, no point in distracting more Emperor males.

Emperor Moth - Saturnia pavonia

Poor returns from the traps ...

Moth numbers have been well down compared to previous years.
Latest garden moths ...
3rd April ...  Zelleria hepariella, Early Thorn, a Brimstone Moth on the 7th and a Red Chestnut last night (10th April) pictured below.
So far this year only 24 species have been recorded in the garden.
At the same time last year the total was 32 but that was a bad year !

BF 2139 Red Chestnut