Thursday 27 May

This year, spring has been very late in coming. April was cold and dry with persistent north-easterly winds, May has been cool, grey and cloudy with some very wet days so moth trapping has been disappointing to say the least. The only consolation has been that low numbers and few species have been the story across the UK with many complaints about frequent frosts.

Last night was the first time I crept up to double figures for the number of species (10). The star was a Small Elephant Hawk-moth especially as it was a life tick for me and confirms how vauable it is to have a moth trap. Essentially, you turn on a light source which attracts many moths – but not all – and have a special box or container with egg cartons inside. The moths fly into the container and rest on the egg cartons. These are then examined the next morning and all the moths are recorded. They then rest up during the day and fly off unharmed. Although this species is common in Guernsey, I had never seen one before. What a moth! To find out more information about this species click on ‘Moths and Butterflies’ on my homepage.

I am new to mothing and only became interested a few years ago when a neighbouring family put out their trap. I offered to take photos to get some of the species identified – there are excellent groups on Facebook and Twitter. The close-up views opened my eyes to how beautifully marked moths are. Some are like the best quality Persian rugs. Last summer I bought my own trap with an actininc bulb and now am persuading myself that an MV trap is worth the expense. These use mercury vapour bulbs which are far more powerful and attract a wider range of moths. The downside is they are not as envrionmentally friendly and a time will come when MV bulbs will no longer be available.

In the meantime, it’s great to know that temperatures are rising as we’re nearly into summer and there will be plenty more mornings when looking into the trap is just like unwrapping Christmas presents as you just don’t know what’s inside. Today, the Small Elephant Hawk-moth was a five-star present.

I’m also looking forward to some mothing events with the Entymological Section of La Société Guernesiaise this summer. Different habitats have different moths so there will be an evening when traps are used at Le Grand Pre which is an area of reedbed close to where I live – mozzy repellant to the fore.

There will probably be an outing to Herm in the summer – bending double over the thyme on Herm Common looking for some Pyrausta species: Pyrausta ostrinalis and Straw-barred Pearl Pyrausta despicata. After all that, lunch at the Captain’s Table will be very welcome.