First Quarter of 2009 - Report

Lots to report so far, here's how it all started....

The 1st of January saw me set-up my Essex Moths Blog where I would hope to post all my future recordings and add pictures to represent the species present in my garden.
It was nearly 2 weeks after that until I saw a Moth, being a Winter Moth which came to the porch light, it had been way too cold to trap with temperatures dropping on the 7th of January to -7.9c, in contrast to a week later where the temperature had risen to 8.0c at night.
That one Winter Moth was to be the only Moth of January after a few unsuccesful trapping sessions with the 40w Actinic.
At the start of February to mid-February, everyone will remember the snow that swept across the country and engulfed us with gusto, Moth trapping? whats a Moth? alot of people were asking.
The 14th of February was mild and calm so after St.valentine's had been celebrated it was time to fire up the Actinic again.
Come the morning a total of 5 Moths were potted and recorded, things were looking up.
On the 18th of February on inspecting the trap nothing was to be found, but looking at the sheet and on the walls a total of 11 Pale Brindled Beauties sat calmly and looked rather chilly!
That was the beginning of the Moth trapping season for me, it certainly was a slow start because of the cold weather which we aren't use to.
This next section will describe all of the notable catches that were recorded during the first quarter of 2009.

07/03/09 Lead-coloured Drab - Although described as common in many publications, this Noctuid very similiar to Clouded Drab is in fact quite local in parts of Essex so this counts as my first exciting find.













09/03/09 Pale Pinion - A new species for my Garden , I thought this was the commonest compared to the similiar Tawny Pinion, I was wrong in fact it is only the 6th county record (post 1900) as this Moth had not been recorded since pre 1900 and was rediscovered in 2003. Very pleased with this one and it shows that this Moth is slowly expanding its localities.
Further records proved that it was a good year for them with 11 records this year from my Garden.















10/04/09 Dotted Chestnut - This was considered a good record by most people, a Moth that is very local in Essex indeed, and has had very few records over the years. Abit of research suggests the Dotted Chestnut has not been recorded in Essex for a few years now, so I was over the moon. More associated with Woodland I'd never expect one turning up to the garden trap!











Aberrations of the first quarter - Hebrew Character and Early Grey showed signs of aberration including two superb examples.















I thank everyone for their support in making this Blog succesful.
I wish you all many more Moths and warm months ahead!

Cheers
Ben