First moth to the trap in 2021

After the day-time find of a fresh Emmelina monodactyla, follows a nicely marked Red-green Carpet, how these moths stay so scale perfect over winter is beyond me (Both of these moths are progeny of the Autumn broods).

So far i've had 3 blanks, last night was the first time a moth graced the trap this year, conditions were better and the night started off at around 7c, this morning it had dropped to 4c and there was nothing else found.

There maybe a window of opportunity midweek as night time temperatures hover around high single figures, but brinding rain and wind with it.

Here are the last 8 years of the start of January (upto the 17th for comparison) of the number of species recorded.

2013 - 3

2014 - 3

2015 - 4

2016 - 2

2017 - 3

2018 - 1

2019 - 5

2020 - 9

2021 - 2

So as you can see, 2021 so far is slightly lower overall. As suspected, the first two weeks of 2015, 2019 and 2020 were actually quite dry and mild owing to slightly raised numbers.

16/01/21 - 125w Clear MV Robinson Trap

Red-green Carpet 1 [NFY]
 

 

Moth species for 2021 now stands at 2.

 

Red-green Carpet