FlyinginFordham: Back to the trap

It has seemed like ages since I last ran my trap, November the 22nd to be precise, where I managed just one Mottled Umber.

We then had a week of frosts and then a week of unsettled cool and windy conditions with flash floods, far from ideal mothing conditions.

The end of last week saw a rise in daytime temperatures and also by night as well, with highs of 12 degrees on Friday and not dipping below 9c all night, a bit breezy mind, but the moths didn't mind the SW breeze and I recorded 10 moths of 4 species, finally catching up with a much needed December Moth tick, 3 of them at once!

It was also great to see the first dainty Winter Moths of the year and a pair of cracking Chestnuts, one dark on the 8th and a pale Chestnut last night, the only moth before I switched off because of the gale.

I did also notice a few Caddis-flies last night and the strking ichneomon wasp, Amblyteles armatorius.

It's the latest i've ever seen a wasp of this kind.

I think that might be it for this year now, species wise, not far shy of last years 665 species total, so i'm very pleased.