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Click the link below for a list of species and recorders submitting records for National Moth Night 2008:

Click Here
NATIONAL MOTH NIGHT 7th JUNE 2008

National Moth (Day) and Night 2008 fell on the 7th June and, as has been the case for most of the previous ten NMNs, the weather let us down overnight.  This year it was not strong winds, the rain or a combination of both, but a clear sky and lack of wind that caused temperatures to drop to as low as 7C in some parts of the county.  Consequently the moths were loathe to venture out and be recorded.

 

Earlier in the day, a cloudy morning had given way to a sunny afternoon in coastal parts of Lancashire .  This allowed the search for Anania funebris (one of the national target species) to be successfully carried out at both Gait Barrows NNR and Warton Crag.  A search in the Dalton area, east of the M6 motorway, in late afternoon drew a blank for this moth.
In all, a total of 239 different types of moth were recorded over the period of the event in Lancashire as follows:           

 

Micromoth Species Macromoth Species
VC59 41 90
VC60 68 139
Total 88 151



Of the 239 species found, the sightings of Anania funebris, a target species for the event, were of particular note.  This species is known to occur at the two sites where it was found on NMN (Gait Barrows and Warton Crag), but was unfortunately not located at any new sites.  However, the event has certainly helped to raise the awareness of the presence of this rare moth in Lancashire and will no doubt lead to an increase in records in the future.  Migrants were almost totally lacking with only a couple of Silver Y reported.  A selection of some of the more notable species encountered can be found below, while a full list of all moth species and participants from NMN is displayed at the end of this note.

 

                              

                  Pseudotelphusa paripunctella (Photo: K McCabe)    

Pseudotelphusa paripunctella; Astley Moss (K McCabe)

 

 

Scythris fallacella; Warton Crag (S Palmer)

Anania funebris - found at both Gait Barrows and Warton Crag in good numbers (various recorders)

 

 

 

Northern Eggar (Photo: S Palmer)

Red Twin-spot Carpet (Photo: S Palmer)

Northern Eggar, Red Twin-spot Carpet; Ward's Stone (P Marsh & S Palmer)

Clay Triple-lines (Photo: S Palmer)

Clay Triple-lines, Barred Hook-tip; Dalton VC60 (S Palmer)

 

 

Grass Rivulet; Lower Burgh Meadows (E Langrish)

Oblique Carpet; Heysham NR (A Draper) and Leighton Moss (K Briggs)

 

 

Marsh Pug (K McCabe)

 

 

Marsh Pug; Flixton (K McCabe) and Lower Burgh Meadows (E Langrish)

Welsh Wave (Photo: R Neville)

Welsh Wave; Lord's Lot Bog (R Neville)

 

 

Turnip Moth (Photo: P Marsh)

 

Turnip Moth (melanic form); Heysham (P Marsh)

Alder Kitten; Longridge (D Lambert)

Least Minor; Gait Barrows (R Petley-Jones)

 

 

Mother Shipton; Middleton (P Marsh)

Marbled White-spot (Photo: K McCabe)

 

Marbled White-spot; Astley Moss (K McCabe)

 

 

Some of the most productive moth recording came during the day on visits to various parks, nature reserves and other countryside sites.  Evening pre-dusk searches were also very fruitful in some gardens producing decent numbers of micro-moth species.  After dark, the sites producing the highest numbers were woodland or woodland edge with Mercury Vapour bulbs.  At the opposite end of the spectrum, many Actinic traps run in suburban or urban locations performed particularly poorly.

 

This summary contains all records received up to 14th June 2008 but any records still to be submitted are most welcome.  The deadline for submission to the NMN organisers, which is co-ordinated and carried out by Steve Palmer in Lancashire , will be a couple of months away yet, but the sooner records are received the better.  So far, records have been submitted by 59 participants and that number is expected to increase over the next few weeks as more records come in.  This is about on par with previous seasons.

 

Click the link below for a list of species and recorders submitting records for National Moth Night 2008:

Click Here
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