GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

GMS NEWS GMS News Weeks 28-36 Autumn 2009

Photo of Plumed Prominent seasonally decorated by Martin Kennard

Contents include: National overview – Dave Grundy News from the West Midlands 2007-2009 – Dave Grundy Final quarter in Scotland – Heather Young Report from Wales – Norman Lowe East Midlands summary – Roger Freestone Report from South-east region – Malcolm Bridge Do we need a core species list? – Norman Lowe Winter GMS, the 2009 and 2010 AGMs etc – Dave Grundy Trapping the fly-by-nighters – Stephen Plummer Some newcomers to Tadcaster for 2009 – David Baker “I hate Christmas” moth search – David Baker List of new area co-ordinators for North-west and West Midlands

Page 1 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

So, what’s the news from Autumn 2009 for Britain and Ireland? - D. Grundy

We’ve had records back from an excellent total of 246 gardens for this period – a big increase on 148 last autumn – so well done again to everyone who sent records in. As usual, you will see the table below showing the top 30 commonest species in Britain and Ireland as shown by your records for the autumn.

The Thirty Commonest British & Irish Total 246 Gardens

Garden Moths in Autumn moths Average per Position Common Name Garden 1 (1) Large Yellow Underwing 7590 30.85 2 (2) Setaceous Hebrew Character 6302 25.62 3 (4) Lunar Underwing 3460 14.07 4 (3) Light Brown Apple Moth 3430 13.94 5 (5) Square-spot Rustic 3273 13.30 6 (6) Common Marbled Carpet 2695 10.96 7 (7) Lesser Yellow Underwing 2096 8.52 8 (20) Spruce Carpet 1504 6.11 9 (10) Black Rustic 1153 4.69 10 (14) Yellow-line Quaker 1140 4.63 11 (12) Silver Y 1004 4.08 12 (17) Beaded Chestnut 934 3.80 13 (8) Blair’s Shoulder-knot 928 3.77 14 (24) Red-line Quaker 913 3.71 15 (13) Red-green Carpet 905 3.68 16 (31) Feathered Ranunculus 808 3.28 17 (11) Angle Shades 799 3.25 18 (23) Brimstone Moth 726 2.95 19 (9) Snout 704 2.86 20 (20) Rusty-dot Pearl 648 2.63 21 (15) Common Wainscot 570 2.32 22 (18) Pale Mottled Willow 538 2.19 23 (38) Green-brindled Crescent 511 2.08 24 (46) Barred Sallow 490 1.99 25 (44) Rosy Rustic 487 1.98 26 (39) Feathered Thorn 468 1.90 27 (30) Garden Rose Tortrix 438 1.78 28 (26) Willow Beauty 428 1.74 29 Shuttle-shaped Dart 418 1.70 30 (27) Grey Pine Carpet 405 1.65

The first column in the table lists the position of the species in the top 30 commonest species in autumn based on the average number reported per garden. The figure in brackets is the position of this species in the table for 2008 (Shuttle-shaped Dart was outside the top 50 in 2008). The third column shows the total number of moths recorded by all 246 gardens in this period. The average per garden column shows the mean number of moths recorded per garden. So what does the table tell us this time? Large Yellow Underwing was top of the charts again – is this getting boring!? Although, with a count of only 30 per garden, numbers are well down on the 140 for the previous nine weeks. Setaceous Hebrew Character is in a close second place, then there

Page 2 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 is quite a drop to third place. Lunar Underwing is a species that we have been worried about recently, so it is good to see that it is still high up the charts. Light Brown Apple Moth is again our micro-moth with the highest position and not only that, but it is the only species that appears in our top 30 commonest species in all four of our 2009 newsletters (and even for our winter GMS last year!). it just seems to have extended overlapping broods that make it possible in your garden trap in any month of the year! Interestingly all of the top 7 species are in virtually identical positions to this time last year and with all of them increasing healthily from a poor year in 2008. If you remember 2008 was a very cold autumn, so all of the species in the top 30 have shown healthy increases in the average numbers recorded per garden. Among the most notable increases were; Spruce Carpet with a climb of 12 places (an increase from 1.05 to 6.11), Red-line Quaker up 10 places (0.74 to 5.01), Green-brindled Crescent up 15 places (0.28 to 2.08), Barred Sallow up 22 places (0.08 to 1.99) and Rosy Rustic up 19 places (0.11 to 1.98).

Barred Sallow up 22 places – D. Grundy

The nearest there was to any declines were Blair’s Shoulder-knot with a drop of 5 places (but up from an average of 3.23 to 3.77), Angleshades down 6 places (up from 2.7 to 3.25) and Snout down 10 places (up from 2.77 to 2.96). So, compared with 2008, autumn 2009 has shown a healthy recovery in all these species.

So Which are the Commonest Ten Species in each GMS area?

In autumn 2009 we received records from four or more gardens from a total of 12 areas across Britain and Ireland. In the table below there is a comparison of the commonest ten species in each area:

Page 3 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

Top 10 GMS Species for All Areas – Autumn 2009 (a)

Channel Isles (4) South West (37) South East (36) Wales (31) Species Avge./ Species Avge./ Species Avge./ Species Avge./ garden garden garden garden 1 Large Yellow 180.00 Set. Hebrew 70.76 Large Yellow 58.36 Common 22.58 Underwing Character Underwing Marbled Carpet 2 Lunar 137.5 Large Yellow 32.78 Lunar 46.64 Spruce Carpet 17.87 Underwing Underwing Underwing 3 Set. Hebrew 90.5 Common 17.00 Square-spot 42.08 Large Yellow 17.42 Character Marbled Carpet Rustic Underwing 4 Feathered 89.00 Light Brown 14.76 Set. Hebrew 16.19 Set. Hebrew 10.81 Ranunculus Apple Moth Character Character 5 Rusty-dot 69.25 Square-spot 12.24 Light Brown 11.47 Black Rustic 9.03 Pearl Rustic Apple Moth 6 Square-spot 57.5 Lunar 10.35 Lesser Yellow 10.72 Lesser Yellow 8.10 Rustic Underwing Underwing Underwing 7 Crescent Dart 46.75 Rusty-dot Pearl 10.17 Pale Mottled 7.47 Square-spot 7.84 Willow Rustic 8 Rush Veneer 36.50 Lesser Yellow 8.11 Common 5.44 Yellow-line 7.39 Underwing Marbled Carpet Quaker 9 Light Brown 35.5 Snout 7.97 Willow Beauty 5.08 Light Brown 6.80 Apple Moth Apple Moth 10 Shuttle-shaped 31.25 Yellow-line 7.95 Flounced 4.53 Red-line 6.35 Dart Quaker Rustic Quaker

Top 10 GMS Species for All Areas – Autumn 2009 (b)

West Midlands (44) East Midlands (17) East England (24) North West (9) Species Avge./ Species Avge./ Species Avge./ Species Avge./ garden garden garden garden 1 Large Yellow 22.75 Large Yellow 22.35 Set. Hebrew 54.75 Set. Hebrew 22.22 Underwing Underwing Character Character 2 Light Brown 15.02 Light Brown 20.18 Large Yellow 41.88 Light Brown 17.78 Apple Moth Apple Moth Underwing Apple Moth 3 Common 13.23 Lesser Yellow 13.12 Square-spot 19.79 Common 9.44 Marbled Underwing Rustic Marbled Carpet Carpet 4 Set. Hebrew 11.82 Lunar 8.88 Beaded 19.29 Large Yellow 9.11 Character Underwing Chestnut Underwing 5 Lesser Yellow 10.91 Set. Hebrew 8.82 Lunar 15.04 Red-green 7.89 Underwing Character Underwing Carpet 6 Common 6.48 Common 6.24 Light Brown 10.83 Lesser Yellow 5.89 Wainscot Marbled Carpet Apple Moth Underwing 7 Blair’s 5.18 Square-spot 4.41 Lesser Yellow 7.71 Red-line 5.78 Sh-knot Rustic Underwing Quaker 8 Red-green 4.52 Blair’s 4.41 Black Rustic 6.25 Silver Y 5.44 Carpet Sh-knot 9 Lunar 4.09 Beaded 3.59 Large Wainscot 5.38 Blair’s 4.33 Underwing Chestnut Sh-knot 10 Spruce Carpet 3.75 Yellow-line 2.82 November 5.00 Lunar 4.00 Quaker Moth agg. Underwing

Page 4 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

Top 10 GMS Species for All Areas – Autumn 2009 (c) York / Humber (12) North East (9) Scotland (16) Ireland (7) Species Avge./ Species Avge./ Species Avge./ Species Avge./ garden garden garden garden 1 Large Yellow 21.75 Light Brown 36.00 Spruce Carpet 27.75 Common 21.86 Underwing Apple Moth Marbled Carpet 2 Light Brown 17.67 Large Yellow 20.00 Yellow-line 7.94 Light Brown 13.86 Apple Moth Underwing Quaker Apple Moth 3 Silver Y 9.83 Silver Y 8.56 Red-green 6.63 Set. Hebrew 12.86 Carpet Character 4 Set. Hebrew 8.17 Common 6.67 Grey Pine 5.44 Square-spot 9.29 Character Marbled Carpet Carpet Rustic 5 Garden Rose 7.33 Angle Shades 6.44 Rosy Rustic 4.69 Small 9.00 Tortrix Wainscot 6 Square-spot 6.08 Garden Rose 5.56 Large Yellow 4.44 Rosy Rustic 7.29 Rustic Tortrix Underwing 7 Angle Shades 6.08 Blair’s 5.33 Light Brown 4.25 Grey Pine 6.43 Sh-knot Apple Moth Carpet 8 Straw Dot 5.92 Spruce Carpet 5.22 Common 3.25 Large Yellow 5.14 Marbled Carpet Underwing 9 Spruce Carpet 5.83 Lesser Yellow 3.78 Chestnut 2.94 Lesser Yellow 4.86 Underwing Underwing 10 Beaded 5.67 Set. Hebrew 3.33 Green-brindled 2.81 Red-line 4.86 Chestnut Character Crescent Quaker (The figure in brackets is the number of gardens for that area, eg. 36 gardens sent in records for SE England)

Clancy’s Rustic – D. Grundy

With all of the above, it is interesting to compare results with those for the average for the whole of GMS in 2009. Not surprisingly, the Channel Isles list has the largest differences from the GMS average for the top 10 species in autumn – due to its moth fauna being more similar to the French mainland. The first thing to notice is the very high counts from Channel Isles gardens, only SW, SE, E and NE England managed any species counts that would have made it into the Channel Isles top 10 and even they only managed 1, 2 or 3 species. Lunar Underwing had an exceptional count and the two migrant pyralid species, Rush Veneer and Rusty-dot Pearl had very high counts. Also

Page 5 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 common in Channel Isles gardens were Crescent Dart, Clancy’s Rustic, Beautiful Gothic and Flame Brocade. These four species all made it into the Channel Isles top 20 and all averaged over 12 moths per garden! Wouldn’t the rest of us all love to move to the Channel Isles to see these exciting species?!

Lunar Underwing had high counts in the Channel Isles and SE England – D. Grundy

So, what makes other areas special in comparison with the GMS average? For Yorkshire & Humberside and NE England, Garden Rose Tortrix was in the top 10, but not elsewhere. Light Brown Apple Moth still had low figures in Wales and Scotland where it is still colonising, but this is countered by very high counts in NE England and the Channel Isles. Large Wainscot managed a top 10 position in E England while it is so scarce in most other areas that it doesn’t even get recorded in the GMS. Small Wainscot similarly achieved a high count in Ireland while not being counted elsewhere due to being too scarce. Rosy Rustic had a high count in Ireland and Scotland, but not elsewhere. Counts for other common species are interesting for being high in some parts of the GMS, but low in other parts. For instance Common Marbled Carpet achieved high counts in Wales, Ireland and SW England, but low counts in SE England, E Midlands and Scotland (ie it appeared to be commoner in the West). Setaceous Hebrew Character had high counts in the Channel Isles, SW and E England, but much lower counts in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire & Humberside, NE England, W & E Midlands. Square-spot Rustic had high counts in SE England and the Channel Isles, but low in Scotland, NE & NW England, Yorkshire & Humberside and E Midlands. Lunar Underwing had high counts in the Channel Isles and SE England, but low counts in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, NW & NE England, Yorkshire & Humberside, W & E Midlands. With these three species there is a similar pattern of being commoner in the Channel Isles and Southern England, but scarcer in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, N England and the Midlands. It is really interesting that our valuable GMS records are showing that common species aren’t necessarily evenly distributed across Britain and Ireland, but they have regions where they are much scarcer and much commoner. More research into other species and at other times of year will be fascinating in plotting species distribution.

What’s the News from the West Midlands – 2007 to 2009 – D. Grundy

As you know, we haven’t yet accumulated records for many years for most areas, but we do now have three years of records for the West Midlands, East of England, South East England and Wales that have been used in Autumn Newsletters in these years. (2007 was the first Autumn Newsletter). Therefore you might like to see a table of the fortunes of the commonest species for the West Midlands as below:

Page 6 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

GMS West Midlands Averages per Garden 2007 to 2009 2007 2008 2009 43 gardens 53 gardens 44 gardens Large Yellow Underwing 35.51 8.15 22.75 Lesser Yellow Underwing 11.63 5.49 10.91 Light Brown Apple Moth 11.28 7.40 15.02 Square-spot Rustic 9.16 1.91 2.32 Setaceous Hebrew Character 8.63 8.17 11.82 Lunar Underwing 5.81 3.28 4.09 Common Wainscot 5.72 1.53 6.48 Common Marbled Carpet 4.51 6.00 13.23 Blair’s Shoulder-knot 3.37 4.64 5.18 Brimstone Moth 3.05 1.11 3.25 Black Rustic 2.40 2.49 2.59 Garden Carpet 2.14 1.13 1.02 Red-green Carpet 2.14 2.04 4.52 Snout 2.02 1.75 3.36 Centre-barred Sallow 2.02 0.17 0.68 Flounced Rustic 1.81 0.23 0.70 Silver Y 1.65 2.98 3.66 Barred Sallow 1.65 0.94 2.23 Willow Beauty 1.63 0.75 0.77 Green Carpet 1.63 0.38 0.73 Garden Rose Tortrix 1.56 0.89 2.02 Angle Shades 1.53 1.94 2.64 Spruce Carpet 1.47 0.91 3.75 Flame Shoulder 1.40 0.23 0.75 Straw Dot 1.37 0.94 0.91 Canary-shouldered Thorn 1.23 0.40 1.09 Feathered Thorn 0.98 0.60 2.27 Rosy Rustic 0.91 0.83 2.00 Beaded Chestnut 0.84 1.00 1.16 Sallow 0.60 0.42 0.86 Small Square-spot 0.56 0.66 0.64 Burnished Brass 0.37 0.60 0.66 Nothing 1.14 1.87 0.57

As you all must now know, the nothing records referred to the number of weeks with a count of zero moths. An average of 1.87 empty weeks out of 9 for 2008 showed the worst autumn figures, while 2007 with a figure of 1.14 was slightly better and the mild autumn of 2009 much better still with only 0.57 empty trap weeks on average across the region. With only three years of autumn newsletter data then it was difficult to draw any conclusions on population trends. But, what patterns can be seen above? There was an amazing similarity in nearly all species with populations going down from 2007 to 2008 and then up from 2008 to 2009. The only species that didn’t go down in 2008 were Common Marbled Carpet, Small Square-spot, Black Rustic, Blair’s Shoulder-knot, Beaded Chestnut, Angleshades, Burnished Brass and Silver Y. The only species that didn’t increase in 2009 were Garden Carpet, Small Square-spot and Straw Dot. How did 2009 compare with 2007, was it better or worse? For 12 species, 2007 was better than 2009, while for 20 species, 2009 was better than 2007. Species that performed poorly in 2009 were;

Page 7 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Garden Carpet, Willow Beauty and Square-spot Rustic. While species that performed particularly well in 2009 were; Light Brown Apple Moth, the Carpets, Red-green, Common Marbled and Spruce, Feathered Thorn, Blair’s Shoulder-knot and Rosy Rustic. So, on average 2009 showed a slight improvement on 2007. Did you notice these trends in your garden? And were the trends similar in other areas? Only more years of surveying for GMS will tell us, so keep on trapping next year for 2010!

Rosy Rustic performed well in 2009 – D. Grundy

Final Quarter in Scotland. Heather Young, GMS regional co-ordinator.

With almost all Scottish results now in, I can reveal the final ‘scores on the doors’ for GMS 2009, with the top ten species shown below, along with the autumn winners from Quarter 4. Of the autumn species, only Spruce Carpet occurred in large enough numbers to force its way into the overall Scottish top ten (and is still flying into the winter) – do we have the Forestry Commission to thank for that, I wonder? It probably won’t be long before the Light Brown Apple Moth joins the list though, having established a foothold via Anne-Marie’s coastal garden in Anstruther, Fife.

I had thought that Large Yellow Underwing was a little scarcer the further north you go, until Lee’s results came in from Orkney – 416 of them, almost twice as many as anyone else! Lee also recorded the highest number of Hebrew Character in the spring, was a clear winner for Garden Tiger, and had a fantastic 58 Magpie moths – a species reported in Waring & Townsend as ‘rarely’ recorded in Orkney (Christine’s in Rosehall, Sutherland was the only other Scottish garden with this species). The downside for Lee was that since mid-September, the only moths have been a few LYU stragglers, with 5 empty traps to finish proceedings!

Page 8 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Quarter 4 GMS 2009 Species Average no. per garden Species Average no. per garden Spruce carpet 27.8 Large yellow 91.1 underwing Yellow-line quaker 7.9 Hebrew character 48.6 Red-green carpet 6.6 Lesser broad-bordered 44.7 yellow underwing Grey pine carpet 5.4 Common Quaker 38.6 Rosy rustic 4.7 Bird-cherry ermine 30.9 Large yellow 4.4 Spruce carpet 28.8 underwing Light brown apple 4.3 Lesser yellow 26.6 moth underwing Common marbled 3.3 Dotted clay 24.3 carpet The chestnut 2.9 Dark arches 21.0 Green-brindled 2.8 Clouded drab 14.5 crescent

Autumn highlights have to include the lovely Merveille du Jour, just outside the Q4 top twenty (although mine appeared on a non-GMS night), Feathered Thorn for its fantastic antennae, and the inappropriately-named December moth, because it reminds me of chocolate.

Overall, on results received to date, Scottish gardens averaged 794 individuals of 81 GMS species, the range being 30 (yes, thirty – sorry Scott) to 1,918 moths, of 19 to 134 species (Mark in Linlithgow topping the diversity Feathered Thorn © Ramsay Young chart). I was particularly interested in the performance of my home-made Skinner-type trap with a 40W actinic tube, and pleased to find it attracted 87% of the average number of species coming to MV, despite only having 35% of the total moths average.

Congratulations to Lewis in Killiecrankie, our youngest Scottish GMS-er, on completing his apprenticeship with over 1,000 moths to identify, and not yet fed up with it, he’s volunteered to keep going for the winter scheme as well!

When all results are returned there should be data for 17 gardens this year, compared to only 4 in 2008; with 3 new recruits joining in for the winter GMS (there will be 7 of us braving the elements to trap all the way through to March), 2010 should be even better. My thanks to everyone who has participated this year, and I really hope you will carry on next time, as the GMS continues to grow and develop into a very valuable barometer for UK (and Irish) moths. The Annual Report will have the full analysis of the results, and I will try to produce a regional report for the Scottish contingent (unless you all bombard me with e-mails saying you’ve had enough already!). It has come to my attention that one lucky moth-er in Ayrshire can claim the first Scottish record for the rare autumn migrant, Hymenia recurvalis - well done, Don! Best wishes for Christmas, New Year, and the mothing off-season for those of you taking a break, and for winter trappers – Pale Brindled Beauty has already been seen down south. Bring it on!

Page 9 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Report from Wales Norman Lowe GMS Co-ordinator, Wales

Recorders in Wales have contributed results from 31 gardens for the week 28-36 period, a record for any quarter since we started in 2007. As co-ordinator for Wales I’d like to say thank you to all the recorders. It was particularly helpful that so many of you sent me your records in super-quick time, often before I had chance to ask for them.

The results for the commonest 20 species in autumn 2009 are shown in the table below, together with the mean number of moths per garden in the previous two years. It’s always difficult to make sense of such a list of numbers but in general the numbers do seem to be better than 2008. It’s also interesting that all of the geometers in this list showed higher numbers per garden than in 2007 and all but Spruce Carpet showed the highest numbers in the entire period.

Total No. per garden Species number of moths 2009 2008 2007 1 Common Marbled Carpet 700 22.58 9.06 10.8 2 Spruce Carpet 554 17.87 6.89 30.33 3 Large Yellow Underwing 540 17.42 2.56 33.13 4 Setaceous Hebrew Character 335 10.81 5.72 9.93 5 Black Rustic 280 9.03 6.28 11.13 6 Lesser Yellow Underwing 251 8.10 3.44 12.73 7 Square-spot Rustic 243 7.84 7.67 26.93 8 Yellow-line Quaker 229 7.39 3.17 1.73 9 Light Brown Apple Moth 204 6.80 3.36 5.87 10 Red-line Quaker 197 6.35 2.94 1.67 11 Silver Y 194 6.26 3.22 3.2 12 Brimstone Moth 191 6.16 1.78 5.4 13 Autumnal Rustic 164 5.29 1.33 5.2 14 Red-green Carpet 158 5.10 3.72 2 15 Green-brindled Crescent 147 4.74 0.94 4.67 16 Feathered Thorn 109 3.52 0.72 2.93 17 Angle Shades 109 3.52 2.5 4.2 18 Blair's Shoulder-knot 90 2.90 1 5.87 18 Feathered Ranunculus 89 2.87 1.5 0.7 20 Chestnut 87 2.81 4.33 2.2

Last winter was one of the coldest in recent years and we did wonder whether this would have an impact on the numbers of autumn moths. In particular we wondered if, for those species over- wintering as the egg, a warm wet winter might increase mortality due to fungal attack, which might not have been so prevalent in the colder, dryer, winter of 2008/2009. And for some species our hopes of increased numbers do seem to have been realised. Both Yellow-line Quaker and Red-line Quaker were about in greater numbers, as was Feathered Ranunculus. But not all the autumn species have benefited to the same extent. The table below shows how the GMS Sallows, Chestnuts and their relatives that over-winter as an egg fared over the last 3 years compared with those overwintering as the adult or larva.

Page 10 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 No. per garden Over- % change Species wintering 2009 2008 2007 2007-2009 stage Satellite 0.29 0.11 0.53 -46 Moth Chestnut 2.81 4.33 2.20 28 Moth Dark Chestnut 0.55 0.72 0.47 18 Moth Brick 0.52 0.33 0.75 -31 Egg Red-line Quaker 6.35 2.94 1.67 281 Egg Yellow-line Quaker 7.39 3.17 1.73 327 Egg Brown-spot Pinion 0.32 0.11 0.27 21 Egg Beaded Chestnut 0.48 0.11 1.75 -72 Egg Centre-barred Sallow 0.87 0.17 2.25 -61 Egg Lunar Underwing 2.42 3.06 5.93 -59 Larva Barred Sallow 0.58 0.28 0.30 94 Egg Pink-barred Sallow 1.94 1.17 1.65 17 Egg Sallow 0.77 0.28 2.35 -67 Egg

Although, as noted above the Red and Yellow-line Quakers have done well, the others that over- winter as an egg show no clear pattern and certainly no obvious increases, and the same can be said of those over-wintering as the moth or larva. Maybe it’s better to over-winter as a pupa!

Summary of East Midlands Results for Weeks 28 to 36

Roger Freestone, East Midlands GMS Co-ordinator [email protected]

For this quarter 17 sets of records have been received for Weeks 28 to 36, which is 2 down on the last two quarters but it is still a very good response rate. I have summarised these data in a table, see Table 1 below:

East VC53 & VC55 VC56 VC57 VC 32 Midlands VC54 No. of Returns 17 2 6 6 1 1 Total No. of Moths 2,497 522 724 765 216 270 Average/Garden 147 261 121 109 108 270 Maximum 352 352 229 196 499 270 Moths/Garden Max 39 30 39 39 23 37 Species/Garden No. of "Nothing" 17 1 6 7 2 1

Table 1: 2009 East Midlands Data Summary: Weeks 28 to 36

Page 11 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Weeks 28 to 36 Charts

Table 2 presents the Top Twenty moths recorded during Weeks 28 to 36 based on total moths recorded. % Gardens Maximum Total Recording Moths Species Moths Spp per Garden 1 Large Yellow Underwing 380 94% 60 2 Light Brown Apple Moth 343 76% 72 3 Lesser Yellow Underwing 223 88% 46 4 Lunar Underwing 151 76% 60 Setaceous Hebrew 5 Character 150 88% 47 6 Common Marbled Carpet 106 76% 22 7 Square-spot Rustic 75 76% 26 8 Blair's Shoulder-knot 75 65% 20 9 Beaded Chestnut 61 29% 28 10 Yellow-line Quaker 48 35% 17 11 Garden Rose Tortrix 47 53% 15 12 Red-line Quaker 46 53% 15 13 Angle Shades 41 53% 12 14 Silver Y 38 65% 8 15 Brick 36 18% 31 16 Turnip Moth 32 24% 26 17 Green-brindled Crescent 31 41% 15 18 Common Wainscot 30 53% 7 19 Black Rustic 30 53% 10 20 Willow Beauty 29 59% 9 Table 2: 2009 East Midlands “TopTwenty” based on Total Moths Recorded

From a review of the above it can be seen that Beaded Chestnut, Yellow-line Quaker, Brick and Turnip were only recorded in 29%, 35%, 18% and 24% of gardens respectively. If the Top Twenty is based on the % of Gardens recording a species then these species disappear from the Top Twenty (See Table 3 below). This analysis of the data gives a more accurate picture of species distribution.

% Gardens Maximum Recording Total Moths Species Spp Moths per Garden 1 Large Yellow Underwing 94% 380 60 2 Lesser Yellow Underwing 88% 223 46 Setaceous Hebrew 3 Character 88% 150 47 4 Light Brown Apple Moth 76% 343 72 Table 3: 2009 East 5 Lunar Underwing 76% 151 60 Midlands 6 Common Marbled Carpet 76% 106 22 7 Square-spot Rustic 76% 75 26 “TopTwenty” based 8 Blair's Shoulder-knot 65% 75 20 on % Gardens 9 Silver Y 65% 38 8 Recording Species 10 Nothing 65% 17 3 11 Willow Beauty 59% 29 9 12 Garden Rose Tortrix 53% 47 15 13 Red-line Quaker 53% 46 15 14 Angle Shades 53% 41 12 15 Common Wainscot 53% 30 7 16 Black Rustic 53% 30 10 17 Red-green Carpet 53% 15 3 18 Feathered Thorn 47% 26 10 19 Pale Mottled Willow 47% 21 7 =20 Green-brindled Crescent 41% 31 15 =20 Garden Carpet 41% 20 7

Page 12 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

Reporting of micros with the exception of the Light Brown Apple and Garden Rose Tortrix moths was very sparse as can be seen in Table 4.

Total Species Recorded Light Brown Apple Moth 343 Garden Rose Tortrix 47 Ruddy Streak 8 Agriphila geniculea 6 Spotted Magpie 5 Diamond-back Moth 3 White-shouldered House-moth 3 Agapeta hamana 3 Garden Pebble 2 Brown House-moth 1 Gold Triangle 1 Bee Moth 1

Table 3: 2009 East Midlands Micros Recorded

East Midlands “Golden Garden” Remember this section is for a bit of fun and should not be taken too seriously! No. of Moths Recorded: In VC53 Pamela Carter’s garden recorded a total of 352 moths of 30 species which is well over double the average for the East Midlands. No. of species recorded: Yet again David and Mary Penton’s Market Bosworth VC55 suburban garden yielded the greatest number of species at 39 (187 moths) but this was equalled by John Clarkson in VC56 (196 moths). If we go for sheer quantity then Pamela Carter’s garden is this quarter’s “Golden Garden”. Pamela’s garden previously won this accolade for weeks 10 to 18.

Many thanks to all EM recorders who returned their records so promptly, I will be chasing the remaining data sets so we have the complete data for the 2009 GMS.

Satellite Feathered Thorn

Two autumn visitors to GMS traps ( pics. Malcolm Bridge )

Page 13 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

Report from the South-east Region

Malcolm Bridge and David Gardner

34 gardens in SE region Position Aggregate Av. per Av.per Av. per Av. per weeks wk28-36 trap 2009 trap all of trap all of trap all of 2009 wks28-36 28-36 2009 wk28-36 2009 2008 2007 2009 34 sites 15 sites 15 sites Large Yellow Underwing 1st 1970 57.94 109.07 152.36 168.73 Lunar Underwing 2nd 1606 47.24 48.35 7.49 21.07 Square-spot Rustic 3rd 1443 42.44 84.24 37.86 44.47 Setaceous Hebrew Character 4th 557 16.38 65.0 27.57 25.07 Light Brown Apple moth 5th 412 12.12 40.55 30.14 39.4 Lesser Yellow Underwing 6th 379 11.15 19.28 19.79 20.73 Pale Mottled Willow 7th 258 7.59 22.78 59.0 39.93 Common Marbled Carpet 8th 190 5.59 13.24 12.29 11.26 Willow Beauty 9th 176 5.18 31.07 31.07 20.07 Flounced Rustic 10th 161 4.74 17.56 6.43 11.27 Blair’s Shoulder-knot 11th 144 4.26 4.26 1.36 3.2 Yellow-line Quaker 12th= 138 4.06 4.06 1.64 1.2 Barred Sallow 12th= 138 4.06 4.06 1.14 3.27 Black Rustic 14th 136 4.00 4.00 1.57 2.93 Light Emerald 15th 119 3.50 10.76 10.0 12.26 Red-green Carpet 16th 115 3.38 3.86 4.5 1.46 Red-line Quaker 17th 111 3.26 3.26 1.0 1.07 Shuttle-shaped Dart 18th 101 2.97 23.41 12.79 19.73 Feathered Thorn 19th 95 2.80 3.0 0.71 1.2 Chestnut 20th 89 2.62 3.66 2.36 3.0

The table above identifies the top 20 GMS moths in the south-east region for weeks 28-36, 2009. Despite Yellow Underwings turning up well into October, hence number one position for the autumn, it will come as no surprise that the species recorded its lowest annual count in the three years of GMS in the region. Direct comparisons are not possible because of the doubling of GMS gardens sending in data in the region but the pattern is the same when the much smaller number of gardens which have submitted three years of data are considered. Hidden within this data are several local differences some of which you will notice when you compare the table above with your own garden records. In my case, trapping in suburban Crystal Palace, this year has yielded the smallest number of Lunar Underwings during the present decade. But SE GMS data reveals that Lunar Underwings have posted their best totals in the 2007-9 period with 2009 the best year of three – and by a wide margin. Autumn numbers from the end of September were generally poor for me but, clearly, average or better for several of you. Overall the species showing a significant decline, 2007-9, are Large Yellow Underwing and Pale Mottled Willow. Those which show signs of increasing numbers are Lunar Underwing, Square-spot Rustic, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Flounced Rustic, Yellow-line Quaker, Red-line Quaker and Feathered Thorn. So, for the autumnal specialists, there are more winners than losers. Three years of data is not sufficient, of course, to draw meaningful conclusions but, with each year of GMS recording, patterns are emerging which will become increasingly significant in the years ahead. David Gardner, joint SE Regional co- ordinator, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the growing band of SE Region GMS mothers for your continuing support and prompt return of spreadsheets.

Page 14 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Do we need a core species list? Norman Lowe

Readers may remember that in the summer newsletter I suggested that we might be able to obtain more value from recorders’ work if we adopted a core species list of moths that were common throughout the British Isles. Since I raised it, Dave Grundy asked me to progress the idea and to get comments on a range of options.

The questions I asked myself were: • Are we missing out on obtaining better information covering the whole of the British Isles if some species are on most, but not all, of the 12 regional lists as they appear on the GMS website? • If we fill in these “gaps” and ensure that all species currently in 9,10 or 11 of the 12 lists are added to the others, will it make the lists too long and unwieldy? • Should we go further and add extra species such as those thought likely to spread north in the next few years? • Should we add, as aggregates, common species that cannot normally be identified to species, such as Common Rustic agg.? • What would be a statistician’s view of these issues?

In order to “test the water” I circulated some suggested core lists to the area co-ordinators and to Jon Sadler, who is undertaking statistical analysis of the data so far.

Assuming that the 76 species currently in all 12 lists would already qualify the question was, how many more, if any, should we add. I ended up with 2 suggestions. List 1 (58 species) consisted of those species in 11 or more out of 12 existing lists plus those in 10 of the 12 that were classed as Research UKBAP species and “Vulnerable” or “Endangered” in the BC report “The state of Britain’s larger moths”. Many recorders might be surprised at some of the species on List 1, perhaps assuming that they were common everywhere. The fact that they are apparently not so is an interesting result in itself

Proposed additional species - List 1 Ghost Moth Flame Orange Swift Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing Common Swift True Lover's Knot Brown House-moth Ingrailed Clay Garden Rose Tortrix Small Square-spot Garden Grass-veneer Double Square-spot Agriphila straminella Cabbage Moth Agriphila tristella Dot Moth Bee Moth Smoky Wainscot Chinese Character Common Wainscot Buff Arches Black Rustic March Moth Blair's Shoulder-knot Small Dusty Wave Green-brindled Crescent Barred Straw Red-line Quaker Grey Pine Carpet Yellow-line Quaker Spruce Carpet Pink-barred Sallow July Highflyer Mouse Moth Lime-speck Pug Dusky Brocade Magpie Rosy Rustic

Page 15 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Peppered Moth (Intermediate) Mottled Rustic Peppered Moth (Dark) Beautiful Golden Y Common White Wave Plain Golden Y Common Wave Garden Tiger Buff-tip Powdered Quaker Pebble Prominent Shoulder-striped Wainscot Pale Prominent Brown-spot Pinion Ruby Tiger Beaded Chestnut Turnip Moth Sallow Dark Sword-grass Knot Grass

List 2 (99 species) consisted of all those moths in 9 or more of the 12 lists.

Proposed additional species – List 2 Ghost Moth Garden Tiger Orange Swift Muslin Moth Common Swift Ruby Tiger Brown House-moth Short-cloaked Moth Oak Longhorned Turnip Moth Green Oak Tortrix Dark Sword-grass Garden Rose Tortrix Shuttle-shaped Dart Garden Grass-veneer Flame Agriphila straminella Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing Agriphila tristella Least Yellow Underwing Brown China-mark True Lover's Knot Spotted Magpie Ingrailed Clay Udea olivalis Small Square-spot Rusty-dot Pearl Double Square-spot Rush Veneer Six-striped Rustic Gold Triangle Gothic Bee Moth Cabbage Moth Chinese Character Dot Moth Buff Arches Pale-shouldered Brocade March moth Broom Moth Common Emerald Powdered Quaker Blood-vein Smoky Wainscot Small Blood-vein Common Wainscot Small Dusty Wave Shoulder-striped Wainscot Flame Carpet Black Rustic Barred Straw Blair's Shoulder-knot Grey Pine Carpet Green-brindled Crescent Spruce Carpet Satellite July Highflyer Dark Chestnut Rivulet Brick Small Rivulet Red-line Quaker Lime-speck Pug Yellow-line Quaker Magpie Brown-spot Pinion Brown Silver-line Beaded Chestnut Purple Thorn Barred Sallow Brindled Beauty Pink-barred Sallow

Page 16 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Oak Beauty Sallow Peppered Moth (Intermediate) Miller Peppered Moth (Dark) Knot Grass Dotted Border Mouse Moth Common White Wave Brown Rustic Common Wave Clouded-bordered Brindle Lime Hawk-moth Dusky Brocade Buff-tip Rustic Shoulder-knot Pebble Prominent Rosy Rustic Swallow Prominent Mottled Rustic Pale Prominent Beautiful Golden Y Vapourer Plain Golden Y Pale Tussock Small Fan-foot Yellow-tail

It was also important to know what effect these proposed changes would have on the length of the species lists. Would it make them too long and unwieldy? The following table summarises the effect that they would have on each of the existing 12 lists. For each list the left-hand column shows the number of species that would be added and the right-hand column shows the new total for that area.

List 1 List 2

Additions Total Additions Total Yorkshire & Humberside 0 207 0 207 Channel Islands 0 207 0 207 Wales 1 214 2 215 East of England 1 248 8 255 East Midlands 0 251 0 251 Ireland 11 189 29 207 West Midlands 0 224 2 226 NE England 9 207 40 238 NW England 18 215 35 232 Scotland 4 231 19 246 SE England 14 223 28 237 SW England 1 251 3 253

Currently the longest list (E Midlands) contains 251 species and the shortest (Ireland) 178. Adding the species in List 1 would make no difference to the length of the longest list and even adding all the species on List 2 would only increase the maximum length to 255 species - this would actually be the E England list. But now the shortest lists (Yorkshire & Humberside, Channel Islands and Ireland) would increase to 207 species.

Most of the co-ordinators responded to my suggestions and of those who did, all were in favour of a formal Core List and all thought that List 1 was too short. Most voted for List 2 and there was one suggestion that, in order to create a stable long-term data set, we should have a Core List longer than List 2. It was also thought by some that we should consider adding incoming species such as the Ruddy Streak Tachystola acroxantha. From a statistician’s point of view, Jon Sadler advised us to go with the longest list we could manage.

Page 17 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Most co-ordinators were also in favour of adding in some aggregate species, for example: 1795x November Moth agg. 2337x Marbled Minor agg 2343x Common Rustic agg. 2283x Grey Dagger agg. 2297x Copper Underwing agg.

But before any decisions are made it is important that you, the recorders, can tell us what you think. So, could you consider the following questions and let me know your views – send them to me at [email protected] . I’ll then put all the views together and we’ll come to a decision in time to produce the Data Entry lists for 2010. Here are the questions: Should there be a Core List containing at least some species not currently found on all 12 of the existing regional lists? If so, would you be in favour of : • List 1 • List 2 • More than List 2 • Something different? Should we consider adding species that are likely to spread rapidly across the British Isles? If so, which ones? Should we add in aggregate species? If so are the ones suggested above the right ones?

Remember, the more people send in their views, the more the scheme will represent the wishes of its recorders.

So, What About Other Moth News? Dave Grundy

Butterfly Conservation are hosting the English Moth Recorders’ Conference

The third English Moth Recorders’ Conference will be held on Saturday 23rd January 2010 at the Birmingham and Midland Institute in central Birmingham. This is a great opportunity for moth recorders to be updated on the Moths Count project and the NMRS, meet fellow moth recorders and share moth recording experiences. This is a free event with some excellent speakers, which includes tea, coffee and lunch, but places are limited. Pre-booking is essential and find out further details by contacting [email protected] or 01929 406009.

Winter GMS – 2009 to 2010

The Winter GMS is now up and running for its second season and we expect at least 50 of you to take part. To the rest of you, then enjoy your well earned rest over the winter and re-charge your batteries ready for the March 5th 2010 re-start.

The Winter GMS runs for 16 weeks and we will just produce one newsletter following the 16th week of the scheme. So, please keep filling in your recording form every week and then send it back to your area coordinator after week 16 (February 26th 2010) and definitely back to us by March 19th. We will then get the Winter Newsletter together in time to come out early in April 2010. This will go to everyone in the GMS, whether you are taking part in the Winter GMS or not. It will again be open to all GMS-ers to send in articles and digital photographs, so please keep sending them in to make the next newsletter a success. We especially look forward to articles from recorders new into GMS (how was your first year?). The newsletter will be sent out by email

Page 18 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 wherever possible to save costs, so please try to arrange to receive it by email if you can. This then cuts down considerably on paper use for environmental reasons and cuts down on costs to GMS for postage, photocopying etc. It also saves time for your GMS coordinators in addressing and filling envelopes.

The GMS Chat-site

The chat-site is still growing all the time for GMS-ers who want to chat about their catches each week or want identification help or advice on moths. You will get to hear what other people from around Britain and Ireland are trapping. If you want to join the chatsite, then get in touch with John Bryan on [email protected] or Dave Grundy on [email protected] and mention the passwords Marbled Beauty to show that you are in the GMS.

2009 records

We now have records back from an amazing 259 gardens across Britain and Ireland, which is fantastic and will form such an important database to tell us about the fortunes of moths. But, there are quite a few of you out there who still need to return their records, so please, please, please get your garden records back to us as soon as possible and definitely by December 31st. Records for your garden are incredibly important to us, so please don’t think that your garden doesn’t matter – it does, get those records in quickly. If we have to start chasing people for records then it can be quite a hassle for us and for you, so please get them back to us quickly. If for some reason you did not manage to complete the recording year then please don’t be shy about telling us that. We would rather you let us know as soon as possible. There is nothing worse for us than putting in lots of effort chasing records from someone only to find out that the person hadn’t finished their records anyway! These records will then be input to the main GMS database and used to calculate details of what has happened to our moths for the GMS Annual Report and for the AGM. There is a lot of work involved in all of this.

GMS AGM and Annual Report

A warm welcome at the front door of Chaddesley Village Hall for last year’s GMS AGM

You should have already made a note in your diary! - So that you can’t possibly be double booked – the GMS AGM will be on Sunday March 14th from 11am to 4pm, 2010 at Colwall Village Hall (near Malvern) in Herefordshire. We will send directions to everyone who books, nearer the time! You can bring friends and family too, but we will be limited to around 100

Page 19 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 bookings for the hall. If you want to get into the first 100 to book then please get in touch direct to me or via your area coordinator. Please book now if you want to come along.

Speakers this year will include, Norman Lowe our Wales area coordinator telling us about GMS news from Wales. We will have a talk by Rosemary Winnall, on other invertebrates caught in traps. Jon Sadler from Birmingham University and OPAL on early findings from his research on the GMS database. Dave Grundy will give a general round-up on GMS 2009 and previous years plus a look forward to 2010, plus another speaker to be finalised. Anglian Lepidopterist Supplies will again bring a stall to the event, selling moth traps etc - please contact them beforehand if you want to order something special (remember that it will save you the postage!). We are also hoping to have Atropos Books back again selling moth books. Finally exclusively available at the AGM will be our official GMS t-shirts for sale, so make sure you come along to buy one.

For those who don’t make it to the GMS AGM and I know for quite a lot of you it is probably too far to come, then never mind the GMS Annual Report for 2009 should be coming out in March and will include information from the 2009 round-up as heard at the AGM and using all of your results.

Brisk sales at the Atropos stall of the 2009 GMS AGM

The GMS Questionnaire

Very important to your records being as valuable as possible is that we need you to fill in a GMS questionnaire form if you haven’t already. So if you haven’t yet done this then please get your form filled in now. If you can’t find your form then you can download a copy from the files section of the chat-site, or from our garden moths website at www.gardenmoths.org.uk or you can receive a copy from your area coordinator by email.

More Recorders for 2010

So, here we are rushing toward the March 5th start to the 2010 GMS season. We want to expand the GMS further with more recorders across Britain and Ireland. So, if you know of any other people out there who might like to take part in the GMS then please ask them to get in touch. Just think, if we all recruit one new recorder then GMS will grow from 250 recorders in 2009 to 500 in 2010! – so if you have any moth-trapping friends that aren’t yet in the GMS then get them signed up. Also

Page 20 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 let us know about any moth-trapper meetings that we could give a talk to or moth newsletters or websites that we could add an article to.

As you know GMS is totally voluntary and is coordinated by volunteers and we do have some running costs to keep this well-oiled GMS machine working well. If you know of any organisations or individuals that might like to send us a donation then please let us know. If your organisation is interested then in exchange for a donation you can have an advert in our regular newsletter or even in our website – just get in touch for more details.

GMS Recording for 2010

GMS 2010 will start on March 5th 2010, so I hope that you will all be keen to continue GMS recording in the coming year. Recording forms will come out to you just before the start along with instructions. Make sure that your trap is in full working order before that – try it out in February to check that it is still working well.

Helping your area coordinator out in any way possible will be great – maybe you can help them by recruiting extra recorders in your local area or maybe you can help them by filling in your form perfectly. Details for filling in the form correctly for the winter or summer are all given in the instructions, but you will probably be surprised to hear that most recorders don’t manage this task successfully (just ask your area coordinator if you need help with this – as that will help them in the long run). As the GMS gets larger and larger then that means more and more admin work for area coordinators checking that you have filled in your name, vice county, trap type or date etc properly – this is time they don’t really want to spend, but necessary to keep getting a high quality dataset for correct statistical analysis. Some recorders use the alphabetical order list of species for recording their GMS moth records, but this creates a lot of extra work for coordinators to re-sort your list to species number order and this can be a real headache (as is any alteration to the layout of the recording form). So please try hard to use the species number order version of the recording form. This has the added bonus that species are in the same order that they are in for all field guides and helps you to learn about moth taxonomy, which will help you to learn better moth ID in time. If there are species of micro-moths on your recording form that you can’t manage to identify then please let us know by adding an X to the column provided – this is important to us in analysis of records.

Another cause of extra work for your coordinator is if they need to get back in touch with you to check up on a record. There are usually two types of records that they need to check up – when you have recorded a moth species outside its usual flight period – such as a Silver-ground Carpet or Hebrew Character in August or September (check your field guide if you are unsure of flight periods for species). When you send in your records then in your covering email mention the fact that you really did see this Hebrew Character in September and if possible even send us a photo of it for proof. Commonly mistaken species include Hebrew Characters claimed in Setaceous Hebrew Character flight period and Common Swift claimed in Orange Swift flight period. The other regular record that needs checking is if say in successive weeks you see 1, 2, 77, 4, 2 Straw Dots in your garden – the record of 77 rings alarm bells for coordinators that it might be a mistake – maybe you slipped with the keyboard and meant 7? But, if you really did see 77 then please point this out to us in your covering email and this will help save time.

Remember that for statistical reasons of keeping a quality database we won’t be able to accept a recorder’s recording form in 2010 if they miss more than 9 weeks from the 36 week summer scheme or if they miss more than 4 weeks from the 16 week winter scheme. Similarly for both recording schemes we can’t manage with any more than 3 weeks in a row of missed recording. So, if this is likely to happen with you then don’t let us know at the end of the year, but let us know if

Page 21 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 you are having problems with your trap and maybe we can help out by finding another GMS recorder nearby who can maybe lend you a trap, bulb or electrics temporarily. If you are planning to go away for more than 3 weeks in a row then try to trap the night before you go and the night you get back and try to get a friend to run the trap for you while you are away – it is a great burglar deterrent while you are away to have the trap on all night!

GMS Website

Check out the Garden Moth Scheme website at www.gardenmoths.org.uk and keep on using it for any information you need about the GMS. There are copies of recording forms and instructions, newsletters and annual reports for you to download. Also there are regional or country pages for your part of Britain and Ireland with contact details for your area coordinator. In addition there are moth species lists for each area and if you click on view current list and then click on the species number you get a direct link to the relevant page of UKMoths website to help you with identification of the species. We are still developing the Links page, so if you know of a website that we should link to then please let us know and we will add it to the site – particularly important are sites for equipment and book suppliers and for moth groups and Butterfly Conservation branches, or are there other moth-related organisations that we are missing, or maybe garden related websites. Just let us know and we will try to update the website.

Trapping the fly-by-nighters by Stephen Plummer

Have you ever thought about setting up a regular moth trap in your garden? It’s something that I’d wanted to do for years but never got around to. I’d built up a small list of moths over the years, including a Swallow-tailed moth discovered in the bathroom, and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth that had somehow wandered into the kitchen, both recorded in the autumn of 2005. But I confess that I doubted whether my very small, mostly paved rear garden here in Ampthill would actually yield much.

Then last December I came across an email that Andy Banthorpe had forwarded to the Beds Moth Group from a representative of the Garden Moth Scheme (GMS), encouraging new people to get involved. After running in the West Midlands from 2003 to 2006, the GMS now has people all over the UK recording moths in their gardens once a week between March and November, and sending the results to the GMS on a spreadsheet for analysis. This was the nudge that I needed. I contacted one of the Scheme’s representatives and was delighted to be offered a free 15W Actinic Skinner Moth Trap and accessories, one of 10 available to be given to new members. In March of this year I started putting the trap out every Thursday night. After a few disappointingly empty traps, I was really excited on March 19th to find my first six moths: four Common Quakers, a Small Quaker and a Clouded Drab. Lift off! From then on the species list started to grow. Some of my favourites during those early days included The Streamer, a beautiful violet-tinged specimen, and the dramatic Nut-tree Tussock. But I guess it’s the Hawkmoth family that has the biggest ‘wow’ factor for most of us. I just didn’t think I would ever get any on my little patch. Then on May 14th, I peered into the trap to find a stunning bright Lime Hawkmoth clinging to the sides. I couldn’t believe it!

And things got even better. On May 26th I put the trap out as usual, but awoke in the early hours to the sound of heavy rain outside my window. It was 2.30 am but I reluctantly decided to get up and move the trap into the garage, getting soaked in the process. In the afternoon I brought the trap out into the fresh air to dry and was overjoyed to find a Small Elephant Hawkmoth inside. A few days later I caught my first Elephant Hawkmoth and, since then, I have also added Privet Hawkmoth and

Page 22 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Poplar Hawkmoth to the list...so I’d happily been very wrong in my assumptions! By now, much to my wife Carole’s despair, I was getting hooked, and the trap was being set up several times a week! Throughout June the number of species recorded continued to rise: Figure of Eight, Bird’s Wing, Lime-speck Pug, Spectacle, Bee Moth, Brown China-mark, Common Emerald, Smoky Wainscot and other marvellously named specimens visited my tiny patch. One night towards the end of June I had over 100 moths in the trap comprising 43 species! Those that I didn’t know I photographed and put on my Blog. Our recorders, Andy and Melissa Banthorpe and David Manning, would take a look and help me ID them to species if my - admittedly poor - photos showed the relevant detail. July was a memorable month. On the evening of July 2nd I joined Andy and Melissa who were running a few traps at Maulden Wood. It was the most incredible night and I managed to see most of the record number of over 160 species that were recorded! The highlight for me was the stunning black and white spotted Leopard Moth which fluttered to the light fairly late on. Andy and Melissa gave me permission to take it home to photograph. When I got home in the early hours, I wandered into the back garden to see what was in my own trap before turning in...only to find two Leopard Moths resting on the egg boxes! It’s always exciting to find something rare. A neat but relatively featureless moth in my trap that same night turned out to be a Fen Wainscot, the 15th Bedfordshire record, and a small micro-moth that turned up on August 17th was identified by David from my Blog as Aroga velocella, only the 3rd Bedfordshire record. I reckon this one must have come from Cooper’s Hill where it was recorded in 1997. So far my little patch has recorded 173 separate species: a real revelation to me. Let me encourage you to get yourself a trap and have a go if, like me, you’ve been putting it off for some time. Maybe you’d like to become a part of the Garden Moth Scheme. Our Recorders are always really helpful in giving advice and helping with identification, and your records are always appreciated. There is a Beds Moth Group on the Internet where you can learn how other people are getting on, and there are lots of other helpful websites to inspire you.

You just never know what will be there when you peer into the trap in the morning. But I warn you now: it’s addictive!

Bernard Skinner, one of the outstanding moth experts of the last thirty plus years, in action in late July running three moth traps at a Local Nature Reserve, Hutchinson’s Bank, south Croydon. Bernard lives nearby and has just posted a total of 300 macros for the reserve. The editor of GMS News was pleased to be part of the sessions.

Page 23 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 Some newcomers to Tadcaster for 2009 David Baker, Tadcaster, Yorkshire

After ten years recording I always start the year thinking something new will turn up, a bit like Mr. Micawber, it’s just “what are they going to be?” Well, the first this year was micro 0666 Semioscopis avellanella which turned up in early April and this was followed quickly by the first new macro 1775 Mottled Grey.

April also accounted for 0329 Phyllonorycter spinicolella and 2185 Lead-coloured Drab.

I then had to wait until 08 June for my next new macro, 2170 Varied Coronet which supplemented a Marbled Coronet of seven years ago. How many of us have a “once only” record of a species?? Many I suspect! I had 3 more micros before my next new macro on 11th August. I have long wanted to catch this 2300 Old Lady, but thought I must be out of its range.

One of the above-mentioned micros was the distinctive 0418 Argyresthia conjugella and then, lo and behold, another one I had noted others catching and still not yet seen i.e. 0462 Yponomeuta sequella, which must be one of the nicest looking of the group. How amazing that it should turn up with the Old Lady.

Page 24 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

It was well into September before the last of my macros arrived, this being 2384 Vine’s Rustic and things were slowing down number-wise. Of all the first-time micros I had caught this year not one was a Tortricoid or Pyralid. Until 18th October, that is, when 1055 Acleris hyemana turned up almost as a farewell to 2009.

As I cannot find any of these moths on the GMS list I find it difficult to know how common they are in other areas, my usual contacts being around Yorkshire. I hope that other recorders are still finding new species over the years and that perhaps what we find as relatively common up here may well be a nice new find for them. Good mothing to all.

I hate Christmas aka find the 55 hidden moths David Baker, Yorkshire and Humberside

“It’s December”, mother said, “the time for streamers, gold spangles and burnished brasses, let’s herald in the festive season and enjoy ourselves.” My heart sank! It’s not that I am a nonconformist but the thought of friends and strangers alike making spectacles of themselves at parties has always confused me. Why damage my reputation by forcing down large amounts of heavy food, turkey, leg of ox, ham and spuds, turnips, cabbage and brussels laced down with all that booze. And, certainly climbing over drunken sprawlers on the ruddy carpet isn’t my idea of fun. Why mothers allow it I do not know!

You see, I am not much of a drinker myself, each time I take a swallow prominent thoughts enter my brain and I hope to be inundated with dreams about beautiful golden yellow and olive coloured handmaidens, festooned in platinum, white satin, large emeralds and white ermines, looking like delicate, vestal virgins waiting with uncertainty just for a cosmopolitan anglo-saxon like me. Perhaps one of the last, raw, doting maidens blushing in their youth!

Page 25 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009 No such luck, this year I dreamed I was a traveller, with my brother, on a cross channel passenger train thinking of all the nice grey chateaux with their gothic and doric layouts, their vines, rustic cottages, old brick walls, crescent shaped windows and doors with impressive dark arches waiting for me. But what came out! Just an old lady with a huge snout looking like Mother Shipton. “Who is she?” I said, finishing my mocha, “Oh, she’s the mother of Pearl, our landlady, as quiet as a mouse, my arab room mate said. That wasn’t enough for me, Christmas still leaves me in an abnormal low state and I can’t wait for the mothing season to start again.

( Editor: David offers this as a piece of moth diversion over the coming festive season. Please e- mail me if you would like the answer sheet. I make it 55 moths to be recorded! )

NEW AREA COORDINATORS FOR NORTH WEST & WEST MIDLANDS.

North West England Contact Dave Grundy 5 Melrose Avenue, Woodfield Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham. B12 8TG Tel: 0121 446 5446 Email: [email protected]

West Midlands Contacts Alan Prior & Val Weston (Worcestershire & Warwickshire, VC37 & 38) 465, Reddings Lane, Hall Green, Birmingham, B11 3DF. Tel: 0121-778-2973 Email: [email protected]

Robin Hemming (Herefordshire, VC36 ) 17, Ash Grove View, Bodenham, Hereford, HR1 3LU. Tel: 01568-797351 Email: [email protected]

Mark Shaw (Staffordshire & Shropshire, VC39 & 40) 8, Robin Lane, Edgmond, Nr. Newport, Shropshire, TF10 8JN Tel: 01952-810491 Email: [email protected]

Diary dates to note:

English Moth Recorders’ Conference 2010

The 3rd English Moth Recorders’ Conference will be held on Saturday 23rd January 2010 at the

Birmingham and Midlands Institute in central Birmingham. We have an exciting and varied range of

speakers including both amateur moth recorders and professional ecologists and it promises to be every bit

as informative and interesting as previous conferences. We will also have stands selling moth recording equipment, books etc. The event is free (including tea, coffee and buffet lunch) and open to anyone interested in moths and moth recording, but booking is essential and places are limited. To secure your place please contact Laura Wiffen on nmrs@butterflyconservation. org or 01929 406009 as soon as possible.

24th April, Butterfly Conservation Scotland Recorder's Gathering, Battleby Centre, Redgorton, Perthshire.

National Moth Night for 2010 will be on 15th May 2010 with a theme of moths and bats.

Page 26 GMS News Autumn (weeks 28-36 ) 2009

For all your wildlife products look no further!

Sponsoring the GMS Fast dispatch ALS, Station Road, Hindolveston, Norfolk, NR 20 5DE

Editorial footnote: Once again many thanks to the regular contributors for some splendid copy and special thanks to Stephen and David for their light hearted and welcome pieces. I am happy to receive comments about the News – its content and style – but it is your News and, for that, I am most grateful. Although it will embarrass him, my thanks to Dave who continues to inspire and enthuse all of us. 2009 has been a better year overall than the two previous years here in Crystal Palace but numbers have been poor since early October. In recent days, before the current cold snap, one December moth and one Light Brown Apple moth, were the only attendees over several nights of trapping. I suspect that the latter has appeared in every month of 2009. My last words are to wish you a happy and joyous Christmas and a 2010 brimful with moths and new discoveries. Malcolm Bridge 15th December 2009

NATIONAL GMS CO-ORDINATOR: Dave Grundy 5 Melrose Avenue, Woodfield Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham. B12 8TG Tel: 0121 446 5446 Email: [email protected] Joint GMS News editors: Malcolm Bridge 2, Mayne Court, 48, Crystal Palace Park Road, Sydenham, London. SE26 6UQ Tel: 020 8289 3839 Email: [email protected] and: Norman Lowe 6, Tai Canol, Llangorse, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7UR. Tel: 01874 658453 Email: [email protected]

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