Garden Moth Scheme Report 2016
Heather Young – April 2017
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GMS Report 2016
CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 2 Top 30 species 2016 3 Population trends (?) of our commonest garden moths 5 Autumn Moths 12 Winter GMS 2016-17 14 Antler Moth infestations 16 GMS Annual Conference 2017 19 GMS Sponsors 20 Links & Acknowledgements 21
Cover photograph: Fan-foot (R. Young)
Introduction
The Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) welcomes participants from all parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and in 2016 received 341 completed recording forms, slightly fewer than last year (355). The scheme is divided into 12 regions, monitoring 233 species of moth in every part of the UK and Ireland (the ‘Core Species’), along with a variable number of ‘Regional Species’.
For each of the last seven years, we have had records from over 300 sites across the UK and Ireland, and later in the report there are a series of charts representing the population trends (or fluctuations) of our most abundant species over this period. The database has records dating back to 2003 when the scheme began in the West Midlands, and now contains over 1 ¼ million records, providing a very valuable resource to researchers. Scientists and statisticians from Birmingham and Manchester Universities are amongst those interested in using our data, as well as the ongoing research being undertaken by the GMS’s own John Wilson.
There is an interesting follow-up article by Evan Lynn on the Quarter 4 GMS newsletter piece by Duncan Brown on Antler Moth infestations, and a report on the very successful 2017 Annual Conference in Apperley Village Hall, near Tewkesbury.
There is also a brief round-up of the 2016-17 Winter Garden Moth Scheme, and a quick look at some of our autumn-flying moths, but we begin as usual with the ever- popular Top 30 for GMS 2016.
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Top 30 Species 2016
The top 30 GMS species are fairly consistent each year, with the occasional big winner or loser, often involving the migrant species (Table 1).
Table 1. The thirty most abundant species in 2016 in terms of average number of individuals recorded per garden, ranked in 2016 order with their 2015 position in brackets, and an indication of percentage change year on year. Average Average Rank per per 2016 Species garden garden % Change (2015) 2016 2015 (341) (355) Total 1244.10 1494.428 -16.75 1 (1) Large Yellow Underwing 177.53 217.44 -18.36 2 (148) Diamond-back Moth 55.13 1.45 +3692.59 3 (2) Heart and Dart 48.06 95.12 -49.47 4 (9) Light Brown Apple Moth 40.40 29.19 +38.37 5 (11) Square-spot Rustic 31.76 27.35 +16.11 6 (12) Setaceous Hebrew Character 30.85 25.7 +20.02 7 (3) Common Rustic agg. 27.30 58.83 -53.59 8 (4) Dark Arches 26.63 47.35 -43.75 9 (7) Hebrew Character 24.42 32.21 -24.19 10 (15) Riband Wave 23.38 22.66 +3.19 11 (8) Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 23.35 30.46 -23.33 12 (5) Uncertain/Rustic ag. 23.31 43.92 -46.92 13 (10) Common Quaker 22.66 27.48 -17.55 14 (6) Garden Grass-veneer 21.22 41.4 -48.75 15 (19) Brimstone Moth 18.91 16.58 +14.10 16 (14) Flame Shoulder 17.03 23.15 -26.46 17 (13) Lesser Yellow Underwing 15.41 23.65 -34.84 18 (18) Common Footman 14.96 19.21 -22.09 19 (27) Common Marbled Carpet 14.23 11.35 +25.39 20 (23) Lunar Underwing 13.99 13.08 +6.95 21 (25) Willow Beauty 12.88 11.96 +7.64 22 (16) Small Square-spot 12.17 21.86 -44.34 23 (21) Agriphila straminella 10.33 15.11 -31.61 24 (39) Marbled Minor agg. 9.18 7.63 +20.33 25 (17) Agriphila tristella 9.14 20.06 -54.41 26 (20) Buff Ermine 9.09 15.87 -42.74 27 (47) Snout 8.79 6.08 +44.51 28 (30) Clouded Drab 8.23 10.22 -19.43 29 (33) Silver Y 8.20 8.71 -5.86 30 (29) Straw Dot 8.04 10.25 -21.59
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Mother of Pearl, Bright-line Brown-eye, Flame and Shuttle-shaped Dart dropped out of the top 30, but not far, surviving in the top 40.
The most obvious winner in 2016 was the Diamond-back Moth following its well- publicised invasion that caused panic amongst sprout-lovers everywhere.
Indeed, if the figures for Diamond-back Moth were removed from the overall totals for 2016 and 2015, the average catch per garden would have declined by over 20% on last year – those Diamond-back Moth – D. Barnard who thought it was a pretty bad year for moths were absolutely right! Two thirds of our top thirty showed declines in numbers in our gardens in 2016, most of them in double digits percentage-wise.
One species bucking the trend and continuing to do well is the Light Brown Apple Moth, now up to 8th place in the overall abundance list of the GMS database, although it does not yet feature in the list of the top 20 most widespread species (Table 2).
Light Brown Apple Moth – C. Knott
Snout also had a good year, has appeared in the top 30 in 4 of the last 5 years, and is our 17th most widespread species, based on the number of 10km squares it has been recorded in for the GMS (Table 2).
Snout – R. Young
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Population trends (?) of our commonest garden moths
The most abundant species across the scheme are not necessarily the most widespread, and vice versa, although 12 feature in the top 20 of each. ‘Nothing’ records beat Large Yellow Underwing and Hebrew Character by only six 10 km squares (Table 2).
Table 2. The most abundant and most widespread species in the GMS database (all years 2003 – 2016), based on total number of individuals and presence in 10 km squares.
Abundant Widespread Totals 10 km records
Large Yellow Underwing 544783 Nothing 531 Heart and Dart 262635 Large Yellow Underwing 525 Dark Arches 147618 Hebrew Character 525 Setaceous Hebrew Character 137072 Dark Arches 519 Hebrew Character 119679 Common Quaker 517 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 103232 Brimstone Moth 511 Common Quaker 101529 Lesser Yellow Underwing 510 Lesser Broad-bordered Light Brown Apple Moth 100354 Yellow Underwing 510 Common Rustic agg. 98697 Flame Shoulder 508 Square-spot Rustic 90225 Heart and Dart 507 Garden Grass-veneer 88060 Silver Y 505 Riband Wave 85865 Riband Wave 505 Flame Shoulder 82364 Common Marbled Carpet 505 Lesser Yellow Underwing 72396 Garden Carpet 501 Common Footman 72376 Square-spot Rustic 497 Brimstone Moth 64477 Clouded Drab 493 Small Quaker 57799 Poplar Hawk-moth 488 Shuttle-shaped Dart 51157 Snout 486 Common Marbled Carpet 49609 Early Grey 483 Willow Beauty 48986 Scalloped Oak 482
Since 2010, we have had records from over 300 sites across the UK and Ireland, which means we are starting to accumulate enough data to hint at what is happening to our garden moth populations over a period of time. There follows a series of charts depicting the differing fortunes of the twenty most abundant species, based on the average number of individuals per site in each of the last 7 years of GMS recording. Whether these are ‘trends’ or ‘fluctuations’ is open to debate, and no statistics have been used in the making of this article!
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Top 3 Species 250
200 Large Yellow 150 Underwing Heart and Dart 100 Dark Arches Average Average pergarden 50
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Other Yellow Underwings 50 45
40 35 Lesser Yellow 30 Underwing 25 20 Lesser Broad- 15 bordered Yellow Average Average pergarden 10 Underwing 5 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Spring Moths 70
60
50 Hebrew Character 40 Common Quaker 30 Small Quaker
20 Average Average pergarden 10
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Geometers 35
30 Brimstone
25 Moth Willow Beauty 20
15 Riband Wave
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Average Average pergarden Common 5 Marbled Carpet
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Noctuids 100 Setaceous 90 Hebrew 80 Character 70 Square-spot 60 Rustic 50 Shuttle- 40 shaped Dart
30 Average Average pergarden 20 Flame 10 Shoulder 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Two 'Common' Moths 70
60
Common 50 Rustic agg. 40 Common 30 Footman
20 Average Average pergarden 10
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Micro-moths 50 45
40 35 Light Brown 30 Apple Moth 25 20 Garden Grass- veneer 15 Average Average pergarden 10 5 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
My personal view is that the spring-flying Orthosia species have shown the most obvious declines, and Light Brown Apple Moth is clearly increasing in numbers. Large Yellow Underwing numbers fluctuate, but there is no particular trend, while the other two common Yellow Underwings do seem to be in decline. Heart & Dart and Dark Arches are also on the slide, while the summer Geometrid species seem to be fairly stable. Setaceous Hebrew Character must have had a very good 2010, Shuttle- shaped Dart has declined somewhat while the other common Noctuids seem to be holding their own. Common Footman has decreased slightly in numbers, and Garden Grass Veneer shows population fluctuations similar to Large Yellow Underwing.
I was slightly worried when compiling these charts that some of the declines could be reflecting the changing composition of gardens in the scheme – there are certainly fewer recorders in the south in 2016 than there were in 2010, while numbers in the north have been on the increase in recent years. The GMS is in a constant state of flux, with some members leaving and others joining each year, so geographical composition, and the types of garden and trap all have an influence on the data.
To test this, I decided to select a sample of sites for which records had been submitted each year since 2010, with the same trap type and bulb used each time (a Robinson Trap with a 125W MV bulb). There were around 50 recorders in 2016 who had been trapping since 2010 and were currently listed as using this particular equipment, but on closer inspection, several had changed their trap or bulb type at least once during the last 7 years, so the sample ended up as 35 sites across the scheme.
The following charts are a selection of comparisons between the records from the sample sites and the overall GMS (labelled ‘All’).
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Large Yellow Underwing 350.00
300.00
250.00
200.00 Sample 150.00 All
100.00 Average Average pergarden 50.00
0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Heart & Dart 200.00 180.00
160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 Sample 80.00 All 60.00 Average Average pergarden 40.00 20.00 0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Hebrew Character 80.00 70.00
60.00 50.00 40.00 Sample 30.00 All
Average Average pergarden 20.00 10.00 0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Small Quaker 60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00 Sample All
20.00 Average Average pergarden 10.00
0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Setaceous Hebrew Character 140.00
120.00
100.00
80.00 Sample 60.00 All
40.00 Average Average pergarden 20.00
0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Shuttle-shaped Dart 35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00 Sample 15.00 All
10.00 Average Average pergarden 5.00
0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Common Footman 45.00 40.00
35.00 30.00 25.00 Sample 20.00 All 15.00
Average Average pergarden 10.00 5.00 0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Light Brown Apple Moth 70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00 Sample 30.00 All
20.00 Average Average pergarden 10.00
0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
I think it’s fair to say that in most cases, the two graphs show very similar changes in moth numbers over the 7 years. It also seems that although some species, like Large Yellow Underwing and Common Footman may appear in larger numbers at MV light, others do not, as the average number per garden is very similar for the MV sample and overall scheme.
As we continue to gather data over the next few years, we may be able to say with greater certainty whether these are trends or fluctuations, and the application of more robust statistical analysis should be able to weed out some of the confounding variables, but I’ll leave that to someone else!
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Autumn Moths
Never numerous enough to figure in the abundance charts, the autumn-flying moths are often somewhat neglected, so there follows a series of charts representing the population changes over the same time period (2010 – 2016) for a selection of these species. The picture is a little more complicated for some of them, as their flight period overlaps the winter scheme, and the sharp drop-off in numbers around weeks 44 / 45 in the graphs below (Figure 1) for Yellow-line Quaker and the November Moth aggregate reflects the reduction in number of recorders at that time. Green- brindled Crescent has very few records after the first week in November.
Rosy Rustic Green-brindled Crescent
4000 2000
2000 1000
0 Individuals Individuals 0 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 Week Week
Centre-barred Sallow Yellow-line Quaker
2000 3000 2000 1000
1000 Individuals Individuals 0 0 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 Week Week
Black Rustic November Moth agg.
6000
4000 4000 2000 2000
0 Individuals
Individuals 0 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 Week Week Fig. 1. Flight periods of some autumn-flying moths, based on all records in the GMS database 2003 – 2016.
The charts below are based only on records from the main GMS, not the winter scheme, and while it may be possible that phenology plays a part in the population fluctuations seen, the two moths that are regularly amongst the most abundant in the winter scheme (Yellow-line Quaker and the November Moth aggregate) do show consistency between the two. In other words, if there are more around during the main scheme recording period, there are also more seen during the winter scheme.
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Early Autumn Species 10.00
8.00 Rosy Rustic
6.00 Black Rustic 4.00 Centre-
Average Average pergarden 2.00 barred Sallow 0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Late Autumn Species 8.00 Yellow-line 7.00 Quaker 6.00 5.00 November Moth agg. 4.00 3.00 Green-
2.00 brindled Average Average pergarden 1.00 Crescent 0.00 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 In common with many of the summer species, 2012 seems to have been a poor year for those flying in the autumn (the spring-flying species mentioned earlier had an even worse 2013). Rosy Rustic and Yellow-line Quaker seem to be declining more than the others, while the 3 species comprising the November Moth aggregate (November Moth, Pale November Moth and Autumnal Moth) are collectively doing quite well. Yellow-line Quaker showed a main scheme decrease of almost 50% from 2015 to 2016, with the November Moth aggregate increasing by 18%; winter scheme records correspondingly show a decrease for Yellow-line Quaker between 2015-16 and 2016- 17 of around 45%, and an increase for the November Moth aggregate of around 700% November Moth agg. – H. Young (numbers were small!) (Table 3).
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Winter GMS 2016-17
96 hardy moth trappers completed the 2016-17 Winter GMS, which runs between early November and the beginning of the main scheme in early March (almost the same number as last year). Fortunes as ever varied enormously across the UK and Ireland; 5 members in the North-East England region recorded only 11 individuals between them!
Generally, moth numbers were well up on last winter with most species in the top 20 recording an increase in average numbers per garden (Table 3).
Table 3. The twenty most abundant species over the winter in 2016-17 in terms of average number of individuals recorded per garden, ranked in 2016-17 order with their 2015-16 position in brackets, and an indication of percentage change year on year.
Average Average Rank per per % 2016-17 Species garden garden Change (2015-16) 2016-17 2015-16 (96) (97) Total 27.19 16.94 +60.51 1 (2) Winter Moth 6.20 2.21 +180.93 2 (1) December Moth 4.33 2.66 +62.92 3 (5) Mottled Umber 3.89 1.01 +284.58 4 (6=) Pale Brindled Beauty 1.89 0.87 +117.72 Light Brown Apple 5 (4) Moth 1.88 1.16 +60.95 6 (12=) Feathered Thorn 1.38 0.36 +281.07 7 (3) Chestnut 0.93 2 -53.65 8 (10) Dotted Border 0.68 0.45 +49.27 9 (28) November Moth agg. 0.67 0.08 +708.33 10 (11) Red-Green Carpet 0.64 0.39 +62.20 11 (21=) Spring Usher 0.48 0.13 +257.53 12 (31=) Scarce Umber 0.35 0.06 +472.57 13 (16) March Moth 0.34 0.23 +51.56 14 (6=) Hebrew Character 0.33 0.87 -61.51 15= (14) Early Moth 0.26 0.31 -15.80 15= (8) Common Quaker 0.26 0.75 -65.40 17 (9) Dark Chestnut 0.24 0.48 -50.55 18 (21=) Rusty-dot Pearl 0.23 0.13 +70.99 19 (12=) Yellow-line Quaker 0.20 0.36 -45.15 20 (N/A) Sprawler 0.17 0 N/A
5 members recorded no moths at all over the winter period, with 4 counting over 100 (one each in South-west England and South-east England, and two in Wales).
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In fact, one garden in west Wales recorded more individuals in one night (January 6th) than anyone else saw all winter – 271 Winter Moth and 18 Mottled Umber! This obviously had a big impact on the overall picture, lifting Winter Moth to the top of the charts for 2016-17.
As seen in the analysis of the main GMS results, the spring-flying Common Quaker Winter Moths – E. Lynn and Hebrew Character do not seem to be doing very well.
Across the regions, the number of individual moths over the winter period generally declines as one moves north and east, and the number of weeks with no moths in the trap increases (Figure 2), although Ireland doesn’t do particularly well either!
Moths
70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00
0.00 Average Average pergarden
Nothing
14.00 12.00 10.00 8.00 6.00 4.00 2.00
0.00 Average Average pergarden
Fig. 2. Regional variation in the number of individual moths recorded and the number of empty traps over the 16 week period of the Winter GMS 2016-17.
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Antler Moth Infestations - Evan Lynn Antler Moth – H. Young Duncan Brown wrote a very interesting and informative article on the periodic devastation caused by Antler Moth in the 4th Quarter newsletter (repeated here for those who did not see it - Ed.).
“Infestations Caused By The Antler Moth by Duncan Brown
Duncan has been trawling through the literature to find references to infestations of Antler Moths and these are edited highlights.
Between 1884 and 1894 bad attacks of the grass - destroying caterpillars of the Antler Moth. In 1884 these caterpillars devastated an area of about ten miles in extent in the mountainous parts of Glamorganshire; and in 1885 spread over an area of about seven miles by five in Selkirkshire. The only remedy appears to be firing the ground. In 1884 the smoke of the mountain fires in Glamorganshire was noted as one of the signs of the widespread presence of the pest. An infestation which is remarkable for its rare appearance in this country is now occurring in some localities in Scotland [7 July 1894]. . 1915 - A March flood is more effective than one in January or February, for it will drown millions of the caterpillars of that grass-eating pest the Antler Moth. I have seen a flood-mark one or two inches wide formed entirely of the caterpillars of this or similar grass-feeders.
1918 - A renewal of the caterpillar plague of last year appears to be imminent in Derbyshire. Large numbers of the Antler Moth species have invaded several districts around Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith, and also being reported near Ashton and on the Staffordshire borders.
1936 - Larvae identified as the Antler Moth were disgorged in large quantities by young Herring Gulls on June 18th, 24th, and 29th, 1936, on Puffin Island, Anglesey. With few exceptions, the young birds appeared to have been fed exclusively on these larvae, and at a rough estimate I should say that from 50 to 150 were disgorged at a time.
1992 - The predominantly warm sunny weather of May and June, following on from a dry winter, and the hot dry summer [of 1991] has also been invoked to explain an outbreak of the Antler Moth in the Ettrick Valley near Selkirk in the Borders. The caterpillars are reported to have damaged 3,000 acres of sheep - grazing land.
2007 - We first noticed Antler Moth larvae on the track between Drosgl and Gyrn Wigau and in the grass at either side. They were present in very large numbers all the way down to the flat area between Drosgl and Gyrn. This is in Km square SH 6676. There must have been literally tens of thousands in the area we were in - there would have been millions if they were present in the same numbers more than a few feet away from the path. Has anyone seen or photographed the recent eruption of antler moth caterpillars in the Lake District/Howgill Fells? Apparently, farmers are taking sheep off the hills as there is nothing left for them to eat! One estimate puts caterpillar numbers at 30,000 million!!”
This part of the annual report shows the current position using GMS data. According to Roy Leverton in Enjoying Moths, the Antler Moth is a harmless and inoffensive grass eating species over most of its range. However, in certain parts of Northern England and Scotland its numbers periodically increase to cause severe damage to upland pastures. The eggs are dropped in flight and overwinter with the
16 caterpillar fully formed within its shell. The moth is on the wing from mid-July to mid- September according to Waring and Townsend. This year the flight season started on July 5th though an earlier individual was caught in Wales on May 27th as shown in the following distribution chart.
Although the number of moths caught in GMS traps from 2010 have fluctuated there has been a decline from the possibly pest numbers in 2010 and 2011 as shown in the following table.
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Total 775 1181 499 852 268 312 460 Recorders 49 73 54 101 72 69 64 Mean 16 16 9 8 4 5 7
Duncan Brown highlights Scotland, Northern England and Wales as hotspots over the years. The following chart shows the percentage caught in each region since 2010 which demonstrates his research. The figures in brackets are the number of recorders.
Region 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 SC 48 (10) 34 (20) 63 (19) 28 (22) 27(14) 18 (23) 55 (13) NE 7 (5) 1 (2) 1 (3) 8 (10) 6(5) 3 (3) 10 (4) Y&H 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1(1) 0.5 (1) 2 (0) NW 5 (7) 8 (12) 8 (8) 19 (22) 32(17) 9 (6) 13 (14) IRL 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2 (8) 4(7) 2 (7) 6 (7) EE 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0(0) 0.5 (2) 1 (0) EM 0.7 (2) 2 (8) 2 (4) 5 (6) 2(4) 1 (4) 1 (2) WA 40 (25) 54 (31) 26 (20) 38 (33) 28(23) 9 (13) 12 (18) WM 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0(0) 1 (3) 2 (2) SE 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0(0) 1 (1) 1 (4) SW 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0(0) 1 (2) 0 (0) CI 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0(0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
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While this table gives a general idea as to the regional distribution of this moth the following chart shows the number caught in each Vice County this year. Blank coloured Vice Counties indicates no Antler Moths caught. Empty white Vice Counties show no GMS recorders present.
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GMS Annual Conference 2017 - Norman Lowe
As usual, many people came early to the 2017 Garden Moth Scheme Annual Conference in order to get the opportunity to have a good look at the stalls. This year Mark Tunmore had a large selection of books and journals from Atropos Books and Izumi Segawa brought her range of Hachiware Art lepidopterous badges, fridge magnets etc.
The formal proceedings began with an introduction by Peter Hugo followed by a round-up of the 2016 GMS results from Norman Lowe. He reported that the number of recorders was slightly down on recent years but was still over 300 and showed a good geographical spread throughout the British Isles.
The next presentation was by Jason Newton from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre who described his proposed survey of the isotopic composition of the wings of the Brimstone Moth throughout the British Isles. He explained that this technique could be used to establish where each moth had spent its time in the larval stage. Similar work had been done on other insects such as the Monarch butterfly and had provided information on migratory movements in North America. He requested help from recorders, especially from those parts of the study area where few or no volunteers had as yet come forward.
After lunch, during which more people crowded round the sales stands, Peter Hugo gave a light-hearted introduction to the county of Gloucestershire, illustrated by many pictures of the scenery, habitats, characteristic moths and noteworthy personalities of its moth world. Then John Wilson provided us with an update on the work that he does on analysing the enormous amount of data that resulted from the 10 years of GMS national recording. This time he investigated the effect of street lighting on GMS moth numbers, coming to the conclusion that recorders in dark sky areas did record somewhat larger numbers of moths than those with more street lights. Not surprisingly, the reasons for this are complex!
After a short tea break Dave Grundy gave us an insight into his extraordinary enthusiasm for moth trapping, describing both the range of inaccessible locations he visited in Britain during 2016 and the enormous variety of scarce species he recorded. Finally Norman Lowe took a brief look forward to 2017 and posed some questions to the audience. Some members were a little uncertain about the decision that had been taken about using the new ABH checklist names and numbers but it was generally recognised that this was the way forward. But all members agreed that we should in principle make available our GMS records to Vice County moth recorders.
The conference closed with tea and biscuits provided by a small band of volunteers who kept us wonderfully fed and watered throughout the day. Thanks to them and to the work done by the organisers, Ker Cservenka and Tony Perry, the day ran like clockwork.
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GMS Sponsors
We were very thankful for financial assistance from the following organisations during 2016; please consider using our sponsors for your purchases!
Atropos Books Online book store and publication of Atropos, the journal for butterfly, moth and dragonfly enthusiasts. Special offers available on the website. www.atroposbooks.co.uk The Boat House, Church Cove, Lizard, Cornwall, TR12 7PH 01326 290287 [email protected]
ALS - Anglian Lepidopterist Supplies For all your equipment requirements from moth traps to pots and generators – quality products at affordable prices. www.angleps.com Station Road, Hindolveston, Norfolk, NR20 5DE 01263 862068 [email protected]
New for 2017, the new Compact Mains 20w Heath Trap. Ideal for home and away. Catch rates very good and can equal twin 30w systems. Already selling to Europe, the US and New Zealand!
MapMate is a biological recording system designed for enthusiasts to record, map, analyse and share their natural history sightings. It was originally developed for moth recording and has now expanded to include most of the UK fauna and flora. It is being used by some 20,000 individuals and institutions in the UK including very large groups like the RSPB and the Botanical Society of the British Isles. www.mapmate.co.uk
MapMate continues to support the GMS by providing software and support for the GMS database, and for that we are very grateful.
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Links
GMS Website - http://www.gardenmoths.org.uk/ - the Communications section gives information on the regional coordinators; the Downloads section provides access to Identification Guides, Annual Reports and Newsletters, as well as all the regional recording forms and instructions.
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/GardenMothScheme - we now have over 1070 ‘Likes’!
Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/438806469608527/ - currently with more than 1800 Members (not all active GMS participants) – open membership – all recording forms, instructions and micro-moth identification guides are available in the Files section.
Acknowledgements
Thanks as always to the GMS members themselves who put their traps out week in, week out, all season long, often with disappointing results (especially the winter trappers). Thanks also to all the Regional Coordinators and other volunteers who keep things running smoothly across the country, especially Mike Cook for producing all of the recording forms, as well as providing technical expertise and support. My gratitude goes to Evan Lynn and Norman Lowe for contributing to this report, as well as regularly compiling the GMS quarterly newsletters. The support of our sponsors is also very gratefully received – please check out their websites for all their latest offerings.
Green-brindled Crescent – R. Young
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