Saturday 11 December 2010

December Moths living up to their name at last

Heysham
North Harbour Wall
Twite - 46 birds feeding in a fairly orderly flock.  All ringed, except c6, with green/white or red/white colours.

Moths
December Moth - 4 - this is almost equal to the total of all-time previous records from here and coincides with a very unexpected emergence during the last two mild nights producing e.g. 22 at Millhouses (Wray), including two mating pairs last night (trap not set previous evening) and 'several' at mid-Lancs sites.  Given that it "normally" appears in late October throughout November but, in the last few years, over by early December, we assumed that the pre-cold weather emergence had comprised the full complement of this year's moths.  Wrong!   Also at Millhouses, a fresh Yellow-line Quaker was unexpected and must have just 'missed' the mild emergence period in early-mid November  
Winter Moth - 5
ajd