How many species have you seen and which is the rarest?

[MetalMoth]

This year has been my first year of intensive moth trapping and I have kept good records so have been able to start my 'lifetime' moth species list. So far I have seen 235 species of moth. I should note that I have not see all of them this year. I did do some trapping a couple of years ago which I have added onto my lifetime list, however my total for this year is definitely over 200.

As to the rarest, tricky! I did most of my trapping this year down in Dorset so we picked up a lot of migrants. Some nice ones that I recall were: Festoon, L-album wainscot, Bordered grey, Small marbled, Bedstraw hawkmoth, Four-dotted footman, Four-spotted footman, Red-necked footman, Cloaked carpet, Lappet, Muslin footman and White-point.

What about you?

[JRsbugs]

I haven't actually counted how many species I have found, one day when and if I find time I will list them and add them up.

The rarest I guess I have found is Ectoedemia quinquella, which I was told by the county recorder was the first record for Lincolnshire (this was 9th June 2009) but strangely the nbn map shows two records, one to the north and one only a couple of miles from me! Both records are not very far away. Strangely enough one of them is at a location to the north where a person I know lives, a person who is well into leaf mine moths and visited me in order to look for leaf mines of Ectoedemia quinquella. He didn't find any, but he was put in touch with me via the county recorder who has not replied to any of my later finds!

Luffia ferchaultella is another, there is a few recent records for Lincolnshire.

Calamotropha paludella I got last year.

I don't trap but leave the outside light on at night, which I have been doing on an increasing scale so have probably missed plenty.

[Dorts]

I suppose one of my best was the Natonally Scarce Grass-veneer moth, Pediasia contaminella.
It came to light when I was living next to a golf-course in N E Hants, one of it's favoured habitats.
Dorts.

[earthdragon64]

I've not added up all the species I've seen, but probably not that many as I've only started regular trapping this year.

Once of the rarest, and certainly one of the prettiest was a Dark Bordered Beauty.



It was one I saw at a fairly local site, not in my garden.

Regards, Audrey.

[PMG]

The Saxon on the Isle of Mull a couple or three years ago

Pauline

[Graham Barker]

hello metal

i dont know the total number of species ive seen, mostly because my moth trapping has been done over a number of years with gaps in between and up until the last three years all the records were left with the organisation i was then working for...so ive probably seen quite a few more than i could recall since i started trapping in my garden, which in itself started late one season, did a bit more the second season...and this year has been much more full on....
this therefore has been the best 'year total' for the garden...around 150-170 species, which isnt too bad i feel for a 15watt actinic in an urban situation, though ive had plenty of new species this year, so probably the total species for the garden is somewhere near 200.
the rarest has to be the red data book species toadflax brocade which appeared this year. but its always great to see hawk moths of any kind. up until this year i only had elephant and striped hawkmoth, but twice this year ive had poplar hawkmoth, a real result.
i do go trapping as well at other sites, a friend of mine has a generator so we pop off to sites to see what we can get.
on that note, where in dorset do you trap and are you still trapping there. my friend with the generator works in dorset during the week (we both live in east sussex) so if you are near enough he may be interested in meeting up if he has time.
i dont know how other people record their moths, but i use something called 'species recorder', a programme using excel, provided by the sussex biodiversity unit, so all records are then sent to them at the end of the year to add to the information database.
we are also in the process of possibly starting a local moth group that will increase, hopefully, the number of sites visited and therfore species recorded, for sussex, so if anyone is reading this and you are from hastings, get in touch with me asap.
graham

[MetalMoth]

Very interesting. I have not been able to ID micros and am still getting to grips with macros. I imagine when this new micro book comes out I will start to ID them and be able to tell if I am catching any rare ones.

I don't trap in Dorset anymore, I now trap in my garden in Peterborough. It was a temporary job in Dorset. Sadly!

I record my moths in an Excel spreadsheet I made. I like keeping a record and I love moths so much that it will be good to see how many I can see over my lifetime!

[aeshna5]

No idea how many I've seen but one of the rarest (+ also prettiest) was a Crimson Speckled.

[Fauna]

Have not got my previous years records handy, so unsure what my life list is. This years tally is at 185 so far for Micro and Macro. I rarely record outside the Valleys, nearly all my records are probably within a 5 mile radius of my home. But i have managed a Silurian...though, this was the larvae not an adult.

[Cordaline]

Nice thread!
I've been trapping since March last year.
My life list needs seriously revising! ( A little help will be needed there!)
Will let you know soon what how many species I've had.
My rare ones, all trapped in the garden at home, are:-
Small Ranunculus (pRDBK) First for Bracknell
Little Thorn (Nb) 13th for Berkshire
Rosy Marbled (Nb) 37th for the S/E & Berkshire
Festoon (Nb) 71st for Berkshire