National No-moth Night

Last night was National Moth Night. For anyone not familiar with the arcane world of moths and mothing, this is an annual event which is supposed to provide a 'snapshot' of the moths occurring throughout the country on whatever date is set (it changes from year to year). It goes without saying that whichever night is chosen, the weather will inevitably be poor, and last night was no exception, being clear and cold. Any sensible moths will have been down the pub, or tucked up in bed with a good book, depending on their age.

I had the good sense not to go out mothing anywhere, but I did at least run my two garden traps (one 80W mercury vapour and one 11W actinic for anyone who cares about such things). I wasn't expecting much, and had it not been NMN I probably wouldn't have bothered at all, but I certainly wasn't expecting a zero catch, which is what greeted me this morning when I went to inspect the traps. I don't recall ever catching nothing on a night in May, which just shows how poor this spring has been so far for insects.

Hope it warms up a bit for next Saturday's White-faced Darter trip to Chartley Moss....