FlyinginFordham: Marvellous May

Well what an end to May it has been, with sky high temperatures pushing the mid 30's at one point, and some tropical nights around 20 degrees at the minimum!

Moths went crazy, then slowed down a little when it was too hot, then a slightly cooler night produced an overload to a point where I ran out of pots and gave up counting.

Usually mid-June onwards I tend to just to count the new species and avoid a full count due to work/family commitments.

This year however, with this heatwave, we are running two weeks ahead of schedule.

Monday night was no different, with at least 60 species seen.

Notable moths included the stunning Scarlet Tiger and only the second garden record of Tachystola acroxantha, a very common moth for some people from what I’ve heard.

During the day the AND lure attracted 5 Orange-tailed Clearwing, unfortunately a few were deceased in the heat so I’ve since moved the bucket trap out of the hot afternoon sunshine, lesson learned!

This heat has been bloody challenging with photographing the catch, some moths literally just scarper as soon as you tip them from a pot, even after a little dose of c02!

The nights got even more sultry as the week progressed.