After a moth-free week in Croatia, just not possible in the resort and actually few moths seen in the car headlights, I was determined to spend Saturday night out locally in Yorkshire. The weather was just right, calm and only high cloud, and the temperature still +24 degrees at 2200, dropping no lower than +14 by dawn. I chose a new site just below Sutton Bank on the southern fringes of the NY Moors, at Hood Hill, part of the wooded ridge near Kilburn. Not a bad night at all with 826 moths of 110 species identified, of which one was new, and a further two were new for me in Yorkshire and a further two tortix are awaiting final identification.
The first new record for me was a Batia lunaris, a species scarce in VC62 with only single figure records reported.
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| Batia lunaris |
The first new for Yorkshire was Dingy Shell, a species I have not seen for 10 years since leaving Dorset, and fairly local in Yorkshire, so a count of nine was of note. This photo was taken with my phone and composed so as to show the moths characteristic wings closed stance as well as a bit of the habitat in the background.
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| Dingy Shell |
The second new Yorkshire one was the micro-moth Cherry Fruit Moth which was quite common with 33 counted, obviously a Cherry tree in the close vicinity!
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| Cherry Fruit Moth |
Diamond-back Moths were still in evidence with ten counted. A full list of the night's catch will be added shortly once any outstanding identifications are resolved.
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