National Moth Nights at Dingestow

Moth Night 2017 was a good one at Dingestow, in contrast to some previous National Monsoon Nights.  Winds were southerly, with warm conditions and little rain.  Ivy produced 11 species on 12/10 and 10 species on 13/10, with Pale-mottled Willow, Brick, Dark Chestnut, Flounced Chestnut and Satellite all appearing on the Ivy flowers but not in my MV traps.

MV catches of 26 species on 13/10 and 27 species on 14/10 were really good for this time of year.  A Shoulder-striped Wainscot was the surprise highlight of 13/10 (I wish it had be an L-album), along with a couple of Grey Shoulder-knot, a Mompha divisella and Dingestow's 5th Large Wainscot.  A long-awaited first Dingestow record of Four-spotted Footman was star of 14/10, along with an extraordinary 4 Large Wainscots (we have no Phragmites anywhere nearby), my 5th record of Orange Sallow, and a couple of November Moth agg.  A total of 44 moth species at Dingestow on the 3 nights of National Moth Night was much better than expected!