January challenge - the results

Hello All.

All the results for the 2015 January challenge are now in and have been collated into the charts below.

This years’ challenge was particularly difficult due to the very adverse weather conditions we had throughout the month, which was, as a whole, cold, wet and generally quite windy, a combination not favourable to moth trapping at all, but in the face of all these adverse conditions10 stalwarts braved the elements and between us we did manage to get a few moths, so well done to everyone who had a go.

Now let’s have a look at the data its self – 13 species of macro moth and 4 species of micro moth were recorded (17 in all), a big reduction from the 25 species which were recorded during 2014. Only one person managed to achieve the 10 species for macro, which was Douglas. His achievement was all the more remarkable due to the fact that he managed to record all ten species on one night of trapping, an amazing feat which has never been done before in this challenge. No one else really came close to Douglas, I recorded 7 species and next best was Sue who managed 6 species. The micro part of the challenge (5 species) wasn’t achieved by anyone; the best returns were 2 species, by Sue and myself. The number of moths recorded was also greatly reduced this year; again, this can only be due to the inclement weather.

The comparison chart below shows the top five species recorded in each of the four years the challenge has been going. As usual, the Winter Moth takes top spot with another of the ‘usual suspects’ the Mottled Umber taking the runners up place. For the first time, the Mottled Grey doesn’t make a showing in the top five. Finally, just take a look at the number of moths recorded this year compared to previous years, 122, a drastic reduction on past performances, but hopefully something to build on next year.

Many thanks to all of those who took part in this years 'challenge' (and what a challenge it was too!). And please remember, as well as being ‘fun to do’ the January trapping also gives us extra data for those winter flying species which we wouldn't have were it not for extra trapping done in the 'challenge'.

The final word – A special mention must be given to Deborah who managed to trap 26 times during the month for a total catch of ‘zero’ - now there’s dedication for you!

The full list of recorders who took part this year is:-

JH        Jeny Heard

DB       Douglas Boyes

PRW    Peter Williams

MW     Maria Wagland

DG       Deborah Griffith

PR       Paul Roughly

AT       Alan Tadman

TS        Tammy Stretton

SOS     Sue Southam

SS        Simon Spencer

I hope you all have a great mothing 2015.

Peter.