Mothematics – Some moth stats

A quick blog post as I approach my fifth anniversary of garden mothing. That’s six summers of lighting up! You’ll recall how it started.
I have recorded 457 species of moth in my garden as of 19th July 2023. Hopefully, there will be a few more this season. I have photographs of most of those species, with the exception of the marvellous Hornet Clearwing moth which I saw but didn’t net. I have also seen and recorded 37 other species on campsites, nature reserves and in holiday house gardens (New Forest, Dorset, Anglesey).
My first season began late, 24th July 2018 and I didn’t keep proper logs, but saw roughly 127 species of moth, the vast majority of which I had never noticed nor photographed before.
In 2019 I ran 272 sessions with a 40W Robinson trap and recorded 12373 moths of 315 species 125 of those were new to me. That represents 45 s/s avg, specimens trapped (and released) per session on average.
In 2020, COVID-19 lockdown year, I ran 294 sessions and had 8529 moths of 309 species, 30 of those species were new to me, and that’s a per session average of 30 s/s avg. Way down on 2019.
2021 – 288 sessions, 7608 moths of 278 species – 38 NFM – 38 s/s avg
In 2022 – 244 sessions, 7900 moths of 321 species – 64 NFM – 32 s/s avg last NFM of the year was the much hoped for December Moth, which arrived at the end of October.
So far in 2023, I have done 121 sessions, counted 3551 moths of 256 species – 32 NFM, with a 30 s/s avg. I expect ...

Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 19, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs