On this day....well, almost!

This time 2 years ago it was clearly sunny and dry judging by my photos. We had put our moth trap out in the garden. I generally don't put it out in rain, as it does not have any drainage holes, or in very cold weather. Some experts and fellow moth-ers go by a 5 degrees centigrade rule as the cut off point, so not to trap below this.
 I should say that we live on the outskirts of a town, in a built up residential area, have a south facing garden and can just about see the coast line from our loft windows.
 Anyway, March 2014 was a good month. On the 9th March we caught the following moths ;  Pale Pinion, Hebrew character, Early Grey and Clouded Drab. Well, what do you think of those names if you have never experienced anything like this before ?! A lot of people think moths are a nuisance, are all brown, and don't do anything significant. Well I can tell you they are nothing like this. There are many different shapes, sizes and colours. Over 2500 species of moth have been recorded in the UK. They help with pollination as well as being a food source for bats. The majority of moths are nocturnal. However there are some day flying moths.
As part of a recording community, we trap moths to record what we have found, take photos as proof, send records in to appropriate recording groups, locally and nationwide. This information is used to record the general population and monitor numbers to ascertain any impacts on species due to climate change or habitat destruction. 
So it tends to be quiet this time of year and picks up as the warmer months set in. Just you wait til the summer !
Having just found these photos and after all I just said, these ones are generally brown in colour !

 

Clouded Drab

 

Early Grey

 

Hebrew Character

 

Pale Pinion

I would like to add some more information. There are many county recorders for moths and bird here in the UK. Most have their own websites these days and easily found on a search engine. However if you think you would like to know what a specific moth is having found one, or practice your identification skills, I can highly recommend a billiant website www.ukmoths.org.uk