Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A plea...

... to anyone who catches moths in Northumberland.

Tom Tams, Moth Recorder, is crying out for your records. Any and all are most welcome. Think along these lines, there are 200+ bird recorders out there who submit to the county record. Moths, well, try about 20 between Teesside and Berwick. 20! Divide that into Northumberland only and there are about half a dozen.
In North Northumberland ie north of the Coquet, there are, 2. To this add a few who submit occasionally.

Is it any wonder that a novice (me) can add about 7 species to the VC68 list in the last year.

So, I hope you are either a) Inspired glory seekers hoping to get your name in lights submitting unpronouncable species on a monthly basis , b) Guilty feeling local naturalists who feel a connection to the history of the county, or c) Novices like me who are unsure if your contribution will be worthwhile. It will be!

Go on get stuck in....

This is a great opportunity to add significantly to our county record. Chances are, you will be able to send in records from places completely unrecorded previously.

Please email all of your records to Tom, preferably on a monthly basis.

Plea over.

Tawny Pinion. Halloween 2009. First for VC68, 4th for Northumberland.

Mullein caterpillars. June 09. Only one previous Northumberland record of  a single adult, yet I found them breeding in my garden (15 cats). I still haven't seen the adult though...

2 comments:

Skev said...

The Mullein is a classic species for finding in the larval stage but hardly ever at light - I've had a couple in the garden in 10 years but I can find larvae on pretty much every mullein plant I check.

Another one for you to look for very soon is The Butterbur - rarely recorded at light away from the foodplant, and most likely to be found by torchlight flying about the foodplant just after dark. The foodplant is ... butterbur.

I'd love to come up and record there - a bit too far for a casual trip out though!

Stewart said...

You're more than welcome Mark, its only 240 miles!

Butterbur is a common plant on the riverbanks around here. I'll check the moth's status...