League Table – “First to 22”

UTB Day-flying Macro Moths Challenge 2007

Day-flying Moths League Table

Cinnabar © Alastair Driver

Moths are often portrayed as being drab-coloured insects which only fly at night, but the truth is that many moths are brightly coloured and can have intricately marked wings to camouflage them from predators when at rest. A surprising number of moth species can be seen flying in the daytime (and some are frequently confused with butterflies) and these are referred to as “Day-flying moths”. The purpose of the UTB Day-flying Moths Challenge is to raise awareness of day-flying moths and to increase the recording of these beautiful insects.

Anyone can join the Challenge - just email me with details of your moth sightings on the day you see them (or as soon as possible after). If you join as a team then all members of your team must see each species of moth before it can be added to your team total (it doesn’t have to be seen on the same day though). The 33 moths which are included in this year’s Challenge are listed below, but please report all other day-flying moths as they will be considered for addition to next year’s day-flying moths challenge. One or two of the moths included in the list are not strictly day-flying moths, such as the Yellow Shell, but they are frequently disturbed from vegetation in the daytime and have therefore been included.

This year’s Challenge in particular targets the very under-recorded Clearwing family of moths. If you find one of these moths please try to get a photo of it for confirmation of the id.

All moths must be seen in the wild - your garden and moth traps are included - and must be recorded in the UTB area of Bucks, Berks and Oxon. Your reports need to include the following details:

Species of macro moth
Location, including County, of where the moth was seen plus OS Ref or Postcode if possible (for example: Greenham Common, Berks, SU 501656).
Date the moth was recorded.

If you’re unsure about the identity of a moth you should contact one of our moth experts who may need to see a reasonably good quality photograph. The UK Moths website is an excellent source of reference if you don’t have a moth book handy.

The winner of the challenge will be the person (or team) at the top of the League Table at the end of October 2007. There’s no prize for winning the Challenge, just the satisfaction of finishing at the top of the League and knowing that you’ve helped us to map where our day-flying moths are in the UTB area.

Your day-flying moth reports will be posted on the Moth Sightings page of the website, along with any reasonably good quality photographs (maximum 400Kb file size please).

Good luck to everyone!

(PS: Don’t forget to also forward all your moth records to the appropriate County Moth Recorder.)

Day-flying Moths Challenge League Table

Name	Moth Species seen (see list of abbreviations below)	Total Species as at 07/09/07
Dave Wilton	BC,C,CH,CS,E,F,GR,HH,LaH,MS,NFB,OL,SBB,SSB,SY,SYU,YS	17
Jan Haseler	BC,C,HH,MS,NFB,SBB,SSB,ST,SY,SYU,SpY,YS	12
Dave Ferguson	BC,C,CH,CS,F,MS,NFB,SBB,SSB,SpY,SY,YS	12
David Redhead	BC,C,CF,CH,MS,NFB,OL,SBB,SSB,ST,SY,YS	12
Mick & Wendy Campbell	BC,C,F,MS,SBB,SSB,ST,SY,SYU,YS	10
Nigel Partridge	C,GR,HH,NFB,SBB,SSB,SY,YS	8
Alastair Driver	C,HH,NFB,OL,SBB,SY,V,YS	8
Peter Hall	C,NFB,OL,SBB,SSB,SY,V,YS	8
Dave Maunder	BC,OL,SBB,SSB,SY,V,YS	7
Mark Calway	BC,H,SY,YS	4
John Parsons	CH,E,SpY	3
Richard Soulsby	C,MS,YS	3
Tim Watts	F,MS,SSB	3
Shirley & John Spencer	MS,C,YS	3
Susan Nicholls	C,SY	2
Wendy Wilson	C,SYU	2
Les Finch	C,SY	2
David Fuller	BC	1
Martin Harvey	SY	1



NEWS UPDATE · 7/9 – Dave W. increases his lead with an Old Lady moth. · 27/8 – David R. goes into joint 2^nd place & Peter’s total moves up to 8 spp after an Old Lady visits their garden moth traps. · 23/8 – Alastair moves up the league with an Old Lady & a Vapourer. · 28/07 – Dave Ferguson finds two more species to move him into joint second place in the league while David adds one species & Dave Maunder adds 3! · 24/07 – Nigel, Jan and Wendy & Mick all add new species to their lists. · 20/07 – Nigel records SSB in his garden & moves up a place in the league. · 11/07 – Peter, Nigel and Dave M. all find another 2 spp and move further up the league. · 05/07 – Dave W. and Peter both add another 2 spp. to their league totals. · 03/07 – Alastair Driver joins the Challenge with 6 species. · 24/6 – David R. records two new species to move into joint second position. · 21/6 – Peter, Dave F. and Dave W. add new species to their lists. · 17/6 – Mark, Nigel & Dave F. all record a new species. · 14/6 – Jan adds 2 new species.

List of eligible Day-flying Macro Moths

(species seen so far in 2007 are in blue text.)

Links direct you to the UK Moths website for a photo and description of the moth.

Burnet Companion

Day-flying Moths League Table

BC,C,CH,CS,E,F,GR,HH,LaH,MS,NFB,OL,SBB,SSB,SY,SYU,YS

BC,C,F,MS,SBB,SSB,ST,SY,SYU,YS

BC,OL,SBB,SSB,SY,V,YS

C,SYU

C

Cinnabar

Currant Clearwing

(May-July)

CF

Cistus Forester

CH

Common Heath

E

Emperor Moth

F

Forester

(June-July)

FM

Fox Moth

H

LaH

Latticed Heath

MS

Mother Shipton

(May-June)

OL

Old Lady

(May-June)

ST

Scarlet Tiger

SY

Silver-Y

(spring-autumn immigrant)

V

Vapourer

YS

Yellow Shell