RECORDER'S REPORT FOR LEPIDOPTERA 2012 



Norman Hall (NMH) 



2012 was a bad year for lepidoptera and for lepidopterists. This was mainly because of the 

 almost continuous procession of Atlantic lows coming across the country in June, July and 

 August, giving rise to cold and wet weather with little sunshine. Lepidoptera numbers were well 

 down and lepidopterists had difficulty finding any nights suitable for catching and recording them 

 - and the birds seem to have had difficulty finding enough caterpillars to feed their young. 

 Though the bad summer is what will be remembered most, the weather was in fact unusually 

 warm and dry until the end of March. The torrential rain in April then came as a blessing for the 

 plants, which had been under stress in the drought. Growth was encouraged and foliage was in 

 very good condition in May, which was warm and sunny. Some species of butterflies and moths 

 did very well as a result of this, but then came the 'summer', with few potentially good mothing 

 nights. If you didn't realise that the pale blue areas on the BBC weather forecast graphics might 

 only indicate the possibility of a little light drizzle (which can be quite good for trapping) you 

 probably wouldn't have gone out at all. As it was, many of my trapping sessions in West Berks in 

 2012, in connection with the Living Landscape Project (LLP), went ahead despite rather poor 

 weather forecasts, and were generally very successful, 

 (see http://www.bbowt.org.uk/node/2952 to read about the Project) 



The Autumn weather wasn't too bad, but, alas, there was no Indian summer. It is then usually 

 'high season' for looking for leaf mines of micromoths, but this year there were far fewer mines 

 to be seen than I have ever experienced. Torrential rain returned in December but.by then, all 

 lepidopterists had given up anyway. Let us hope that 2013 will be better. 



A systematic list of this year's records of selected species follows. It is in the order of the 

 'Bradley numbers' - assigned by Bradley & Fletcher in 1979. 



Choice of records for inclusion has been based entirely on the statuses of the moths - for 

 macromoths, as given in 'The Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland' by Waring 

 and Townsend; for micromoths, as given in 'A Review of the Status of Microlepidoptera in Britain' 

 by Tony Davis, January 2012 



( http://gms.staffs-ecology.org.uk/downloads/news/Microlep2012.pdf ). 



If the status is 'common' a record has been included only if it is interesting in the local context. If 

 it is not 'common', the record has been included automatically. 



For common butterflies, only the earliest and the latest records have been included, plus the 

 date range for Red Cow cottage, Cholsey, which is surveyed so regularly that it often provides 

 the earliest and latest records anyway. I present the butterfly records in this way every year so 

 that they can be used for phonological analysis, should anyone want to do this. 



ADELIDAE 



(Micromoths, often with very long antennae) 



0457 Ypsolopha lucella (Nationally Scarce A) 

 22 Jul 12, Broadmoor Bottom, Crowthorne 

 SU8562 (JL) 



0143 Nematopogon metaxella (Local) 

 30 May 12, Red Cow SU59238689 (AR) 



EPERMENIIDAE 



GRACILLARIDAE 



0266 Bucculatrix nigricomella (Local) 



20 Sep 12, Thatcham Marsh SU501 66677 



(LLP) 



0481 Epermenia falciformis (Local) 



14 Jun 12, Lambourn, Watts Bank SU3377 



(JL) 



COLEOPHORIDAE 



YPSOLOPHIDAE 



0452 Ypsolopha nemorella (Local) 



8 Aug 12, Bowdown Woods SU50106560, 



Coppiced area. (LLP) 



0523 Coleophora hemerobiella (Local) 



17 Jun 12, Broadmoor Bottom, Crowthorne 



SU8562 (JL) 



46 



