Moth Survey Demo

In 2023 I undertook an overnight baseline survey of moths in North Betchworth as part of the B-Line project. During a single night of moth trapping I collected over 60 species of macro and micro moth. I repeated the survey on the August 16/17 and we filmed it to demonstrate the moth survey process.  The night was perfect - a warm dry night with no wind. It was however noticeable that the abundance of moths was down by about 50% compared to last year.  A single nights survey is not a reliable basis on which to make claims about abundance, but given the reduced abundance of butterflies this year it might indicate that the wetter and colder early spring/summer weather has had a detrimental effect. In spite of the low overall abundance of moths, 3 or 4 new species were found, including this Poplar Hawk Moth which will be added to the list of species we have from the previous survey.  An updated list of species will be produced when identification work has been completed.

Josh Brown
Ecologist & Member of 4Bs Biodiversity Park Team

---