Pauls contribution to our local wildlife is to regularly record moths at a variety of sites locally. Whilst this is his hobby it is not just personnel interest. His records are fed into a county dataset along with other moth hunters across the county thus contributing to our understanding of moth distribution in Notts. But also feeding into a national database. This is also true for birds, butterflies, mammals, plants, amphibians and a range of other critters.

And your records also matter even if it is the birds and butterflies seen in your garden , on local walks or in your local nature reserve. Just because something seems common – records still matter – it helps confirms they are found in your patch and may indeed be actually common. It can also help map changes in abundance and distribution.

It is easy to record using this link https://record.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/  , these records will feed into county and national databases and just require you to identify location approximately on a map.

However it is fair to say that some categories are better recorded than others. You might not be surprised to know that spiders are not well recorded or plant galls, but neither are beetles despite making up 70% of insect species (Darwin was quoted as saying that the number of beetle species suggested that god had and inordinate love of beetles), even more surprising is that mammals are seriously under recorded, but many are small and/or nocturnal.

A summary of Paul Dulwich`s moth survey activity at Cotgrave Forest.

Between 2019 and 2021 actinic and LED DC moth trapping surveys at six privately owned plots within Cotgrave Forest produced 199 species of macro (larger) moth and 32 species of micro moth. Of the former, 22 species are documented to be of conservation importance in Nottinghamshire. 2 of the macro moths species are listed as ‘Nationally Threatened’ in the UK and 5 of the macro moth species as ‘Vulnerable’. Specific mention should be made of the Yellow-legged Clearwing (Oak) and Webb’s Wainscot (Iris, Reedmace, etc.) which are Category 1 moths in Nottinghamshire and as such are in the top 24 of the County’s rarest macro moth species. Permissions are in place for further surveys in 2022. It is envisaged that the list of both common and significant macro moth species resident in Cotgrave Forest will grow and serve to emphasise the significance of this valuable and arguably unique habitat in south Nottinghamshire’.

And at Wilwell Farm Cutting

Another brief report by Paul Dulwich on moth recording at Wilwell in 2021.

Only one survey in year so didn’t give ourselves too much chance of new finds. However there were a few

Dusky Brocade – various grasses

Bramble-shoot Moth – you can guess

Southern Wainscot – reeds and canary grass – not very common at all in Notts, a grade 3 moth for conservation importance

Then there was the Lunar Hornet Moth I sent you, last recorded in 1983.

Fancy brushing up your skills, the following You Tube video is online. As it is billed as Part One it is to be supposed that others maybe posted at some point.