One of the top “moth-ers” in Derbyshire ran his moth trap in Belper overnight on 18th August, little did he know what he was going to be confronted with, and taking the Derbyshire Moth scene by storm.
On the morning of the 19th August, Dave Evans described his catch as “Standard Fare” apart from his second Ni Moth in a few days and a New For Year of Anania perlucidalis, most Derbyshire “moth-ers” would be quiet happy with those two species. That was until he turned over the penultimate egg tray in his moth trap and discovered a pristine Beautiful Marbled!! Not a blemish on it and such a beautiful moth. The ironic thing is that only a day or so ago I predicted the species was likely to be found in Derbyshire and said “keep an eye open for one of these”! Got to be the Derbyshire Moth of the Year, as it will take something extremely special to beat it.
It is a migrant species to Britain from southern Europe mainly be found at coastal ares and southern counties during June and July. The extremely hot and dry weather systems that have been the norm for the past 8 weeks have attracted huge numbers of migrant moths to the UK, including Small Marbled. Ii is quite remarkable that one can arrive in Derbyshire in such fabulous condition.
Well done Dave, a wonderful species to add to the Derbyshire Moth List.
