Newsletter no. 7 Summer 2002

14 West Road, Bishops Stortford, CM23 3QP

tel/fax: 01279 507697 E-mail: colinwplant@ntlworld.com

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WELCOME

This has been a very peculiar year so far. Rain, rain and more rain, occasional wind and low overnight temperatures, just for good measure, characterised the early part of the year. Generally, moth numbers were very much lower than usual at garden traps throughout April, May and June. Several newcomers to mothing even asked me what they were doing wrong. The answer was "NOTHING". It was a very poor season and we were all suffering the same. As I write in July, however, things are picking up a bit and there have been a few good nights. Anyway - lets not waste paper. On with the interesting stuff …

A WELCOME TO MIDDLESEX MOTH-ERS

Herts and Middlesex have traditionally been treated together, and this approach has been adopted by Butterfly Conservation. Presumably it was originally because nobody wanted London!? I remain the Recorder for Middlesex, but because of the distance involved, and because there is so much virgin territory in Herts., I have tended to avoid the place in recent years. However, an increasing number of members of this group are resident in Middlesex and are trapping in their gardens. Thus, I feel the time has come to open up the newsletter to this other county area. I draw the line at me leading field trips in London. Sorry -we have only three planned years left to finish Hertfordshire in readiness for the proposed book. I would be very pleased, on the other hand, if people down that way wanted to organise a programme of recording trips and would be pleased to include such events in the HMG programme. I am always keen to name or verify moths or photos from Middlesex.

Since the publication of Larger Moths of the London Area in 1993 (a pre-computer venture), I have been annotating my copy of the book with both overlooked records and new records. Now, with the help of Emily Funnell, Butterfly Conservation's new Regional Development Officer for London, a number of (mad!) volunteers have been found to key these extra dots into a database. The end product will be updated (to 2000) maps of London's macro moths. This area includes the lower third of Hertfordshire, and data from the Herts Moth Database needs to be added to Emily's files before we finally create the maps. The revised maps will be made available on the Internet.

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MICROS OF MIDDLESEX

It may be of interest that a complete list of the micro moths of Middlesex will be published in this year's London Naturalist (journal of the London Natural History Society). This will complement the larger moth book and will mean that for the first time all of the moths of Middlesex are now listed. A limited number of reprints will be available, but it is suggested that you really ought to join the LNHS and gain this and other benefits.

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