Recording
Moths in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Please send your records to the County Moth Recorders:
Berkshire: Martin
Harvey. Send records to martin@kitenet.freeserve.co.uk
Buckinghamshire:
Martin Albertini. Send records to malbertini@onetel.com
Oxfordshire: Martin
Townsend. Send records to martin.townsend4@ntlworld.com
The recorders are willing to help identify moths, but they do need to see a
photo or specimen to confirm identifications. If you think you have found a
rare moth, but are not sure of it, then please contact your County Recorder as
soon as possible after you have seen it.
Peter
Hall, our Bucks Moth Officer, can also be
contacted to assist with moth identifications:
Peter Hall can be contacted at peter.hall18@virgin.net
The following notes are intended as guidelines for sending in moth records. If
you can send in records following the guidelines it will make life easier for
the county moth recorders, who are busy people and suffer from a severe lack of
sleep during the summer mothing season! However, the most important thing is to
send the records in – records in almost any shape or form are better than no
records at all.
What makes a
record?
The vital information
for a record of a moth is:
1. Species
seen
2. Location,
preferably giving a grid reference or detailed address
3. Date
4. Name
of person doing the recording
As well as the four vital pieces of information, other details are of interest,
and the following all add to the value of a moth record:
5. Type
of habitat where moths were found (e.g. grassland, woodland, garden - or use
the habitat codes from the butterfly recording form)
6. Numbers
of individuals of each species seen
7. Method
of recording, i.e. was the moth seen by day, or did you use a moth trap, or
rear a caterpillar, etc.
8. Any
evidence of breeding, e.g. egg-laying or mating pair seen
9. Observations
on behaviour, e.g. which flowers visited to feed on nectar, what location used
for daytime roosting, etc.
Few people would have
the time to record all these details for every sighting, but particularly for
rare and unusual species any extra information can be important.
·
Add extra information where you can,
especially for unusual species
If you wish to computerise your own moth records then that can be very helpful,
not least because it saves the moth recorders from having to retype everything!
Please contact your county moth recorder for further details (e.g. in Berkshire
most moth recorders now use the excellent MapMate database, which
allows easy exchange of records).
·
Maintaining your own database can be
interesting and helpful, but please contact the county recorder to ensure that
data can be passed on easily
Finally, it is very useful if you can supply some information about how you
identify your moths. Moths can be difficult to identify, and it is important
that the Branch does what it can to ensure that all records are as accurate as
possible – records form the basis of our conservation management advice and
rare species monitoring. It is very helpful if you can let the recorders know
what books you use for identification, and whether you have photos or specimens
of any of the moths you have seen.
·
Please take care to identify moths accurately - if
in doubt ask one of the County Moth Recorders or the Bucks Moth Officer for
help.