Moth recording is the foundation of much of the knowledge about the status and distribution of the UK’s moths. Making records of sightings contributes directly to the scientific understanding and conservation of moths.

If you are new to moth recording then the recording section of the Moths Count website provides valuable information on all aspects of moth recording, including the National Moth Recording Scheme.

Moth records should be submitted to the County Moth Recorder. All records should carry at least the four minimum pieces of information required for all biological records:

Species

The name of the species. Scientific names are acceptable for all species as are English names for macro-moth species. English names for most micro-lepidoptera are not commonly used so are best avoided.

Date

The date on which the record was made. This may be a precise date, e.g. 3rd June 2010, or more vague , e.g. Jun 2010 or 2005. Precise dates are more useful as this allows better understanding of flight times.

Location

The name of the location at which the record was made, along with the grid reference (at least 4 figure, preferably 6 figure). Place names should ideally be those found on OS maps rather than local names.

Recorder

The name of the person who recorded the moth(s) and contact details. If someone else identified the moth(s) then the name of the determiner should also be provided.

In addition there are many more useful pieces of information that can be provided such as the sex (male/female), stage (e.g. adult, egg, caterpillar), method used to record the species (e.g. type of trap and light source), abundance (how many were seen/caught) and any other comments about the record.

Electronic records

Records that are typed up on a suitable spreadsheet are easily transferred to the central database. A template spreadsheet in Excel format download is available to download from the forms and publications page.

The spreadsheet allows you to enter records in a format suitable for submitting to the County Moth Recorder. It includes lookups of species names and checks all grid references provided are correctly formatted and are in Dumfries and Galloway. To use the full functionality you must enable macros in your version of Excel (you may be prompted to do so when opening the spreadsheet).

Paper records

Hand-written Records can also be submitted. If you cannot submit records in spreadsheet format please download a recording form if at all possible so that all the relevant information can be recorded. The recording sheet is available as a Word document or pdf file.