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Field Trip - Hexton Chalk Pit - 25/05/17 Thursday night saw me trapping at Hexton Chalk Pit for the first time this year after doing a few daytime forays for moths and finding a few bits and pieces, it was time to go all out and spread 5 traps over the reserve. I was joined by Trevor for a bit and Tony popped by to see how things were going. The day had been very warm and sunny and mid-twenties by 4pm, there was however no cloud cover but with a warm breeze it was hardly going to get cold and in fact it was still 14 degrees at 2am when I left the reserve. The traps out of the breeze did fair better and by midnight, the exposed trap on the chalk hill did take a pounding and most of the moths ended up about 3 metres from the trap having been blown there. Numbers were pretty good and the species kept coming in, heck if I had stayed until dawn I probably could have added another 15 species I reckon but I had work the next day and getting to bed at 2.30am was late enough! Some cracking species were netted before the lights were turned on, Bucculatrix bechsteinella (only my second ever), Elachista biatomella (new to me and a rare moth in the County only having one previous record), a shiney green moth which is the uncommon Eulamprotes unicolorella and Rhopobota stagnana (another new moth to me). I joked to Trevor that we may as well pack up now after the successful half an hour of sweeping! Other good moths that later came to the lights were Wood Carpet, Netted Pug, Anania fuscalis, Alder Moth, Marbled Coronet and Satyr Pug. The best moth for me if correct would be Syncopacma sangiella, Graeme will look at it and if it is it will be a County first record. It was also very pleasing to see that Anania fuscalis is still hanging on there after re-discovering it 181 years later in 2015. Still reeling from seeing so many moths and I hope to be back in a few weeks. Catch Report - 25/05/17 - Hexton Chalk Pit - North-west Herts - 5 traps in total - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap 1x 40w Actinic + 15w LED Trap 1x 80w Actinic Trap 97 species Macro Moths 2x Alder Moth 10x Brimstone Moth 1x Broken-barred Carpet 5x Brown Rustic 2x Burnished Brass 3x Clouded Border 3x Clouded Silver 15x Common Carpet 4x Common Marbled Carpet 5x Common Pug 40+ Common Swift 2x Fern 1x Figure of Eighty 1x Flame 15x Flame Shoulder 4x Freyer's Pug 30+ Grass Rivulet 20+ Green Carpet 1x Green Pug 1x Green Silver-lines 5x Grey Pug 12x Ingrailed Clay 5x Large Nutmeg 5x Latticed Heath 10x Light Brocade 20x Light Emerald 1x Lime-speck Pug 1x Marbled Coronet 10x Marbled Minor 3x Marbled White-spot 1x Middle-barred Minor 18x Mottled Pug 1x Mottled Rustic 3x Netted Pug 1x Nutmeg 5x Orange Footman 2x Pale Oak Beauty 1x Pale Prominent 15x Pale Tussock 1x Pebble Hook-tip 3x Peppered Moth 2x Pug id (to be gen det) 5x Purple Bar 1x Red-green Carpet 2x Red Twin-spot Carpet 5x Rustic Shoulder-knot 5x Satyr Pug 2x Scorched Wing 5x Setaceous Hebrew Character 50+ Shaded Pug 3x Shears 2x Shuttle-shaped Dart 3x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Small Phoenix 1x Small Purple-barred 8x Small Square-spot 5x Small Waved Umber 5x Straw Dot 1x Tawny Marbled Minor 1x Treble-bar 30+ Treble Lines 4x Waved Umber 5x White Ermine 1x White Pinion-spotted 2x White-spotted Pug 1x Willow Beauty 5x Wood Carpet 2x Yellow-barred Brindle Micro Moths 1x Agapeta hamana 1x Agonopterix arenella 2x Anania fuscalis 1x Bucculatrix bechsteinella 1x Caloptilia robustella/alchimiella 1x Celypha lacunana 200+ Cochylimorpha straminea 1x Cochylis hybridella 2x Crambus lathoniellus 10x Elachista argentella 1x Elachista biatomella [NEW!] 1x Epinotia subocellana 2x Endrosis sarcitrella 2x Eudonia pallida 2x Eulamprotes unicolorella or Scythris fallacella (to be gen det) 2x Eupoecilia angustana 1x Mompha epilobiella 1x Monopis weaverella 1x Nematopogon swammerdamella 3x Notocelia cynosbatella 5x Notocelia trimaculana 1x Rhopobota stagnana [NEW!] 15x Scoparia ambigualis 30+ Scoparia pyralella 1x Syncopacma sangiella pos [NEW!] (to be gen det) 2x Syndemis musculana 1x Tinea semifulvella
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Field Trip - Hexton Chalk Pit - 25/05/17 Thursday night saw me trapping at Hexton Chalk Pit for the first time this year after doing a few daytime forays for moths and finding a few bits and pieces, it was time to go all out and spread 5 traps over the reserve. I was joined by Trevor for a bit and Tony popped by to see how things were going. The day had been very warm and sunny and mid-twenties by 4pm, there was however no cloud cover but with a warm breeze it was hardly going to get cold and in fact it was still 14 degrees at 2am when I left the reserve. The traps out of the breeze did fair better and by midnight, the exposed trap on the chalk hill did take a pounding and most of the moths ended up about 3 metres from the trap having been blown there. Numbers were pretty good and the species kept coming in, heck if I had stayed until dawn I probably could have added another 15 species I reckon but I had work the next day and getting to bed at 2.30am was late enough! Some cracking species were netted before the lights were turned on, Bucculatrix bechsteinella (only my second ever), Elachista biatomella (new to me and a rare moth in the County only having one previous record), a shiney green moth which is the uncommon Eulamprotes unicolorella and Rhopobota stagnana (another new moth to me). I joked to Trevor that we may as well pack up now after the successful half an hour of sweeping! Other good moths that later came to the lights were Wood Carpet, Netted Pug, Anania fuscalis, Alder Moth, Marbled Coronet and Satyr Pug. The best moth for me if correct would be Syncopacma sangiella, Graeme will look at it and if it is it will be a County first record. It was also very pleasing to see that Anania fuscalis is still hanging on there after re-discovering it 181 years later in 2015. Still reeling from seeing so many moths and I hope to be back in a few weeks. Catch Report - 25/05/17 - Hexton Chalk Pit - North-west Herts - 5 traps in total - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap 1x 40w Actinic + 15w LED Trap 1x 80w Actinic Trap 97 species Macro Moths 2x Alder Moth 10x Brimstone Moth 1x Broken-barred Carpet 5x Brown Rustic 2x Burnished Brass 3x Clouded Border 3x Clouded Silver 15x Common Carpet 4x Common Marbled Carpet 5x Common Pug 40+ Common Swift 2x Fern 1x Figure of Eighty 1x Flame 15x Flame Shoulder 4x Freyer's Pug 30+ Grass Rivulet 20+ Green Carpet 1x Green Pug 1x Green Silver-lines 5x Grey Pug 12x Ingrailed Clay 5x Large Nutmeg 5x Latticed Heath 10x Light Brocade 20x Light Emerald 1x Lime-speck Pug 1x Marbled Coronet 10x Marbled Minor 3x Marbled White-spot 1x Middle-barred Minor 18x Mottled Pug 1x Mottled Rustic 3x Netted Pug 1x Nutmeg 5x Orange Footman 2x Pale Oak Beauty 1x Pale Prominent 15x Pale Tussock 1x Pebble Hook-tip 3x Peppered Moth 2x Pug id (to be gen det) 5x Purple Bar 1x Red-green Carpet 2x Red Twin-spot Carpet 5x Rustic Shoulder-knot 5x Satyr Pug 2x Scorched Wing 5x Setaceous Hebrew Character 50+ Shaded Pug 3x Shears 2x Shuttle-shaped Dart 3x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Small Phoenix 1x Small Purple-barred 8x Small Square-spot 5x Small Waved Umber 5x Straw Dot 1x Tawny Marbled Minor 1x Treble-bar 30+ Treble Lines 4x Waved Umber 5x White Ermine 1x White Pinion-spotted 2x White-spotted Pug 1x Willow Beauty 5x Wood Carpet 2x Yellow-barred Brindle Micro Moths 1x Agapeta hamana 1x Agonopterix arenella 2x Anania fuscalis 1x Bucculatrix bechsteinella 1x Caloptilia robustella/alchimiella 1x Celypha lacunana 200+ Cochylimorpha straminea 1x Cochylis hybridella 2x Crambus lathoniellus 10x Elachista argentella 1x Elachista biatomella [NEW!] 1x Epinotia subocellana 2x Endrosis sarcitrella 2x Eudonia pallida 2x Eulamprotes unicolorella or Scythris fallacella (to be gen det) 2x Eupoecilia angustana 1x Mompha epilobiella 1x Monopis weaverella 1x Nematopogon swammerdamella 3x Notocelia cynosbatella 5x Notocelia trimaculana 1x Rhopobota stagnana [NEW!] 15x Scoparia ambigualis 30+ Scoparia pyralella 1x Syncopacma sangiella pos [NEW!] (to be gen det) 2x Syndemis musculana 1x Tinea semifulvella
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Bennyboymothman|sourceurl=https://flickr.com/photos/33398884@N03/27696257001%7Carchive=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316192021/https://flickr.com/photos/33398884@N03/27696257001%7Creviewdate=2018-09-29 05:57:27|reviewlicense=cc-by-2.0|reviewer=FlickreviewR 2
Wikimedia Commons
Summary[
edit] Description: I recently had the results back from Graeme Smith for some of the dissections of the difficult species we encountered on our field trip to Roughdown Common. Date: 19 June 2016, 15:18. Source:
[0732] Eulamprotes unicolorella. Author:
Ben Sale from Stevenage, UK.
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Field Trip - Roughdown Common Again! - 21-06-16 On Tuesday night I was joined by David and Roger at Roughdown Common for our third visit to this site this year. I arrived on site quite early and planned to do some netting before setting all of the traps up. We had access to the reserve up a slight incline and because on Monday morning it rained solidly for most of the morning, it was a slippy upward slope that the car disagreed with! Spinning and slipping I managed to get up with just the engine power and no throttle (Diesels are great for this) I'm glad I got there early as I added 12 species in around 40 minutes of 'exercise' best moth was an Epinotia tenerana. I also got plagued by clegs as soon as I got out of the car, I thought sod this...so I got some of my citronella spray that I bought from Turkey about 8 years ago! I bought about 5 bottles back then and this is my last (full) bottle..the stuff worked instantly and I never aw another one afterwards. The traps were all set-up at around 9pm and lights on at 9.40pm, we ran a total of six lights across the site covering all different areas. The weather was just perfect, thick dominant cloud cover, little wind and 17 degrees. Things did get a little chillier at packing up time at 2am and the breeze kicked up a bit. 129 species was not to be sniffed at but we've done a lot better this time of year in the past.. echoing the continuation of a poor year. Best Moth was a Garden Dart, a really uncommon and terribly declining moth which use to be an annual moth on most people's records in the 1970's..now well this only my second record in 10 years and my first Hertfordshire record. Another moth of note was the micro moth Thiotricha subocellea, another rare moth for the County, two were recorded on the night, only my 2nd and 3rd records ever. All in all a pleasing night with the guys. Catch Report - 21/06/16 - Roughdown Common - 3x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 26w & 40w Actinic Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap and 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap 128 Species in total Macro Moths -74 Species Beautiful Golden-Y 1 Beautiful Hook-tip 5 Bright-line Brown-eye 1 Brimstone Moth 3 Broken-barred Carpet 2 Brown Rustic 6 Buff Arches 1 Buff-tip 1 Burnished Brass 1 Clouded Border 2 Clouded Brindle 1 Clouded Silver 30+ Common Marbled Carpet 8 Common Pug 4 Common Swift 10 Common White Wave 1 Coronet 3 Dark Arches 1 Dot Moth 1 Double Square-spot 3 Elephant Hawk-moth 1 Fan-foot 2 Fern 3 Flame 2 Flame Shoulder 1 Garden Carpet 1 Garden Dart 1 Ghost Moth 3 Green Carpet 2 Green Pug 4 Grey Pug 2 Haworth's Pug 2 Heart & Club 2 Heart & Dart 15+ Ingrailed Clay 5 Large Nutmeg 1 Large Yellow Underwing 4 Least Black Arches 1 Light Arches 1 Light Brocade 1 Light Emerald 3 Lime Hawk-moth 2 Lobster Moth 1 Marbled Minor 5 Marbled White Spot Middle-barred Minor 1 Mottled Beauty 6 Mottled Pug 1 Mottled Rustic 1 Orange Footman 2 Peppered Moth 1 Poplar Hawk-moth 1 Pretty Chalk Carpet 3 Privet Hawk-moth 2 Purple Bar 2 Riband Wave 2 Rustic Shoulder-knot 1 Scorched Carpet 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character 1 Shears 3 Shoulder-striped Wainscot 2 Silver-ground Carpet 4 Small Fan-foot 4 Small Yellow Wave 2 Snout 2 Spectacle 1 Straw Dot 2 Tawny Marbled Minor 1 Treble Brown Spot 2 Treble Lines 1 Uncertain 2 White Ermine 1 Willow Beauty 1 Yellow Shell 2 Micro Moths - 55 Species Acentria ephemerella 1 Agapeta hamana 5 Agapeta zoegana 3 Agonopterix arenella 2 Agonopterix purpurea 1 Aleimma loeflingiana 3 Alucita hexadactyla 1 Anania hortulata 2 Aphomia sociella 2 Archips xylosteana 1 Argyresthia spinosella 1 Blastobasis lacticolella 2 Bryotropha terrella 15+ Celypha lacunana 5 Chrysoteuchia culmella 15+ Coleophora sp 1 Cnephasia sp 4 Cochylimorpha straminea 2 Crambus lathoniellus 10+ Crambus pascuella 1 Crambus perlella 1 Cydia pomonella 2 Dichrorampha aplinana 1 Ditula angustiorana 1 Epinotia bilunana 4 Epinotia tenerana 1 Elachista argentella 1 Eucosma cana 2 Eucosma obumbratana 1 Eudonia lacustrata 2 Eulamprotes unicolorella 2 Gypsonoma dealbana 1 Hedya nubiferana 2 Hedya pruniana 5 Homoeosoma sinuella 1 Metzneria metzneriella 3 Mompha epilobiella 1 Morophaga choragella 1 Notocelia trimaculana 2 Notocelia uddmanniana 1 Pandemis cerasana 10 Pandemis heparana 5 Paraswammerdamia albicapitella 1 Parornix sp 1 Plutella xylostella 10+ Prays fraxinella 2 Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 4 Psyche casta - Case Scoparia ambigualis 6+ Scoparia pyralella 4 Stenoptilia pterodactyla 1 Teleiodes luculella 2 Tinea semifulvella 2 Thiotricha subocellea 2 Tortrix viridana 15+ Udea olivalis 5+
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Roughdown Common - Field Trip - 02/06/14 I was joined by David, Roger and Steve at Roughdown Common for our second outing to this site this year. We were probably a few weeks to early for peak flying species, but nevertheless it was great to see some species a little earlier than we have recorded them before (namely Snout and Double Square-spot) Despite the warm and cloudy conditions, we had to wait a good hour and a half after lights on before we actually started seeing some variety which was a bit of a surprise as we were an hour into darkness with less than 15 species jotted down. But at 11pm things went rather mad and the deluge started as the breeze dropped off. By 1am the sky was breaking and there was a chill in the air and it was time to pack the 4 traps up. Highlights were a single Pammene albuginana, confidently confirmed by the County recorder as the 3rd record for Hertforshire of recent times, although the hindwing needs checking for certainty. We also got an early Coronet and 3 of the pretty metallic Eulamprotes unicolorella, which seems to be quite scarce? All in all a pleasing night, if we were a few weeks later we may have done better with species count. Catch Report - 02/06/14 - Roughdown Common - Hemel Hempstead - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap. Macro Moths 1x Clouded Border 20+ Common Swift 25+ Clouded Silver 10+ Grey Pug 5x Mottled Pug 3x Silver-ground Carpet 2x Ghost Moth (2 Fem) 10+ Common Pug 5x Green Carpet 2x Tawny Marbled Minor 8x Marbled Minor 1x Middle-barred Minor 10+ Heart & Dart 3x Straw Dot 2x Small Elephant Hawk-moth 15x Common Marbled Carpet 5x Flame Shoulder 2x Clouded Brindle 2x Pale Oak Beauty 2x Clouded-bordered Brindle (1 ab combusta) 2x Buff Ermine 1x Lime Hawk-moth 1x Freyer’s Pug 2x Nutmeg 2x Small Square-spot 1x Oak nycteoline 1x Green Pug 1x Flame 3x Ingrailed Clay 1x Brown Rustic 1x Burnished Brass 2x Mottled Beauty 1x Coronet 1x Scorched Carpet 4x Peppered Moth 1x Pale Tussock 2x Small Phoenix 3x Middle-barred Minor 3x White Ermine 2x Broken-barred Carpet 6x Treble Lines 1x Pale Prominent 2x Purple Bar 3x Marbled White-spot 2x Brimstone Moth 1x Willow Beauty 2x Common Carpet 1x Least Black Arches 2x Silver-Y 3x Lime-speck Pug 1x Snout 1x Light Emerald 1x Buff-tip 8x Light Brocade 1x Common White Wave 1x Double Square-spot 2x Garden Carpet Micro Moths 1x Pammene albuginana [NEW!] 2x Epinotia subocellana 15+ Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 40+ Cochylimorpha straminea 1x Glyphipterix simpliciella 5x Scoparia ambigualis 2x Adela degeerella 4x Udea olivalis 1x Tischeria marginea 1x Phycitodes sp 3x Eulamprotes unicolorella 1x Endrosis sarcitrella 2x Agonopterix arenella 1x Argyresthia abistria 1x Coleophora sp 1x Nematopogon schwarziellus 1x Aphomia sociella 2x Plutella xylostella 3x Celypha lacunana 1x Cnephasia sp 1x Caloptilia syringella 1x Tinea trinotella 1x Epiblema cynosbatella 2x Syndemis musculana 1x Teleoides luculella 10x Pandemis heperana 1x Caloptilia alchimiella 1x Agapeta zoegana 2x Epiblema trimaculana 2x Argyrotaenia ljungiana 5x Scoparia pyralella 2x Metzneria metzneriella 1x Hedya pruniana
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Hemel Hempstead Field Trip - 26/06/13 Last night Roger, David and myself did another field trip to the Boxmoor Trusts land. We decided to set-up 2 traps at Gadesprings like we normally do, lock it up and leave it running, and then drive about a mile and a half to our second site. Roughdown Common is a lovely looking piece of unimproved grass chalkland with intersecting mature woodland and new plantations of mixed trees and scrub. The site is very uneven as I found out after I slipped over chasing a moth! The amount of flora on offer at this site speaks volumes for the divesity of moths that we would record. The evening was perfect, overcast warm and with a slight breeze. The moths did not take long to arrive and the micro's were borderline overwhelming for all of us. Gadesprings did not fair so well, and was slightly cooler (because of the Watercress beds) with about a 1/4 of what we recorded at Roughdown. But again we found different species at this site, notably Netted Pug! All in all a very enjoyable (and exhausting) evening, which I look forward to repeating again very soon. Numbers of species are approximate. 121 species total 104 species at Roughdown Common (70 Macro - 34 Micro) 58 species at Gadesprings (49 Macro - 9 Micro) 17 extra species at Gadesprings [] = Only at Gadesprings 26/06/13 Roughdown Common - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Trap run from 9.45pm until 1.30am Macro Moths 1x Angle Shades 5x Beautiful Golden Y 3x Brimstone Moth 1x Broken-barred Carpet 2x Brown Rustic 2x Buff Arches 1x Buff-tip 1x Burnished Brass 2x Clouded Border 20x Clouded Silver 2x Clouded-bordered Brindle 4x Common Carpet 6x Common Marbled Carpet 2x Common Pug 3x Common Swift 2x Common Wainscot 5x Common White Wave 1x Coronet 1x Dark Arches 1x Elephant Hawk-moth 1x Fern 1x Flame 4x Flame Shoulder 2x Ghost Moth 10x Green Carpet 1x Green Pug 10x Grey Pug 10x Heart & Dart 3x Ingrailed Clay 1x Iron Prominent 5x Large Nutmeg 2x Light Brocade 1x Liht Emerald 1x Lobster Moth 6x Marbled Minor 3x Marbled White Spot 1x Middle-barred Minor 2x Mottled Beauty 2x Mottled Pug 1x Orange Footman 2x Pale Oak Beauty 1x Pale Prominent 1x Pale Tussock 3x Peppered Moth 2x Purple Bar 1x Riband Wave 2x Rustic Shoulder-knot 1x Scorched Carpet 5x Scorched Wing 2x Seraphim 1x Setaceous Hebrew Character 1x Shaded Pug 2x Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1x Shuttle-shaped Dart 1x Silver-Y 10x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Small Blood-vein 2x Small Square-spot 1x Snout 1x Spectacle 10x Straw Dot 1x Sycamore 1x Tawny-barred Angle 1x Toadflax Pug 1x Treble Brown Spot 2x Treble Lines 1x V-pug 3x Waved Umber 2x White Ermine 1x Yellow Shell Micro Moths 2x Celypha lacunana 6x Scoparia pyralella 1x Scoparia ambigualis 3x Crambus lathoniellus 1x Hedya nubiferana 8x Cochylimorpha straminea 4x Agapeta hamana 1x Agepeta zoegana 2x Acentria ephemerella 6x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 1x Eupoecilia angustana 1x Nemapogon cloacella 1x Blastobasis laticolella 10x Metzneria metzneriella 1x Coleophora sp 1x Bactra sp 1x Agonopterix arenella 1x Tinea semifulvella 2x Eucosma cana 3x Eucosma obumbratana 1x Eucosma hohenwartiana 4x Tortrix viridana 3x Pandemis cerasana 1x Bryotropha affinis 1x Chrysoteuchia culmella 2x Epiblema uddmanniana 1x Epiblema trimaculana 2x Eucosma campoliliana 2x Elachista sp 2x Udea olivalis 1x Archips podana 1x Aphelia paleana 1x Epiblema cynosbatella 1x pos Eulamprotes unicolorella (to be checked) 26/06/13 Gadesprings, Hemel Hempstead - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap & 1x 160w MBT Trap run from 9.30pm until 2.00am Macro Moths 1x Beautiful Golden Y 1x Bright-line Brown-eye [] 2x Brimstone Moth 1x Brown Rustic 1x Buff Ermine [] 3x Buff-tip 1x Burnished Brass 5x Cinnabar [] 1x Clouded Border 1x Common Carpet 1x Common Footman [] 5x Clouded Silver 1x Clouded-bordered Brindle 2x Common Marbled Carpet 2x Common Rustic [] 4x Common Swift 1x Common Wave [] 2x Common White Wave 2x Dark Arches 1x Double Square-spot [] 1x Dusky Brocade [] 1x Elephant Hawk-moth 3x Flame 3x Flame Shoulder 3x Green Carpet 1x Grey-pine Carpet [] 3x Grey Pug 5x Heart & Dart 1x Ingrailed Clay 2x Large Nutmeg 2x Light Brocade 4x Marbled Minor 1x Middle-barred Minor 1x Netted Pug [] 1x Pale Prominent 1x Peppered Moth 1x Rustic Shoulder-knot 1x Scorched Wing 1x Shuttle-shaped Dart 1x Silver-Y 5x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Small Square-spot 1x Snout 2x Straw Dot 1x Swallow Prominent [] 1x Treble Lines 1x Uncertain [] 1x White Ermine 1x Willow Beauty [] Micro Moths 4x Celypha lacunana 2x Cochylimorpha straminea 3x Crambus lathoniellus 2x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 1x Agonopterix arenella 2x Elachista maculicerusella [] 2x Clepsis spectrana [] 1x Plutella xylostella [] 1x Eurrhypara hortulata []
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Field Trip - Hexton Chalk Pit - 25/05/17 Thursday night saw me trapping at Hexton Chalk Pit for the first time this year after doing a few daytime forays for moths and finding a few bits and pieces, it was time to go all out and spread 5 traps over the reserve. I was joined by Trevor for a bit and Tony popped by to see how things were going. The day had been very warm and sunny and mid-twenties by 4pm, there was however no cloud cover but with a warm breeze it was hardly going to get cold and in fact it was still 14 degrees at 2am when I left the reserve. The traps out of the breeze did fair better and by midnight, the exposed trap on the chalk hill did take a pounding and most of the moths ended up about 3 metres from the trap having been blown there. Numbers were pretty good and the species kept coming in, heck if I had stayed until dawn I probably could have added another 15 species I reckon but I had work the next day and getting to bed at 2.30am was late enough! Some cracking species were netted before the lights were turned on, Bucculatrix bechsteinella (only my second ever), Elachista biatomella (new to me and a rare moth in the County only having one previous record), a shiney green moth which is the uncommon Eulamprotes unicolorella and Rhopobota stagnana (another new moth to me). I joked to Trevor that we may as well pack up now after the successful half an hour of sweeping! Other good moths that later came to the lights were Wood Carpet, Netted Pug, Anania fuscalis, Alder Moth, Marbled Coronet and Satyr Pug. The best moth for me if correct would be Syncopacma sangiella, Graeme will look at it and if it is it will be a County first record. It was also very pleasing to see that Anania fuscalis is still hanging on there after re-discovering it 181 years later in 2015. Still reeling from seeing so many moths and I hope to be back in a few weeks. Catch Report - 25/05/17 - Hexton Chalk Pit - North-west Herts - 5 traps in total - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap 1x 40w Actinic + 15w LED Trap 1x 80w Actinic Trap 97 species Macro Moths 2x Alder Moth 10x Brimstone Moth 1x Broken-barred Carpet 5x Brown Rustic 2x Burnished Brass 3x Clouded Border 3x Clouded Silver 15x Common Carpet 4x Common Marbled Carpet 5x Common Pug 40+ Common Swift 2x Fern 1x Figure of Eighty 1x Flame 15x Flame Shoulder 4x Freyer's Pug 30+ Grass Rivulet 20+ Green Carpet 1x Green Pug 1x Green Silver-lines 5x Grey Pug 12x Ingrailed Clay 5x Large Nutmeg 5x Latticed Heath 10x Light Brocade 20x Light Emerald 1x Lime-speck Pug 1x Marbled Coronet 10x Marbled Minor 3x Marbled White-spot 1x Middle-barred Minor 18x Mottled Pug 1x Mottled Rustic 3x Netted Pug 1x Nutmeg 5x Orange Footman 2x Pale Oak Beauty 1x Pale Prominent 15x Pale Tussock 1x Pebble Hook-tip 3x Peppered Moth 2x Pug id (to be gen det) 5x Purple Bar 1x Red-green Carpet 2x Red Twin-spot Carpet 5x Rustic Shoulder-knot 5x Satyr Pug 2x Scorched Wing 5x Setaceous Hebrew Character 50+ Shaded Pug 3x Shears 2x Shuttle-shaped Dart 3x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Small Phoenix 1x Small Purple-barred 8x Small Square-spot 5x Small Waved Umber 5x Straw Dot 1x Tawny Marbled Minor 1x Treble-bar 30+ Treble Lines 4x Waved Umber 5x White Ermine 1x White Pinion-spotted 2x White-spotted Pug 1x Willow Beauty 5x Wood Carpet 2x Yellow-barred Brindle Micro Moths 1x Agapeta hamana 1x Agonopterix arenella 2x Anania fuscalis 1x Bucculatrix bechsteinella 1x Caloptilia robustella/alchimiella 1x Celypha lacunana 200+ Cochylimorpha straminea 1x Cochylis hybridella 2x Crambus lathoniellus 10x Elachista argentella 1x Elachista biatomella [NEW!] 1x Epinotia subocellana 2x Endrosis sarcitrella 2x Eudonia pallida 2x Eulamprotes unicolorella or Scythris fallacella (to be gen det) 2x Eupoecilia angustana 1x Mompha epilobiella 1x Monopis weaverella 1x Nematopogon swammerdamella 3x Notocelia cynosbatella 5x Notocelia trimaculana 1x Rhopobota stagnana [NEW!] 15x Scoparia ambigualis 30+ Scoparia pyralella 1x Syncopacma sangiella pos [NEW!] (to be gen det) 2x Syndemis musculana 1x Tinea semifulvella