File:Strophedra weirana - Flickr - Bennyboymothman.jpg

Bovingdon and Gadesprings - Field Trip - 19/05/14 Roger, Steve and I made a trip to Bovingdon for some late Spring and early Summer species and boy were we in for a treat! We first trapped this site last year on the 11th of June (Trip report HERE) This time though we were simply overwhelmed with species coming in faster than one could jot down. Interestingly we caught most species that we caught last year but as a comparison, we are about 6 weeks ahead of last year (because of the cold Winter of 2012/13) Of course last year was abnormal so we could not go on last years records too much, some of the species that we did get were typically 2 weeks earlier than the books state.

The evening was perfect, with a mild muggy feel about it and still 20 degrees at 8pm, the cloud was still with us and the moon stayed at bay (at least until we packed up) The threat of rain seemed to have subsided and the breeze had dropped so we were very lucky indeed. We did not get our target species Light Feathered Rustic, but it needn't have mattered as it was a long shot anyway and there was plenty of interest coming to all four traps as we worked them throughout the night.

Highlights included an Alder Moth, Buttoned Snout, Seraphim, Clay Triple-lines, Grass Rivulet and Coronet. The smaller moths were also in abundance, particularly around the twin Actinic trap and several were taken away to examine in natural light. Highlights of the micros included Bucculatrix nigricomella, Mompha lacteella, Mompha raschkiella, Strophedra weirana and Platyptilia gonodactyla, 3 of those new to me.

We also managed to get an unusual looking Treble Lines of the form obscura.

It really was so nice to see good numbers of the common species as well with 30+ Clouded Silver, 40+ of Red Twin-spot Carpet and Mottled/Common Pug both numbering easily in excess of 25 specimens each.

Exhausted as we had finished around 1am at this site, then onto Gadesprings to empty the two traps there, where we found another 3 Alder Moths, Figure of Eighty and Light Brocade amongst a reasonable amount of species.

Home at 3am, up at 6am and I felt like I had a hangover this morning, all good fun!

Numbers below are as close as I could record!

Catch Report - 19/05/14 - Bovingdon Brickworks - Hemel Hempstead - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap.

69 Macros and 34 Macros (103 species)

Macro Moths

3x Common Swift 4x Green Silver-lines 1x Brown Rustic 3x Common Marbled Carpet 5x Green Carpet 15+ Silver-ground Carpet 8x Oak Hook-tip 15+ Brimstone Moth 5x Small Phoenix 1x Small Fan-foot 15+ Flame Shoulder 25+ Common Pug 25+ Mottled Pug 2x Ingrailed Clay 1x White-spotted Pug 1x Foxglove Pug 2x Pale Prominent 6x Treble Lines 1x Straw Dot 40+ Red Twin-spot Carpet 3x Water Carpet 1x Broken-barred Carpet 1x Brown Silver-line 30+ Clouded Silver 1x Scorched Carpet 1x Tawny Marbled Minor 2x Flame Carpet 5x Orange Footman 6x Pale Tussock 2x Grey Pug 4x Seraphim 1x Pebble Prominent 4x Nut-tree Tussock 3x Small Square-spot 2x Angle Shades 4x Waved Umber 2x Shuttle-shaped Dart 4x Least Black Arches 1x Marbled Minor 1x Spruce Carpet 1x Yellow-barred Brindle 2x Common Wave 1x Common White Wave 1x V-pug 3x Scorched Wing 1x Marbled White Spot 5x Scalloped Hazel 10x White Ermine 4x Peppered Moth 2x Chinese Character 1x Flame 2x Cinnabar 1x Peach Blossom 2x Clouded-bordered Brindle 1x Buttoned Snout 1x Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1x Iron Prominent 1x Brindled Pug 1x Common Carpet 1x Blood-vein 1x Bright-line Brown-eye 2x Oak-tree Pug 2x Coronet 1x Alder Moth [NEW!] 1x Knot Grass 1x Herald 1x Grass Rivulet [NEW!] 1x Clay Triple-lines 1x White-pinion Spotted

Micro Moths

2x Endrosis sarcitrella 2x Epiblema cynosbatella 2x Bucculatrix nigricomella [NEW!] 1x Aspilapteryx tringipennella 4x Crambus lathoniellus 1x Aphomia sociella 5x Caloptilia syringella 1x Caloptilia stigmatella 1x Caloptilia semifascia 1x Agonopterix arenella 1x Plutella porrectella 8x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 2x Cochylimorpha straminea 2x Epiblema cirsiana 1x Blastobasis lacticolella 1x Incurvaria masculella 2x Ancylis badiana 10x Syndemis musculana 3x Scoparia ambigualis 1x Alucita hexadactyla 2x Phyllonorycter harrisella 2x Monopis weaverella 1x Mompha lacteella [NEW!] 2x Mompha raschkiella 1x Nemapogon cloacella 1x Strophedra weirana 1x Cataclysta lemnata 1x Prays ruficeps/fraxinella 1x Cochylis atricapitana 1x Parornix sp 1x Coleophora sp 1x Anthophila fabriciana 1x Platyptilia gonodactyla [NEW!] 1x Ephestia parasitella unicolorella

Catch Report - 19/05/14 - Gadesprings - Hemel Hempstead - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap and 40w Actinic Trap.

40 Macros and 9 Macros (49 species)

Macro Moths

1x Cinnabar 1x Figure of Eighty 4x Clouded Silver 1x Waved Umber 7x Flame Shoulder 2x White Ermine 5x Peppered Moth 3x Alder Moth 2x Brimstone 2x Small Square-spot 1x Pale Tussock 1x Orange Footman 10x Treble Lines 1x Oak-tree Pug 1x Green Carpet 1x Chinese Character 1x Yellow-barred Brindle 2x Pale Prominent 6x Heart & Dart 1x Shuttle-shaped Dart 2x Common Marbled Carpet 1x Common Pug 1x Vine's Rustic 1x Rustic Shoulder-knot 1x Tawny Marbled Minor 1x Marbled Minor 1x Spectacle 1x Green Silver-lines 1x Iron Prominent 2x Small Clouded Brindle 1x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Scalloped Hazel 1x Lychnis 2x Oak Nycteoline 1x Pale Tussock 1x Coronet 1x Clouded-bordered Brindle 1x Light Brocade 1x Shuttle-shaped Dart 1x Buff-tip

Micro Moths

1x Dichrorampha sp 1x Anthophila fabriciana 1x Syndemis musculana 1x Tinea trinotella 1x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 2x Elachista maculicerusella 1x Plutella xylostella 1x Caloptilia robustella