Field Trip - Roughdown Common - Hemel Hemptead - 11/06/15

Exactly the same date as last month, we decided to run several traps at Roughdown Common for our second trip of the year to this fantastic site.
After the success story that is the recent discovery of a Small Blue population on nearby Dellfield by Lucy Flower, it was time to see if the moths would equally surprise us.
I was joined by David, Roger and Lucy and as soon as we arrived at around 9pm we proceeded to set up 4 traps in different parts of the reserve, 2 in the woods, one on the edge of the A41 and another over-looking the lower field.
The spread of lights would mean that we could cover as much habitat (and open spaces for possible migrants) as we could.
The night started a bit tricky, where we wanted to run some of the traps we couldn't because 150 metres of cable just wasn't enough believe it or not! And on top of that my homemade trap broke, so that is in the menders yard at the moment (in our spare bedroom ready to be soldered) 

The conditions were pretty perfect temperature wise, but that was where it stopped! It had been a very warm and muggy day with highs of 24 degrees and on arrival at 9pm it was still 20 degrees! But the sky was clear and there was quite a breeze kicking up from the North-East, not ideal but with no moon and warm temperatures we were confident.
By midnight the sky did cloud over a bit and we even felt a few light spots of rain.

We proceeded to pack up at around 1.15am and we were finished by 2.15am.

The most interesting moths of the night were Lobster Moth, Netted Pug, Small Clouded Brindle, Figure of Eighty and Small Angle Shades.
Singles of Plutella xylostella and White-point made up a bit of migration.

105 species is also very pleasing considering how it has been a bit of a struggle at times this year.

It was also nice to get both Hedya pruniana and nubiferana to compare in the field and to brush up on our identification skills.

All in all a very enjoyable evening, thanks to David, Roger and Lucy for helping.


Numbers below are approximate. 


Catch Report -  11/06/15 - Roughdown Common - Hemel Hempstead - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 40w Lucent Briefcase Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic + 26w CFL Suitcase Trap

105 Species 70 Macros and 35 Micros

Macro Moths

1x Angle Shades
6x Brimstone Moth
1x Broken-barred Carpet
3x Brown Rustic
1x Buff Arches
1x Buff Ermine
2x Buff-tip
15+ Clouded Silver  
5x Common Carpet
10x Common Marbled Carpet
2x Common Pug  
10x Common Swift
1x Common Wave  
2x Common White Wave  
3x Coronet  
1x Double Square-spot  
1x Eyed Hawk-moth  
1x Figure of Eighty
1x Flame
11x Flame Shoulder
4x Garden Carpet
4x Green Carpet
2x Green Pug
3x Green Silver-lines
4x Grey Pug
5x Heart & Dart
1x Ingrailed Clay
2x Iron Prominent
3x Large Nutmeg  
6x Light Brocade  
5x Light Emerald
1x Lobster Moth
2x Maidens Blush
1x Maple Prominent
10x Marbled Minor
1x Marbled White Spot
2x Middle-barred Minor
4x Mottled Pug
2x Mottled Rustic
1x Netted Pug
1x Oak Hook-tip
2x Orange Footman
3x Pale Oak Beauty  
2x Pale Tussock
2x Peppered Moth
1x Poplar Grey  
1x Purple Bar
1x Riband Wave  
2x Rustic Shoulder-knot  
4x Scorched Wing  
1x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Shuttle-shaped Dart
6x Silver-ground Carpet
1x Slender Pug
1x Small Angle Shades
1x Small Clouded Brindle
1x Small Elephant Hawk-moth  
1x Small Phoenix  
1x Snout
8x Straw Dot
1x Sycamore
2x Tawny Marbled Minor  
1x Treble Lines  
1x V-Pug
1x Vine's Rustic  
1x Waved Umber  
1x White Ermine
1x White-point
1x Yellow Shell
1x Yellow-barred Brindle

Micro Moths

2x Nematopogon schwarziellus
2x Agonopterix arenella
5x Scoparia ambigualis
6x Scoparia pyralella
1x Phtheochroa rugosana
20+ Cochylimorpha straminea
3x Agapeta zoegana
4x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
5x Crambus lathoniellus
2x Aphomia sociella
3x Metzneria metzneriella
3x Bryotropha terrella
2x Pseudoswammerdamia combinella
3x Chrysoteuchia culmella
1x Tischeria ekebladella
4x Hedya pruniana
2x Hedya nubiferana
1x Nemapogon cloacella
1x Stigmella sp
1x Epiblema trimaculana
1x Anania hortulata
1x Scobipalpa costella
2x Cnephasia sp
1x Plutella xylostella
2x Eulia ministrana
2x Caloptilia syringella
1x Caloptila alchimiella
1x Hofmannophila pseudospretella
2x Teleiodes luculella
1x Argyresthia spinosella
1x Pandemis cerasana
1x Notocelia uddmanniana
1x Parornix sp
2x Celypha lacunana
1x Tinea semifulvella
1x Mompha raschkiella

Argyresthia spinosella

Figure of Eighty

Netted Pug

Small Clouded Brindle

White-point

Slender Pug

Bryotropha terrella

Caloptila alchimiella