The start of June brought hope that mothing must surely start to get better, but, unfortunately it was not the case on this night.
7 traps were placed along the rides within this ancient woodland site, a venue that has in the past been very good for interesting moths due to the amount of Aspen present. Some RSPB volunteers also came along with the regular moth recorders in the hope of an evening’s entertainment. Conditions felt OK, not really warm but not too cold either and it was quite calm in the part of the wood we were in. Things were very slow around the sheet, so we went for a wander around the traps and found that these too were quiet. So, out came the beating tray to search for some larvae, at least we would get a few records for the night that way. This in fact turned out to be a wise choice, with a few interesting things found. These included: Minor shoulder knot (from Sallow) and July highflyer (from Hazel). Also found by searching included: Slender brindle (on grass along a ride), Eriocrania chrysolepidella (vacated mine on Hazel) and Micropterix calthella (adult moths on sedge flowers). On return to the sheet, a single Micropterix mansuetella was found on the underside of my beating tray, no idea how it got there but a good record all the same. What of the traps? I had 31sp on my list from these at the end of the night, most of these moths only recorded as singletons. Interesting moths seen included: Orange footman, Cream wave, Poplar hawk, Nut-tree tussock, Seraphim (a few), Scalloped hazel and Psuedoswammerdamia combinella. Best moth was found whilst packing up, a single Micropterix tunbergella, the third Micropterix species of the night! This sighting confirms a previous record of this moth at the site a few years ago, as there has been discussion as to whether it was a misidentified M. mansuetella after its discovery in the wood last year.
Neil