Only one recorder turned up for this meeting, and that was myself. Driving through some rain on the way to the site did not bode too well but conditions were dry at the forest. Main purpose of this event was to see if Devon carpet was still present at its colony site within the forest after the area had been grazed and trampled heavily by the ponies. A previous meeting in May 2012 had failed to record the moth so there were concerns it had been lost from the site.
On arrival, a check of the habitat revealed it was in good condition with lots of the foodplant, Marsh bedstraw, present. 3 125w MV traps were deployed in the area. After the last trap was running I went to check the first trap by the generator that had already been running 10 minutes and lo and behold there was a Devon carpet sitting on the outside! Not long after that a small wainscot flew into the same trap which I potted up and found to be a White-mantled wainscot so both target moths for the night were seen already! So could have packed up and gone home then but I stuck it out for a few hours to see what else would come in. At shut-down at midnight (when numbers of moths coming in had slowed right down) my list had 117sp on it, not bad considering I was by myself with less traps than there would have been with other recorders present. I’d also kept a tally of Devon carpets too as more had appeared during the night, and that finished on 22 so the colony is doing well.
Other highlights included: Crescent (a few), Brown-veined wainscot (quite common including some melanic ones), White-mantled wainscot (2 identified), Silky wainscot, O.sparganella, Reed dagger, Webb’s wainscot, M. mulinella, Fenn’s wainscot (6), Birch mocha, Brachima inornatella, Ypsolopha dentella, Dotted clay, Bordered beauty and Thiotrica subocellea. Underwings notable by their absence, no Large yellow or Lesser yellow at all and only a small handful of the other species. Only 2 Hornets to deal with too.
A worthwhile nights recording, could have just given up and gone home with no other recorders there but glad I didn’t now.
Neil
Well done Neil for the effort and excellent results.