Field Trip - Ashwell Quarry - 18/06/16

On Saturday night the Herts Moth Group made a trip to the far North of the County to Ashwell Quarry. Having been granted permission from the local land-owner, HMWT and a local neighbour who kindly got us access to the site via a locked gate, we went about setting up 8 lights spread around the Chalk grassland, Quarry and scrub. Ashwell Quarry is an important site for wildlife and is to be found just outside of the village of Ashwell with its rich wildflower meadows and chalk grassland. Unfortunately the site in certain parts was swathed in long grass, great for Crambus species but not ideal for the low-growing chalk plants for which the specialist moth caterpillars feed upon.

The weather through the course of the day had been grey, overcast but with little wind and as there was no sun the temperature had struggled to reach 16 degrees. Upon a arrival at 8pm we were greeted with clearing skies and a bright near-full moon or the 'enemy' as Colin put it. Thankfully by 10pm as it was just getting dark, cloud began to roll towards us from the North-east and granted us the cloud cover that we so desperately needed if we were to actually catch some moths on the night. With 8 traps set-up it may have seemed a bit over-kill but I find that the more effort you put in, the more you get out and this was the case tonight where the suitcase Actinic trap attracted both Marbled Coronet and Phtheochroa sodaliana, completely new moths for me and well worth the brave effort of running cables along the chalk cliff face.

The third most interesting moth was a single specimen of the unusual looking Luquetia lobella, a moth that seems to be quite scarce in he County, another new moth for me.

Netted Pug was also a hit with everyone, two stunning examples trapped on the night.

We also got two wetland wanderer's possibly blown in on the breeze which picked up at around midnight, they were Southern Wainscot and Dotted Fan-foot.

All in all a pleasing 108 species were recorded with a few outstanding micro moths to check.

List in Alphabetical order.

Numbers below are approximate.

Catch Report - 18/06/16 - Ashwell Quarry - 6x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 26w & 40w Actinic Trap and 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap

103 Species in total

Macro Moths - 72 Species

Angle Shades 1 Barred Straw 2 Beautiful Hook-tip 5 Bright-line Brown-eye 1 Broken-barred Carpet 1 Brown Rustic 4 Buff Ermine 1 Burnished Brass 3 Clouded Border 1 Clouded Brindle 2 Clouded-bordered Brindle 1 Common Carpet 4 Common Marbled Carpet 3 Common Pug 1 Clouded Silver 6 Common Swift 20+ Common Wainscot 5 Dark Arches 1 Dotted Fan-foot 1 Flame 4 Flame Shoulder 1 Freyer's Pug 2 Ghost Moth 1 Green Carpet 15+ Green Pug 5 Grey Pug 3 Heart & Club 2 Heart & Dart 30+ Ingrailed Clay 1 Large Nutmeg 20+ Large Yellow Underwing 5 Light Arches 2 Light Brocade 2 Light Emerald 4 Marbled Coronet 1[NEW!] Marbled Minor 2 Middle-barred Minor 3 Mottled Beauty 5 Mottled Pug 2 Mottled Rustic 3 Netted Pug 2 Pale Oak Beauty 4 Peppered Moth 1 Pretty Chalk Carpet 2 Purple Bar 1 Rustic Shoulder-knot 2 Sandy Carpet 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character 40+ Shaded Broad-bar 1 Shaded Pug 20+ Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1 Silver-ground Carpet 3 Silver-Y 2 Small Clouded Brindle 2 Small Dotted Buff 1 Small Fan-foot 1 Small Waved Umber 1 Snout 5 Southern Wainscot Spectacle 1 Straw Dot 10 Tawny Marbled Minor 3 - Gen Det Treble Brown Spot 1 Treble Lines 5 Turnip Moth 1 Uncertain 1 Vine's Rustic 1 White Ermine 3 White-point 1 Willow Beauty 2 Yellow Shell 1 Yellow-barred Brindle 1

Micro Moths - 36 Species

Agapeta hamana 5 Agapeta zoegana 4 Anania hortulata 1 Aphomia sociella 1 Argyresthia spinosella 1 Blastobasis lacticolella 1 Celypha lacunana 3 Chrysoteuchia culmella 10+ Clepsis consimilana 1 Cnephasia asseclana 1 - Gen Det Cochylimorpha straminea 2 Cochylis hybridella 3 Cochylis molliculana Crambus lathoniellus 10+ Crambus pascuella 1 Ditula angustiorana 1 Ephestia parasitella 1 - Gen Det Epiphyas postvittana 2 Eucosma cana 5 Eucosma obumbratana 1 Hedya nubiferana 1 Hedya pruniana 8 Homoeosoma sinuella 2 Luquetia lobella 1 [NEW!] Metzneria metzneriella 2 Notocelia trimaculana 4 Notocelia uddmanniana 2 Phtheochroa rugosana 1 Phtheochroa sodaliana 1 [NEW!] Plutella xylostella 15+ Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 3 Scoparia ambigualis 10+ Scoparia pyralella 2