File:Plagodis dolabraria (27034853830).jpg

Moth Trapping down on the farm On Thursday night I made a trip up to my parents farm to see what I could catch. I set up the traps early and decided to do a video on them and to show the habitat that I would be trapping in, no I didn't do any takes and I made some mistakes so forgive me!

The farm is still there, no demolishing has taken place yet, and the last I heard was that it will be after Summer when they clear the farm ready for building (They have been saying this for years now).

It will be a great shame when this little oasis finally goes, the surrounding area is pretty flat and uninspiring agricultural fields with a few nearby woodlands, the site after 10 years of set-aside is like a moth-trappers paradise and my catches over the years has demonstrated this (it still holds the title for the most species trapped in one night, two years ago at 252 species!).

The weather when I turned up at 5pm was partly cloudy, a bit breezy but 20-21 degrees, things looked very promising indeed and I recorded 12 species of moth before I even set the traps up.

When the traps when on at approximately 9.15pm the sky was duly clearing, the wind had dropped but by 10pm it was getting cold. The moths were extremely slow to come to the lights after the initial flurry of Green Carpets, it just went pretty dead and by 11pm my car thermometer read 6 degrees, ouch!

I decided that as I was staying the night, I would let the traps run all night.

When I woke up at 4.30am I was surprised how light it was and so went out to check and sort through all of the traps. There wasn't a huge amount of moths but enough to keep me interested at least, most numerous were Green Carpet (62) Treble Lines (34) and Rustic Shoulder-knot (16) The rest of the species were pretty much what I would expect this time of year and with 54 species (32 Macros and 22 Micros) in total it was way down on previous years for the end of May, with some catches exceeding 100 species in the past!

Still how was I to moan when I lifted an egg tray from one of my traps and spotted a new moth for my Hertfordshire records, a pristine Dog's Tooth! Dog's Tooth is quite a rare moth in the County with just a handful of records (although I am waiting to here back from my CR for the exact figure) My first encounter with this species was in 2011 at Canvey Wick in Essex, this one being only my second record in 10 years.

Very chuffed indeed, and I don't think I have ever made a Summer trip to the farm without a surprise greeting me by the morning.

Catch Report - 26/05/16 -Braughing Friars Farmland - 2x 125w MV Robinson Traps 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap and 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap.

Macro Moths

1x Dog's Tooth 2x Common Swift 62x Green Carpet 6x Cinnabar 7x Common Pug 2x Silver-ground Carpet 34x Treble Lines 1x Siver-Y 1x Pebble Prominent 1x Oak-tree Pug 3x Brimstone Moth 5x Flame Shoulder 1x Small Phoenix 1x Mottled Pug 1x Marbled Minor 1x Spectacle 2x Setaceous Hebrew Character 1x Scorched Wing 16x Rustic Shoulder-knot 1x Waved Umber 2x Pale Tussock 1x Small Square-spot 4x White Ermine 1x Brown Rustic 1x Swallow Prominent 2x Angle Shades 1x Privet Hawk-moth 2x Poplar Hawk-moth 2x Mullein 1x Light Brocade 1x Heart & Dart 1x Large Nutmeg

Micro Moths

10x Anthophila fabriciana 60+ Glyphipterix simpliciella 1x Epiblema cirsiana/scutulana 3x Crambus lathoniellus 1x Mompha epilobiella 1x Incurvaria masculella 1x Mompha subbistrigella 5x Notocelia cynosbatella 4x Celypha lacunana 1x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 5x Aphomia sociella 10x Endrosis sarcitrella 1x Monopis weaverella 7x Psyche casta 2x Scoparia ambigualis 1x Parornix sp 1x Cnephasia sp 1x Coleophora sp 1x Elachista rufocinerea 1x Hofmannophila pseudospretella 2x Scrobipalpa acuminatella