File:Prays fraxinella-ruficeps - Flickr - Bennyboymothman.jpg

Hemel Hempstead Field Trip - 11/06/13 David Kirk, Roger Prue and myself made a trip to two of the Boxmoor sites in Hemel Hempstead. The evening looked absolutely perfect for moths with cloud cover expected throughout the night and a minimum of 13 degrees, though when I arrived at the first site at Gadesprings the cloud had promptly vanished. We set two traps up at Gadesprings and left them to their own devices, then we made our way to Bovingdon Brickworks where we would setup 2 more traps running from a generator. As we started to setup, more cloud had developed and the wind had dropped so we were confident of getting a few moths. The moths were as always few and far between at the light first, but then as the night went on, at about 10.30pm we were seeing much more variety in singles, with just a few moths having an influx, notably Green Carpet, Silver-ground Carpet and the micro Monopis weaverella. We packed up at about 1.30am at Bovingdon, and it took awhile to count everything....species were still flying in and god only knows how many we would have recorded had we stayed until first light. Of the two sites, Bovingdon did the best, but what we didn't expect was to find a further 24 species at Gadesprings that did not feature in the Bovingdon catch. Strangely and in keeping with this odd year, one of the commonest moths was Nut-tree Tussock, in which we recorded 4 to the 80w Actinic and 1 to the 125w MV. This is a very late record, considering a few of them were fresh. We did not get Poplar Hawk-moth, which was pretty much expected from Gadesprings. Notables of the night were moths new to myself, Mompha raschkiella, Strophedra weirana and Elachista atricomella, May Highflyer was also a seldom seen moth.

All in all we had an incredibly enjoyable night and would like more of these please Mr weather!

Of all the moths identified, there is only one we are struggling with, which will have to be omitted as it is too worn and dead apparently!

The jet black Prays fraxinella/ruficeps will have to be checked by Colin Plant, I did confidently predict one of these, judging by the amount of Ash in the vicinity.

84 species total

60 species at Bovindon

52 species at Gadesprings

an extra 25 species at Gadesprings

[] = Only at Gadesprings

11/06/13 Bovingdon Brickworks - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap & 1x 80w Actinic Trap run from 9.45pm until 1.30am

Macro Moths

1x Red Twin-spot Carpet 1x Spruce Carpet 1x Brown Rustic 1x Rustic Shoulder-knot 1x White Ermine 2x Common Wave 1x Nutmeg 1x Peach Blossom 3x Heart & Dart 1x V-pug 2x Peppered Moth 1x Brown Silver-line 2x Purple Bar 1x Mottled Rustic 5x Scalloped Hazel 1x Elephant Hawk-moth 1x Clouded-bordered Brindle 5x Orange Footman 5x Small Phoenix 2x White Pinion-spotted 4x Treble Lines 2x Pale Tussock 3x Clouded Silver 2x Grey Pine Carpet 5x Nut-tree Tussock 4x Flame Shoulder 6x Grey Pug 4x Mottled Pug 1x Oak Hook-tip 1x Straw Dot 2x Common Marbled Carpet 1x Least Black Arches 1x Pale Prominent 3x Common White Wave 1x Angle Shades 5x Brimstone Moth 10x Silver-ground Carpet 15x Green Carpet 3x Common Swift 2x Common Carpet

Micro Moths

1x Parornix sp 1x Strophedra weirana [NEW!] 1x Prays fraxinella/ruficeps 1x Caloptilia sp 3x Mompha raschkiella [NEW!] 1x Epiblema cynosbatella 2x Cochylis atricapitana 2x Syndemis musculana 2x Celypha lacunana 2x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 1x Nematopogon swammerdamella 2x Agonopterix arenella 1x Argyresthia trifasciata 3x Metzneria metzneriella 1x Scoparia ambigualis 2x Crambus lathoniellus 8x Monopis weaverella 1x Agapeta hamana 1x Nemapogon cloacella 1x Cochylimorpha straminea

11/06/13 Gadesprings, Hemel Hempstead - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap & 1x 160w MBT Trap run from 9.30pm until 2.00am

Macro Moths

2x Silver-ground Carpet 1x Common Carpet 1x Common Wainscot [] 1x Angle Shades 2x Heart & Dart 1x May Highflyer [] 1x Silver Y [] 3x Buff-tip [] 1x Campion [] 1x Nutmeg 2x Brimstone Moth 5x Green Carpet 2x White Ermine 2x Common Rustic [] 1x Peppered Moth 2x Cinnabar [] 3x Iron Prominent [] 1x Bright-line Brown-eye [] 2x Flame Shoulder 2x Rustic Shoulder-knot 1x Small Square-spot [] 1x Common Wave 3x Treble Lines 1x Clouded-bordered Brindle 1x Pale Prominent 1x Shuttle-shaped Dart [] 1x Swallow Prominent [] 1x Broken-barred Carpet [] 2x Common Pug 1x Yellow-barred Brindle [] 2x Scalloped Hazel 1x Pale Tussock 1x Clouded Silver 2x Grey Pug 1x Vine's Rustic [] 2x Spectacle [] 2x Common Swift 2x Marbled Minor 1x Garden Carpet [] 1x Common White Wave 3x Brimstone Moth 1x Oak-tree Pug [] 1x Small Clouded Brindle []

Micro Moths

1x Mompha epilobiella [] 1x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 1x Bactra lancealana [] 1x Nematopogon swammerdamella 1x Celypha lacunana 2x Elachista maculicerusella [] 1x Elachista argentella [] 1x Elachista atricomella []