Field Trip - Roughdown Common Again! - 21-06-16 On Tuesday night I was joined by David and Roger at Roughdown Common for our third visit to this site this year. I arrived on site quite early and planned to do some netting before setting all of the traps up. We had access to the reserve up a slight incline and because on Monday morning it rained solidly for most of the morning, it was a slippy upward slope that the car disagreed with! Spinning and slipping I managed to get up with just the engine power and no throttle (Diesels are great for this)

I'm glad I got there early as I added 12 species in around 40 minutes of 'exercise' best moth was an Epinotia tenerana.

I also got plagued by clegs as soon as I got out of the car, I thought sod this...so I got some of my citronella spray that I bought from Turkey about 8 years ago! I bought about 5 bottles back then and this is my last (full) bottle..the stuff worked instantly and I never aw another one afterwards.

The traps were all set-up at around 9pm and lights on at 9.40pm, we ran a total of six lights across the site covering all different areas. The weather was just perfect, thick dominant cloud cover, little wind and 17 degrees. Things did get a little chillier at packing up time at 2am and the breeze kicked up a bit.

129 species was not to be sniffed at but we've done a lot better this time of year in the past.. echoing the continuation of a poor year.

Best Moth was a Garden Dart, a really uncommon and terribly declining moth which use to be an annual moth on most people's records in the 1970's..now well this only my second record in 10 years and my first Hertfordshire record. Another moth of note was the micro moth Thiotricha subocellea, another rare moth for the County, two were recorded on the night, only my 2nd and 3rd records ever.

All in all a pleasing night with the guys.

Catch Report - 21/06/16 - Roughdown Common - 3x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 26w & 40w Actinic Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap and 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap 128 Species in total

Macro Moths -74 Species

Beautiful Golden-Y 1 Beautiful Hook-tip 5 Bright-line Brown-eye 1 Brimstone Moth 3 Broken-barred Carpet 2 Brown Rustic 6 Buff Arches 1 Buff-tip 1 Burnished Brass 1 Clouded Border 2 Clouded Brindle 1 Clouded Silver 30+ Common Marbled Carpet 8 Common Pug 4 Common Swift 10 Common White Wave 1 Coronet 3 Dark Arches 1 Dot Moth 1 Double Square-spot 3 Elephant Hawk-moth 1 Fan-foot 2 Fern 3 Flame 2 Flame Shoulder 1 Garden Carpet 1 Garden Dart 1 Ghost Moth 3 Green Carpet 2 Green Pug 4 Grey Pug 2 Haworth's Pug 2 Heart & Club 2 Heart & Dart 15+ Ingrailed Clay 5 Large Nutmeg 1 Large Yellow Underwing 4 Least Black Arches 1 Light Arches 1 Light Brocade 1 Light Emerald 3 Lime Hawk-moth 2 Lobster Moth 1 Marbled Minor 5 Marbled White Spot Middle-barred Minor 1 Mottled Beauty 6 Mottled Pug 1 Mottled Rustic 1 Orange Footman 2 Peppered Moth 1 Poplar Hawk-moth 1 Pretty Chalk Carpet 3 Privet Hawk-moth 2 Purple Bar 2 Riband Wave 2 Rustic Shoulder-knot 1 Scorched Carpet 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character 1 Shears 3 Shoulder-striped Wainscot 2 Silver-ground Carpet 4 Small Fan-foot 4 Small Yellow Wave 2 Snout 2 Spectacle 1 Straw Dot 2 Tawny Marbled Minor 1 Treble Brown Spot 2 Treble Lines 1 Uncertain 2 White Ermine 1 Willow Beauty 1 Yellow Shell 2

Micro Moths - 55 Species

Acentria ephemerella 1 Agapeta hamana 5 Agapeta zoegana 3 Agonopterix arenella 2 Agonopterix purpurea 1 Aleimma loeflingiana 3 Alucita hexadactyla 1 Anania hortulata 2 Aphomia sociella 2 Archips xylosteana 1 Argyresthia spinosella 1 Blastobasis lacticolella 2 Bryotropha terrella 15+ Celypha lacunana 5 Chrysoteuchia culmella 15+ Coleophora sp 1 Cnephasia sp 4 Cochylimorpha straminea 2 Crambus lathoniellus 10+ Crambus pascuella 1 Crambus perlella 1 Cydia pomonella 2 Dichrorampha aplinana 1 Ditula angustiorana 1 Epinotia bilunana 4 Epinotia tenerana 1 Elachista argentella 1 Eucosma cana 2 Eucosma obumbratana 1 Eudonia lacustrata 2 Eulamprotes unicolorella 2 Gypsonoma dealbana 1 Hedya nubiferana 2 Hedya pruniana 5 Homoeosoma sinuella 1 Metzneria metzneriella 3 Mompha epilobiella 1 Morophaga choragella 1 Notocelia trimaculana 2 Notocelia uddmanniana 1 Pandemis cerasana 10 Pandemis heparana 5 Paraswammerdamia albicapitella 1 Parornix sp 1 Plutella xylostella 10+ Prays fraxinella 2 Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 4 Psyche casta - Case Scoparia ambigualis 6+ Scoparia pyralella 4 Stenoptilia pterodactyla 1 Teleiodes luculella 2 Tinea semifulvella 2 Thiotricha subocellea 2 Tortrix viridana 15+