Home Wood Survey.....26/04

Well, it was that time again; another foray into the woods ensued. The plan was to go a few days earlier when the weather was perfect. But a genrator that I had ordered turned out to have been used as a football in the depot and had to be returned. When the replacement did finally turn up it was deployed in a new location (3) in the wood and left overnight to see how it would fare. Pity really as the wind and cooler temperatures probably hampered the catch somewhat.........

Mr T. Duval's van

We packed it to the rafters with 2 traps and a tripod stand with MV bulkhead attached. We seem to have acumilated a lot of gear in a reletively short space of time.

 Location 3

This is a new area at the Southern end of the main trails on an intersection. This is where the MV Skinner was left overnight. The new Chinese 2-stroke 850w generator with one 80w MV trap connected  managed to last 7 hours 20 minutes with approximately 1 litre of the 4.2 remaining. So in the middle of Summer this would be more than enough. Thanks to Mark Skevington for the idea. The 'Home Wood Survey' page has now been updated with location map and photos.

 Location 4

This is where the battery Actinic/UV was placed. Unfortunately the battery failed and the lights where out when we arrived in the morning (6.15am). However with more mature Oak trees and a mixture of low lying scrub and Coniferous trees, this looks a slightly better site than the others......

 Flame Carpet

4 caught loc. 2&3

 Frosted Green

2 caught Loc. 3&4

 Green Carpet

5 caught- Loc. 2,3&4

 Scorched Carpet

2 caught- Loc. 2&4

 Yellow-barred Brindle

1 caught- Loc. 3

 Pale Prominent

1 caught- Loc. 3

Adela reaumurella 150

4 caught- Loc. 2,3&4. ID, A. Banthorpe VC30 Moths

The results-

Location 2- 80w MV on stand with sheet, 8.45-10.45pm-  27 of 13 species

• Brindled Pug- 5
• Dwarf Pug- 4- NFS (New for Site)
• Green Carpet- 2- NFS
• Red Twin-spot Carpet- 2- NFS
• Flame Carpet- 2- NFS
• Cream Wave- 2- NFS
• Orange Footman- 2- NFS
• Adela reaumurella- 2- NFS
• Hebrew Character- 2
• Streamer- 1
• Brimstone- 1- NFS
• Early Grey- 1
• Common Wave- 1- NFS

Location 3- 80w MV Skinner, 8.45-dawn- 36 of 21 species-

• Brindled Pug- 7
• Dwarf Pug- 4
• Green Carpet- 2
• Common Pug- 2- NFS
• Brimstone Moth- 2
• Flame Carpet- 2
• Muslin Moth- 2- NFS
• Hebrew Character- 2
• Red Twin-spot Carpet- 1
• Pale Prominent- 1- NFS
• Maiden's Blush- 1- NFS
• Syndemis musculana- 1- NFS
• Yellow-barred Brindle- 1- NFS
• Least Black Arches- 1- NFS
• Frosted Green- 1- NFS
• Grey Pine Carpet- 1- NFS
• Mottled Pug- 1- NFS
• Adela reaumurella- 1- NFS
• Flame Shoulder- 1- NFS
• Orange Footman- 1- NFS
• Clouded Drab- 1

Location 4- 2x15w Actinic/UV- 8.30-dawn- 6 of 6 species-

• Scorched Carpet- 1
• Green Carpet- 1
• Frosted Green- 1
• Muslin Moth- 1
• Maiden's Blush- 1
• Adela reaumurella- 1

Home Wood Survey continued.....26/04

Some more of the moths caught..........

Common Wave

1 caught loc.#2- NFS (new for site)

 Cream Wave

2 Caught at Loc.#2- NFS and a lifer! ID A. Banthorpe, VC30 Moths.

 Maiden's Blush

2 caught Loc.#3&4- NFS

 Dwarf Pug

8 caught- Loc.#2&3 NFS

 Mottled Pug

1 caught- Loc.#3 NFS

 Orange Footman

3 caught- Loc.2&3 NFS

Home Wood Catch Report- 21/03/2011

This was the 1st manned trip to the wood and conditions couldn't have been better. A still, overcast night with the temperature hovering around 12°C. In fact when I got home at 10.30pm it was still an extremely mild 10.6°C.

We elected to use a  100w FUL Actinic Skinner in Location #1 and a set up comprising of 2x 80w MV lights and a sheet in Location#2. Location map available- HERE, there is also a Home Wood page on the right under 'Lists & Info'. Please scroll to the bottom of this post for the results-

Red-green Carpet

Only 1 caught using MV.

 Shoulder-stripe / Brindled Pug

The variable Shoulder-stripe was one of the most numerous (top).

 Lead-coloured Drab

Just 1 of this target species, attracted to Actinic light.

 Streamer

4 in total

 Small Brindled Beauty

Numbers lower than last time out- 4 in total

 Acleris cristana 1054

1 of 2 caught by MV light- location #2

 Acleris furrugana/notana 1044/45

1 caught by MV light

 Acleris literana 1061

Undoubtedly the star of the show- caught by MV light- location #2

The traps were on from 7.00pm until 9.40pm , Observers M. Burgess, L. Burgess

The results- 134 of 26 species-   key- 100w FUL Actinic (loc.#1),  2x80w MV & sheet (loc.#2)

• 2187 Common Quaker- (10 - 8) = 18 Site 1st
• 2188 Clouded Drab- (5 - 0) = 5
• 2182 Small Quaker- (8 - 0) = 8 Site 1st
• 1947 Engrailed- (6 - 5) = 11
• 1930 Oak Beauty- (6 - 4) = 10 Site 1st
• 1925 Small Brindled Beauty- (0 - 4) = 4
• 1747 Streamer- (2 - 2) = 4 Site tick
• 1746 Shoulder-stripe- (10 - 6) = 16 Site 1st
• 1852 Brindled Pug- (1 - 1) = 2 Site 1st
• 2258 Chestnut- (5 - 2) = 7 Site 1st
• 2139 Red Chestnut- (5 - 2) = 7 Site 1st
• 2256 Satellite- (4 - 3) = 7 Site 1st
• 2190 Hebrew Character- (4 - 3) = 7
• 1663 March Moth- (5 - 3) = 8
• 2185 Lead-coloured Drab- (1 - 0) = 1 Site 1st
• 1659 Yellow Horned- (0 - 1) = 1 Site 1st
• 2243 Early Grey- (0 - 2) = 2 Site 1st
• 1760 Red-green Carpet- (0 - 1) = 1 Site 1st
• 2259 Dark Chestnut- (1 - 0) = 1 Site 1st

Micros-

• 663 Diurnea fagella- (2 - 4) = 6 Site 1st
• 1524 Emmelina monodactyla- (1 - 0) = 1 Site 1st
• 1025 Tortricodes alternella- (0 - 1) = 1
• 688 Agonopterix heracliana- (0 - 2) = 2 Site 1st
• 1054 Acleris cristana- (0 - 2) = 2 Site 1st
• 1044/5 Acleris furrugana/notana- (0 - 1) = 1 Site 1st
• 1061 Acleris literana- ( 0 - 1) = 1 Site 1st

Notable absences were Pine Beauty and Twin-spotted Quaker, both of which I thought we'd get.

There's no place like Home...23/02

After turning up at Broom GP's main gate in September last year and realising that my key, issued to me by the estate didn't work. I knew that time was up for mothing at this site. During last year I also tried to arrange a field survey in Sheerhatch Wood. This, like many others in the area is an estate run shooting wood. So after talking to the warden (a man more suited to Victorian times than the present day), realised that I wouldn't be making many inroads here either and it's worth mentioning that the same estate controls both sites!
But Hallelujah, we now have a new site to trap- Home Wood, run by the Forestry Commission though is still a private site. Although separated from Sheerhatch by just over a mile, attitude wise they are poles apart! There is now a page dedicated to Holme Wood under 'Lists and Info' on the right of the page- HERE.

Home Wood

The trap on the morning of 24th Feb- looking west along the main ride.

So this was the 1st outing at a new site.  It was decided to start with just to drop off a battery driven twin 15 watt Actinic/UV trap and collect it in the morning. The results were better than expected........photos courtesy of Trent Duval- (We are the Campions)

Small Brindled Beauty 

Spring Usher

Engrailed spp.

  March Moth

  

 Dotted Border

Clouded Drab

The list is as follows-

1. Small Brindled Beauty- 7
2. Dotted Border- 5
3. March Moth- 5
4. Tortricodes alternella- 2
5. Spring Usher
6. Engrailed spp.
7. Hebrew Character
8. Pale Brindled Beauty
9. Clouded Drab

24 moths of 9 species is pretty good for an unmanned Actinic trap.

VC30 survey: Chicksands Wood......08/08

A really good night with perfect conditions for trapping. In the end 60 species of macro caught with many micros potted and taken away for analysis. Among the best were Twin-spotted Wainscot, Poplar Lutestring, Square-spotted Clay and many suspected Triple-spotted Pugs, if so a 2nd reliable site in Bedfordshire for this rare moth.

Flame Carpet

Many trapped on the night.

Common Carpet

As the name suggests..........Common!

July Highflyer

Again, many caught.

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet?

A probable, but can't be proven without gen check.

Ampthill Park..............23/07

A decent trip to the elevated Ampthill Park with VC30. Weather wise, pretty good though did get down to 12°C. On the plus side, barely a breath of wind. I have just included a few highlights I managed to photograph, a full list will appear on VC30 email group in the next day or 2.........

Oak Eggar

Only 1 caught, but what a stunner!

Black Arches

5 caught on the night.

Phoenix

Just 1 drawn to a 125w MV.

Purple Bar

Just 1 record.

Shark

Just 1 attracted to 125w MV.

Small Angle Shades

1 caught by 15w Actinic.

White-line Dart

Just 1 to 125w MV.

National Moth Night @ Chicksands Wood...15/05

The VC30 Moth-ers

A field meeting in the heart of Chicksands Wood was very productive even though the temperature dropped below 5°C. It was well organised, being run in conjunction with the Beds Bat Group. Not many bats around, but finally at 0100hrs a single Natterer's Bat was recovered from a mist net.

35 species of moth were recorded (report on VC30 to follow) from 5 traps, these are a few of the highlights I managed to photograph-

Broken-barred Carpet

A broken example! 2 were trapped on the night.

Clouded Border

Just 1 of these found by an MV skinner trap.
Iron Prominent

Just 1 recovered by the tripod MV with sheet. (see top photo)
Maidens Blush

Only 1 found, again on the tripod sheet.

Scalloped Hazel

2 found by the tripod MV.
Scalloped Hook-tip
Found on my 15w 12v Actinic trap!
Scorched Carpet
The 1st moth caught- in a net by Andy Banthorpe.
Small White Wave
A real highlight, caught in a net by Stephen Plummer, it's the 1st VC30 record since 1986!
Seraphim
Quite common- with 20+ found around 4 traps.