Bovingdon Brickworks - Hemel Hempstead - Field Trip - 18/09/14 I enjoyed a trip over to Hemel Hempstead once again and I was joined by David, Roger and Steve.

We decided to trap at Bovingdon Brickworks in the small village of Bovingdon to the South-West of Hemel Hempstead and owned by the Boxmoor Trust. This site is very important for wildlife and moths are no exception! The unimproved grassland and mixed woodland intersecting the previously excavated pits offers a unique habitat and trapping experience.

We thought about positioning the traps in an area that we had not run the traps before, and so we went about setting up all four traps in a crossroads position so they were all out of site of each other.

The weather was absolutely perfect minus some cloud cover but with a minimum temperature of a sweltering 16 degrees all night, it was still 23 whilst we were arriving and there was no moon to contend with.

It did take a while after dark for moths to start turning up, all four of the traps got inundated with Crane-flies and 3 of the traps had a small Hornet presence as well. First moths in were Brimstones, Square-spot Rustics and Lunar Underwings then some better species started coming in, Pink-barred Sallows, Sallows and Dusky Thorns.

Throughout the night we were so surprised at how late some species were still flying, and some fresh broods in the mix as well, species such as Light Emerald, Oak Hook-tip, Green Carpet, Small Phoenix, Straw Dot and Pretty Chalk Carpet and then after seeing these I commented 'We will get an Elephant Hawk-moth next!' and blow me down, on the egg tray of one of the traps was a mint example of a female.

The Macro's weren't the only highlights, the Micro's had a very good innings indeed with nearly as many species including five species of Acleris and four species of Ypsolopha making it 9 already. Late ones were also amongst these with Cochylimorpha straminea, Crambus pascuella, Pyrausta aurata and even more shocking was Pseudargyrotoza conwagana and Acleris forsskaleana.

Probably the rarest moth of the night was a fresh example of Pandemis cinnamomeana, a local moth in most parts of the Country where it is found. Best moth for me was a Plume that Roger potted up from David's trap, it was confirmed after a little bit of scrutiny that it was indeed a Platyptilia gonodactyla, a completely new Plume for all of us, despite it listed as common in the books, but then our County database tells a different story with one record from 1900 to 2005! Though I am sure someone has seen one from then until now.

Catch below in no particular order.

More pictures to come, when it stops raining!

Catch Report - 18/09/14 - Bovingdon Brickworks - Hemel Hempstead - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap, 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap, 1x 40w Lucent Suitcase Trap & 1x 80w Actinic?26w CFL Suitcase Trap.

40 Macros & 32 Micros

Macro Moths

10x Square-spot Rustic 3x Pink-barred Sallow 5x Lunar Underwing 40+ Brimstone Moth 2x Brindled Green 4x Snout 5x Light Emerald 9x Sallow 3x Lesser Yellow Underwing 3x Flame Shoulder 4x Oak Hook-tip 6x Common Marbled Carpet 10x Dusky Thorn 6x Copper Underwing 1x Svensson's Copper Underwing 5x Large Yellow Underwing 4x Common Wainscot 1x Rosy Rustic 1x Beaded Chestnut 1x Maiden's Blush 1x Pretty Chalk Carpet 2x Barred Sallow 1x Angle Shades 1x Southern Wainscot 1x Feathered Gothic 1x Burnished Brass 1x Small Square-spot 2x Willow Beauty 1x Brown-spot Pinion 3x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 2x Small Blood-vein 2x Green Carpet 2x Suttle-shaped Dart 1x Turnip Moth 2x Straw Dot 1x Small Phoenix 2x Red-green Carpet 5x Centre-barred Sallow 2x Grey-pine Carpet 1x Elephant Hawk-moth

Micro Moth

1x Platyptilia gonodactyla [NEW!] 2x Archips podana 2x Epinotia ramella 2x Acleris rhombana 2x Acleris emargana 2x Acleris variegana 1x Acleris forsskaleana 1x Monopis laevigella 1x Cochylimorpha straminea 1x Carcina quercana 1x Crambus pascuella 10+ Epinotia nisella 1x Pandemis cinnamomeana 2x Pyrausta aurata 2x Plutella xylostella 1x Elachista sp 1x Phyllonorycter harrisella 2x Phyllonorycter messaniella 1x Cydia pomonella 1x Blastobasis adustella 2x Celypha lacunana 1x Elophila nymphaeata 2x Agonopterix arenella 1x Ypsolopha sequella 1x Ypsolopha parenthesella 1x Ypsolopha sylvella 1x Ypsolopha scabrella 8x Eudonia pallida 1x Eudonia angustea 2x Epiphyas postvittana 2x Cameraria ohridella