Field Trip - Hexton Chalk Pit - 10/06/17

On Saturday night I went to Hexton Chalk Pit and was joined by Roger and Trevor. The day had been lovely and warm and with plenty of cloud cover the temperature would hopefully hold up, we just needed the wind to drop a bit which unfortunately didn't happen, in fact it got a bit worse at times with some pretty hefty gusts. With the high winds a factor we had to position the traps out of the wind as much as possible, running 5 traps in total and with the warm conditions I was confident.

A total of 143 species were recorded by the end of the night at just before 3am, a great total and well worth staying late, and luckily we had decided to pack up as it started to drizzle.

Some cracking moths were to be seen including 3 Ruddy Carpet, 1 Netted Pug, lots of Pretty Chalk Carpet, Wood Carpet, Satyr Pug and Royal Mantle and 10 Elephant Hawk-moths!

Of note on the Micro front were the rare Pyralid Paratalanta hyalinalis, Hypochalcia ahenella, Acompsia cinerella and a County second record of Ethmia dodecea, the latter two species completely new for me.

With still a few to check including a possible Cydia microgrammana (Which would be new for the County if correct and an Elachista sp)

What a night and thanks guys for staying until the end to help pack up.

Catch Report - 10/06/17 - Hexton Chalk Pit - North-west Herts - 6 traps in total - 2x 125w MV Robinson Trap 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap 1x 40w Actinic + 15w LED Trap 1x 80w Actinic Trap 1x 5w LED + 26w Spiral reptile Trap

90 Macros & 53 Micros

144 species

Macro Moths

Alder Moth 3 Angle Shades 2 Barred Yellow 4 Beautiful Golden-Y 1 Beautiful Hook-tip 2 Blackneck 1 Bright-line Brown-eye 2 Brimstone Moth 5 Broad-barred White 1 Brown Rustic 10 Burnished Brass 1 Cinnabar 2 clouded border 4 Clouded Brindle 2 Clouded Silver 3 Clouded-bordered Brindle 1 Common Carpet 2 Common Marbled Carpet 3 Common Pug 2 Common Swift 5 Common Wainscot 1 Common White Wave 1 Dark Arches 5 Double Square-spot 2 Elephant Hawk-moth 10 Fan-foot 1 Fern 5 Figure of Eighty 1 Flame 2 Flame Shoulder 4 Foxglove Pug 2 Freyer's Pug 1 Ghost Moth 1 Grass Rivulet 50+ Green Arches 1 Green Carpet 2 Green Silver Lines 1 Grey Pug 5 Haworth's Pug 5 Heart & Dart 15+ Ingrailed Clay 20+ Large Nutmeg 5 Large Yellow Underwing 4 Latticed heath 1 Light Arches 2 Light Brocade 2 Light Emerald 4 Lime-speck Pug 3 Lobster Moth 3 Marbled Minor 10+ Marbled White-spot 6 Middle-barred minor 2 Mottled Beauty 3 Mottled Pug 1 Mottled Rustic 5 Netted Pug 2 Orange Footman 5 Pale Tussock 1 Peach Blossom 1 Peppered Moth 3 Pretty Chalk Carpet 10 Privet Hawk-moth 5 Purple Bar 4 Riband Wave 1 Royal Mantle 5 Ruddy Carpet 3 Satyr Pug 10 Scarce Footman 1 Scorched Wing 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character 10 Shaded pug 20+ Shears 10+ Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1 Silver-ground Carpet 3 Silver-Y 2 Small Elephant Hawk-moth 3 Small Square-spot 1 Small Waved Umber 4 Small Yellow Wave 1 Snout 6 Spectacle 1 Straw Dot 10+ Tawny Marbled Minor 2 Tawny Shears 1 Treble bar 1 Treble lines 1 White Ermine 1 Willow Beauty 5 Wood Carpet 20 Yellow Shell 3

Micro Moths

Acompsia cinerella 2 [NEW!] Agapeta hamana 15+ Agapeta zoegana 10+ Agonopterix arenella 2 Agonopterix pallorella 1 Anania crocealis 1 Aphomia sociella 1 Bryotropha terrella 4 Caloptilia alchimiella robustella 1 Celypha lacunana 10+ Chrysoteuchia culmella 10+ Cnephasia sp 10 Cochylimorpha straminea 20+ Coleophora deauratella 2 Crassa unitella 3 Cydia fagiglandana 2 Cydia splendana 1 Dioryctria abietella 1 Elachista Aphomia canapennella 1 Elachista apicipunctella 2 Endothenia gentianaeana marginea 3 Epiblema costipunctana 1 Ethmia dodecea 1 [NEW!] Eucosma cana 2 Eucosma conterminana 1 Eudonia lacustrata 2 Eudonia pallida 5 Eulamprotes unicolorella 4 Eupoecilia angustana 10 Hedya nubiferana 5 Hedya pruniana 3 Hypochalcia ahenella 2 Lathronympha strigana 1 Lozotaeniodes formosana 1 Luquetia lobella 1 Metzneria metneriella 15+ Mompha ochraceella 5 Nemapogon cloacella 2 Nematopogon swammerdamella 2 Notocelia trimaculana 10+ Notocelia uddmanniana 2 Pammene aurana 1 Pandemis cerasana 2 Paraswammerdamia albicapitella 2 Paratalanta hyalinalis 2 Phtheochroa sodaliana 2 Plutella xylostella 2 Prays fraxinella 1 Pseudargyrotoza conwagana 3 Pterophorus pentadactyla 15+ Scoparia ambigualis 10 Scoparia pyralella 5 Scythropia crataegella 1 Sitochroa verticalis 1 Tinea trinotella 1