Newsletter no. 6 Winter 2001/2002
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WEB SITE, E-MAIL AND THE TELEPHONE PYRAMID
Some members have e-mail (about two thirds of you). The rest do not. Those with e-mail occasionally receive news flashes and reminders of field meetings from me. To avoid the
non-computerised members losing out there is a telephone pyramid whereby some of those who get my e-mail messages pass them down to a named person. I THINK that this works satisfactorily.
However, if you have no e-mail and have never been contacted by another members to pass on messages please tell me so that I can make sure you get messages in the future. If you have recently acquired an e-mail address please tell me at colinwplant@ntlworld.com so that I can add you to the electronic mailing list.
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FUTURE NEWSLETTERS
This newsletter is once again printed and mailed by the Herts Biological Records Centre (see back cover for details), but this cannot continue for ever. Thus, to reduce costs, I am now using e-mail to send the newsletter to those who are able to receive it. Paper copy will be sent to everyone else and to any e-mail-owning person who contacts me to say they prefer hard copy (e.g., if you have no printer or if you can’t read attachments). E-mail documents will be sent as attachments to a message in three formats – Word 2000, Word 6 for
Windows 95 and Rich Text. Please download and print out your own copy. If you are reading paper copy and wish to continue receiving the newsletter you MUST fill in and return the enclosed form. I hope this is acceptable to all – it seems a stage better than having to charge a subscription!
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FIELD TRIP PROGRAMME FOR 2002
This is included with this issue of the newsletter. I have fixed all events for Saturday nights because this seems to be the most popular night amongst members. The sites are spread across the county so that everyone can attend at least a couple of trips without too many travel problems. I have picked relatively few sites in order to try and fit in regular sessions at each across the whole year so that as many species as possible are seen by members who attend. No prior booking is required. All trips are open to all members and their guests and there is no limit on numbers. Children are welcome, but younger ones must be under direct supervision by the adults bringing them. For
safety reasons, dogs are not allowed (except guide dogs).
These organised trips are in large part a learning experience for many members and you do not have to possess any knowledge of moth identification to attend. Anyone with an interest is very welcome to come along. Extra light traps are always welcomed.
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A REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2001
Not that I would ever admit that the moth season is over – the new one starts as the old one ends at midnight on new year’s eve! However, now that it has quietened down a bit, here is a brief review of what some of you missed!
The first half of the year was generally regarded as being abysmally poor for moths! Garden captures were well below normal and several people telephoned to ask if they were doing something wrong! They were not – everyone was having a bad time of it. At Balls Park, Hertford on 21st April, we ran the lights from about 8 pm until about 1 am and managed just 11 species. However, if you thought that was bad you should have come to Maple Lodge on 5th May. Fourteen members gathered and laid out a total of 8 lights, running from 9 pm to 2 am. The sky cleared - and the temperature plummeted through the floor. We caught a grand total of 4 moths - one Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica); two Clouded Drabs (Orthosia incerta) and one Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula). As we packed up, I received a cut finger whilst
feeding the cable back onto the drum across my hand - the cause was ICE on the cable!!! At Pryor’s Wood, Stevenage
a week later, 12th May, and fully in keeping with the general trend, the disasters continued when some local peasant stole one of the cables which we had laid out through the wood. The moths were rather poor, though we did end up with 13 macros and several micros. With events so far in mind, the day did not look good at Hexton Chalk Pit on 16th June! The rain was falling in stair-rods and showing no sign of stopping. However, it finally DID stop, and our meeting was a dry one. We ran five mv lights across the disused chalk pit from about 10 pm until just after 4 am. The “final score” was 64 macros species and 16 micros. One may have expected some madness at Hilfield Park Reservoir on 23rd June, since this was Midsummer’s Eve, but I think we were all quite restrained!
Seven members were in attendance and 5 mercury-vapour lamps were operated, between 10.15 pm and 3.30 am. It was a cold, unimpressive night with rather few moths, and temperature down to 8 degrees Celsius (which is just below 50 in real money). However, several species were new for some of the members who were present, and a good time was had by all familiarising themselves with these. Those who left early missed the dawn feast of fresh-picked strawberries from Joan’s garden! The final tally was 46 macros plus 17 micros, a total of 63 species.
We went to Ashridge on 30th June and recorded 69 macros and 17 micros. During the next week an intensive series of field trips was designed to find the Heart Moth (Dicycla oo) – we did not find it. Five lights run from 10 pm to 4 am on 2nd July at St Edmund’s College recorded 80 macros and 20 micros. There was little exciting, but the Blackneck (Lygephila pastinum) was a new species for some of the group members present. The next night, at Casiobury Park, Watford, also generated a good list (though no Heart Moths). At Balls Park, Hertford, on 6th July we were rewarded by a single Red-necked Footman (Eilema rubricollis) – one of many immigrants that arrived in Britain from overseas in that week. Another immigrant was the Cloaked Pug (Eupithecia abietaria) of which we had two the next night at Whippendell Wood, Watford. These were a part of a larger influx; one was also present in Joan’s trap in Oxhey, the next morning! We ran lights at Brocket Hall in the centre of the county on 12th July and at Church Hill, Therfield Heath on 14th July, both trips producing a good list of common species. On our next trip, to Hexton Chalk Pit on 21st July, we finally got lucky and had our first "one-hundred-trip" of the year. That is 100 macro species – well actually we had 103 macros, plus 47 micros, so that the overall total was 150 species. The small but rather pretty pyralid Pyrausta nigrata was amongst the first species to appear - a "life tick" for several present; it was last noted in the county in the Victoria County History (i.e., before year 1900) and so it is nice to find it again. Another welcome "micro" was the tortrix moth Hedya ochroleucana - the sort of thing you might expect on chalk downland, but surprisingly not recorded since Foster's list in 1937. Clearly the chalk habitats of Hertfordshire are hopelessly under-recorded. Fairly soon the Reddish Light Arches (Apamea sublustris) put in an appearance, although there was only the one example: this is another chalkland species. Shortly after midnight we were delighted to spot the first Royal Mantle (Catarhoe cuculata) – our target species for the night – in one of the Skinner traps. An hour later, a second specimen appeared in the trap nearest the car park and then much later, around 3.30 am, a third turned up. It is pleasing to know at last that this species is established here, although Vincent and Betty Judd did point out (several times!) that they regularly see it on the other side of the hill in Bedfordshire!!! Most members left at around 1 am, but a small band of us stayed to 4.30 am - daylight just breaking. Our efforts were rewarded by a single Wood Carpet (Epirrhoe rivata), which was amongst the very last of the moths to arrive as we packed up. This is only the fifth record of the moth in Hertfordshire since 1980 - and all four previous reports are also of single examples. Added attractions included the half dozen or so glow worms and the hundreds of Chalk-hill Blue butterflies asleep on the vegetation.
A small but select band gathered at Birchanger Wood in the warm, if not stiflingly hot, evening of 28th July. Thanks to the continuing generosity of the Head Teacher and the Caretaker, we were allowed to access the woods via Hillmead Primary School - and in fact we ran three traps in the seclusion of the playing field which is bordered by the wood. A fourth trap was taken over the fence and about one hundred metres away to a clearing in the birch/hornbeam/oak woodland. And a cracking good time was had by all – with 95
macro species in spite of us packing up at 2 am. A single Least Carpet (Idaea rusticata) was a nice surprise - more usually this is a species of the London Area. Something of a surprise was a single Dog's-tooth (Lacanobia suasa) - another coastal species. Equally unexpected was a Webb's Wainscot (Archanara sparganii) - not an uncommon species in some parts of the Stort, Lea and Colne valleys, but not expected in a woodland on the glacial Boulder Clay a stone's-throw from London-Stansted Airport (who kindly provided the unique "ambience" of the evening!!!). Similar comments apply to Fen Wainscot (Arenostola
phragmitidis) - of which one example was also caught. Dissection of a selected few candidate male specimens produced both daggers, both copper underwings and both the Common and Lesser Common Rustic. Think what we might have achieved if we had stayed until first light!
The trip to the Ashridge Estate, on 4th August was doomed from the start! A few days beforehand, the good weather ended and the rains returned. The nights became cool again. Garden moth trap catches returned to their Spring levels. As I drove across the county the rain fell constantly. Although it did stop raining when we arrived, everything was wet and the air temperature was well below normal for early August. We set up 5 mercury vapour lights and ran from about 9.30 pm until 2 am. We were rewarded by a miserable 43 macros and 20 micros. On the bright side, however, Charles Watson spent half an hour grabbing leaf mines before darkness fell, and amongst these was Stigmella nylandriella on rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) leaves. This is the first record for the species in Hertfordshire. Rain, rain and yet more rain fell at Hexton
Chalk Pit (again) on 18th August! We refused to abandon the car park in favour of the pub and were rewarded when it stopped raining just as darkness fell and we were able to get out three lights very quickly on the chalk grassland slopes alongside the adjacent woodland. We achieved a total of 60 macro species and 26 micros, of which the best was undoubtedly the Square-spotted Clay (Xestia rhomboidea) – a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species. Two of the micros were new to the Hertfordshire list: Agonopteryx pallorella is a sort of unicolorous pale brown "flat" moth (though it has spots and things when you look closely!) and is associated with knapweed (Centaurea) and saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria). Depressaria daucella is a very closely related "flat" moth that has wings streaked black and brown and with white on the thorax and head ), associated with water dropworts Oenanthe spp. and whorled carraway Carum verticillatum.
Nine of us met at St Edmund’s College, Puckeridge on 22nd September, and set up five lights at around 7 pm. The sky immediately cleared and the temperature dropped!!! The first moth was, unsurprisingly, a Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba), and the rest of the nights catch was not a lot better. However, we did catch a male Black Rustic (Aporophyla nigra) and, later, a Deep-brown Dart (Aporophyla lutulenta). Most numerous species was Lunar Underwing (Omphaloscelis lunosa). After a few typical Rosy Rustics (Hydraecia micacea), one particularly large female arrived causing us all to wonder if we had caught a Butterbur (Hydraecia
petasitis) - a very rare moth in the county, last seen here in 1993. It was duly taken away for daylight inspection; sadly it proved to be just a rather large Rosy Rustic. Much coffee was drunk! Vincent impressed us with the Latin names of moths he had learned! Marcel caught dozens of craneflies on his sugar patches (Tee, hee!). We admired the Brindled Green from the Isle of Wight that escaped from the trap bags in the camper van when we were setting up! All told we had 20 species - one plume and 19 macros and we also found a caterpillar of a Common Footman (Eilema lurideola) on a beech trunk (it feeds on lichens on trunks), so that makes 21. Our next visit was also to St Edmund’s College, this time on 13th October, when we had a rather better night to compensate for the earlier trip. A total of 33 macros (plus 6 micros) is somewhat impressive for mid-October – but the weather was exceptionally warm, not falling below 15 degrees Celsius until after midnight (not bad when you consider that it was dark at 6.30 pm). There were lots of Merveille-du-jour (Dichonia aprilina) as well as other autumn species such as Figure of Eight (Diloba caeruleocephala), Dark Chestnut (Conistra ligula), Barred Sallow (Xanthia aurago) and others.
There were also some finds of interest that were not made on group outings. Steve Palmer visited his mother's garden at Datchworth on 19th August and amongst the many moths he took was a male Phycitodes maritima (a pyralid) - confirmed by genitalia dissection. This is the first record for Hertfordshire. A mine of the micro-moth Ectoedemia quinquella, which I found on an oak leaf at Gilston on 18th October was also a new county record. The county list now stands at 1487 species of which 604 are macros and the rest are micros.
Charles Watson found an adult Buttoned Snout in his garden shed in Bishops Stortford on 19th September. This is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species and one I have
been searching for during the last two years. This record is the only one in the county for 2001 — unless you know different. It hibernates as an adult in garden sheds, hollow trees, etc and the caterpillar feeds on hops. Alan Bolitho was lucky enough to find a specimen of the Dark Spectacle in his garden trap at Cuffley during late July. Realising its rarity in the county (there are only about 5 records in the last twenty years and some of those are unreliable), he sent it to me for confirmation. Unfortunately, though it looked right, it was rather worn, and so I decided to dissect its naughty bits. The aedeagus of the Dark Spectacle (its willy) has a hooked appendage on it; that of the ordinary Spectacle has a straight spike with no hook, so they are very easy to tell apart (I reckon female spectacle moths may have an opinion on this too).
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