By-catch Records

Running a moth-trap provides a window into many other insect groups because the attraction to light is not limited solely to moths.  Although it is impossible to do justice to everything, if time permits I do try my best to identify things which appear to me to be noteworthy, especially if I haven’t seen them before.   While this often means the larger or more spectacular-looking moth-trap visitors, it is by no means limited entirely to them.  Beetles probably offer the best chance of successful identification and regulars such as Cockchafer Melolontha melolontha, Summer Chafer Amphimallon solstitiale , Black Snail Beetle Silpha atrata and the very smelly Sexton Beetles are easy enough to identify by anyone.  A few of the water beetles, of which Colymbetes fuscus and the very large Dytiscus marginalis seem to me to be the most regular moth-trap visitors in Bucks, can be identified with care.  Most Ladybirds can be identified safely to species and our three largest Carabus ground beetles, which sometimes creep up to the light looking for an easy meal, can also be separated quite easily.

Common Cockchafer Melolontha melolontha

Eyed Ladybird Anatis ocellata, Stoke Common 15th May

Bronze Ground Beetle Carabus nemoralis consuming a
Small Brindled Beauty, Bernwood Forest 20th March

Other groups which will be familiar to all light-trappers include the trichoptera (caddis flies), of which there are some 200 species in the UK and Ireland and about half that number are known from Bucks.  In the right habitat at the right time of year they can sometimes outnumber the moths.  Few are recognisable solely by their shape or markings but one which can be recorded safely on sight is Glyphotaelius pellucidus with its distinct tornal notch.  The largest British caddis species is Phryganea grandis and a combination of sheer size and wing markings led me to that ID for the female illustrated below, which came to light on Coombe Hill on 5th July 2017, although one has to be careful  to eliminate the rather similar Phryganea unipuncta (sometimes only possible through inspection of the genitalia).

Caddis Glyphotaelius pellucidus, Westcott 16th April

Caddis Phryganea grandis, Coombe Hill 5th July

 

Amongst the hymenoptera, many moth-trappers will no doubt be familiar enough with the Hornet Vespa crabro although other members of this group are nowhere near as easy to identify.  The mostly orange nocturnal ichneumonid wasps are regular visitors to light traps but unfortunately very few of them can be identified to species level without using a microscope.  Ophion obscuratus is the obvious exception, with its creamy-white stripes on the thorax, but there are other nondescript species (such as the early spring example below, Ophion scutellaris with its very long antennae) which can be identified with care and there are keys as well as the services of various experts which can be called upon if one is prepared to make the effort to pursue them further - and your records will always be very well received. 

Ichneumonid Wasp Ophion scutellaris, Westcott 11th March

 

A small selection of the many other light-trap visitors which I managed to identify during 2017 is illustrated below:

False Blister Beetle Oedemera femoralis, Coombe Hill 9th April

Long-horn Beetle Stenocorus meridianus, Bernwood 10th June

Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator, Westcott 23rd June

Downland Bee-fly Villa cingulata, Hog Wood 26th June



Tanner Beetle Prionus coriarius, Hog Wood 17th July

Eared Leafhopper Ledra aurita, Westcott 7th September

Beetle Chrysolina banksii, Finemere Wood 22nd December

Other groups such as lacewings, harvestmen and spiders appear frequently at light traps and identifications can be pursued either through on-line keys, via iSpot or the iRecord app or else through their various recording schemes, although in many cases a specimen will be required as it is not always possible to confirm the species from a photograph.

Of course, being able to name these insects is not the end of the matter and, once the correct identification has been verified, it is equally as important to ensure that the information does at the very least find its way to your local environmental records centre!

Moth surveys in Bucks, 2016

2016 was the cut-off year for records in Butterfly Conservation's National Moth Recording Scheme database to be used in the forthcoming Atlas of Britain and Ireland's Larger Moths, due for publication in 2018.  As a result I had another busy year moth-trapping within Bucks and a total of 17 different sites were visited as shown on the map below. 

Needless to say, prior permission was obtained from the site owner in each case and ten of the locations received multiple trapping visits.  They are all dealt with below, for the most part in alphabetical order:


          Ashridge Forest (SP9713) owned by the National Trust

The single visit here was in support of another "Creatures of the Night" evening organised by the National Trust on 12th August.  Martin Albertini and I ran four traps in the woodland near the Ashridge Monument and, as often happens for this event, the catch wasn't all that good although this time it was slightly better than previous years.  My two MV lights brought in 58 species between them, of which there was nothing unexpected although Barred Hook-tip Watsonalla cultraria, Poplar Lutestring Tethea or, Haworth's Pug Eupithecia haworthiata and Antler Moth Cerapteryx graminis were nice to see, along with a good collection of Black Arches Lymantria monacha (19 altogether).


          Bernwood Forest (SP6210) owned by the Forestry Commission

15 trapping sessions were held in Bernwood Forest during 2016.  This was my eighth consecutive year of regular trapping here and even now the site's moth list continues to grow - the species total has reached 791 over those eight years.  There are historic records from Bernwood of another 107 species but a good many of those will no longer be current.  The best records from 2016 were obtained on 9th July when I was joined by Martin Albertini and Peter Hall, in excess of 170 species being recorded that night between our six traps.  A female Triangle Heterogenea asella appeared at one of Peter's traps in York's Wood quite early on in the evening, while a male was discovered under the sheet of one of my traps in Oakley Wood about three hours later as we packed up.  This diminutive Red Data Book species was found at Bernwood in 2010 after an absence from the county of more than 50 years, the lack of other sightings perhaps being explained by the fact that it is believed for the most part to be a canopy dweller and is rarely tempted down to ground level.


Triangle, Oakley Wood 9th July 2016

The Nationally Scarce species Small Black Arches Meganola strigula, Common Fan-foot Pechipogo strigulata and Dotted Fan-foot Macrochilo cribrumalis were also recorded that night, the first two being Bernwood specialities which are not known from any other sites in Bucks. 

Much of my trapping effort in 2016 took place in the M40 Compensation Area on the eastern edge of the forest and a good list of species was obtained there, including a female Fox Moth Macrothylacia rubi on 22nd May and Prochoreutis myllerana plus what must have been a wandering Fen Wainscot Arenostola phragnitidis both on 28th July.  All three are very uncommon species in the county.  For anyone who may be hoping to visit the Compensation Area from May 2017 onwards, be warned that the Highways Agency (who own the site) are about to renew the deer fence and when that work is complete the site will be padlocked and access will be by prior permission only.  


Fox Moth, M40 Compensation Area 28th July 2016

Prochoreutis myllerana, M40 Compensation Area
 28th July 2016

Fen Wainscot, M40 Compensation Area 28th July 2016

I joined a daytime leaf-mining visit by the Bucks Invertebrate Group on 15th October which added several new micro-moth species to the site list, but perhaps the best record that day was the discovery of an active case of Coleophora potentillae on the underside of a bramble leaf.  Another rare species in Bucks, this find can only have been a few hundred metres from where E.G.R.Waters had the only previous Bernwood record more than 50 years earlier.


Case of Coleophora potentillae on bramble,
 York's Wood 15th October 2016

          Brush Hill (SP8203) owned by the Chiltern Society


Brush Hill overlooking Princes Risborough, 23rd August 2016

This local nature reserve lies on the scarp slope of the Chilterns overlooking Princes Risborough.  It is mainly chalk grassland but with some interesting mixed woodland around the edge.  Visited with three MV traps once per month between April and September, the site produced a very acceptable list of 346 species from those six trapping sessions.  Typical species of the chalk such as Royal Mantle Catarhoe cuculata, Fern Horisme tersata, Pretty Chalk Carpet Melanthia procellata, Square-spotted Clay Xestia rhomboidea, Rosy Minor Mesoligia literosa and Small Purple-barred Phytometra viridaria all put in appearances.  It was also very nice to see Square Spot Paradarisa consonaria on 8th May (an uncommon species in Bucks these days) and a male Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar on 23rd August.  The latter may have been a migrant but is more likely to have been dispersing from the colony which persists on the edge of Aylesbury.  Another surprise was the sheer numbers of Orange Sallow Xanthia citrago recorded in the traps on 18th September (38 of them!) but it transpires that part of the surrounding woodland contains a sizeable quantity of lime trees.  Although it is a reasonably common moth I've previously only ever recorded it in single figures on any one occasion.


Royal Mantle, Brush Hill 11th June 2016

Gypsy Moth, Brush Hill 23rd August 2016

 

Amongst the micro-moths recorded at Brush Hill were Micropterix tunbergella (it is always nice to see "Moth No.1" on the British list!), Depressaria pimpinellae & Depressaria douglasella (both Nationally Scarce) and the inevitable Delplanqueia inscriptella which was only recently confirmed as a British species having previously been confused with Pempeliella (now Delplanqueia) dilutella.  The moth is now quite widespread across the Chilterns on good chalk grassland sites like this and it seems that only inscriptella is found in our region, but the difficulty of telling them apart means that at least one example from each location needs to have its genitalia inspected.

Micropterix tunbergella, Brush Hill 8th May 2016

Depressaria pimpinellae, Brush Hill 28th May 2016

          College Lake (SP9314) managed by the Wildlife Trust
 
BBOWT's flagship reserve in Bucks was visited six times between April and September.  Four MV lights were employed on each visit, two of them on the best area of chalk grassland and the other two in the reed-beds, which meant that the two different habitat types on offer were given equal priority.  The species count from those six visits came to a magnificent 374, making it by far the most productive site trapped at during the year.

Amongst the many notable macro-moths on the chalk were Pimpinel Pug Eupithecia pimpinellata, Chimney Sweeper Odezia atrata, Annulet Charissa obscurata, Light Feathered Rustic Agrotis cinerea, Tawny Shears Hadena perplexa and Marbled Coronet Hadena confusa.  The reed-beds didn't disappoint either, with Southern Wainscot Mythimna straminea, Obscure Wainscot Mythimna obsoleta, Twin-spotted Wainscot Archanara geminipuncta, Brown-veined Wainscot Archanara dissoluta, Webb's Wainscot Archanara sparganii, Small Rufous Coenobia rufa and Silky Wainscot Chilodes maritimus all putting in appearances along with the more common wainscot species.

Chimney Sweeper, College Lake 22nd June 2016

Light Feathered Rustic, College Lake 30th May 2016

 

Tawny Shears, College Lake 22nd June 2016

Southern Wainscot, College Lake 23rd July 2016

Obscure Wainscot, College Lake 23rd July 2016

The micro-moths found at College Lake proved to be even more interesting with two species in particular, both of them Nationally Scarce, being excellent records for the county.  Cochylidia heydeniana was a first for Bucks while Gynnidomorpha luridana was only the second found in VC24.  Both were confirmed by dissection.

Cochylidia heydeniana, College Lake 22nd June 2016

Gynnidomorpha luridana, College Lake 23rd July 2016

In addition to the six trapping visits I also attended a National Moth Night event at College Lake on 11th June.  Traps had been run by several Bucks Invertebrate Group members and BBOWT staff the previous night and their contents were put on show to visitors in the morning, including a good selection of hawk moths.


          Dancersend (SP9008) managed by the Wildlife Trust

This was moth-trapping on 27th August at the end of a Bucks Invertebrate Group field meeting held at the southern (waterworks) end of BBOWT's Dancersend nature reserve.  My two MV lights were run on remnant chalk grassland and didn't produce much of particular interest although Stephensia brunnichella was a nice find and the appearance of Blastobasis adustella in large numbers (125 between the two lights) was certainly noteworthy. 


          Gussetts (SU7688), Hatchet (SU7889) & Homefield Woods (SU8186)

These three areas of mixed woodland in the Chilterns not far from Marlow, the first two privately-owned and the third owned by the Forestry Commission, were visited during November to search for the Nationally Scarce species Plumed Prominent Ptilophora armigera which flies at this unsociable time of year.  Bonfire Night is traditionally the time to start looking for this species but I delayed my first trip to Homefield Wood until 10th November.  This is normally the most reliable site in Bucks for the moth but on this occasion I drew a blank.  A return visit on 14th November was more successful with six males coming to light, five of them to an MV placed beneath the oldest field maple I could find.  The following night I visited Swain's Wood at Northend (see later) and got another two males, then on 23rd November I joined Martin Albertini at Hatchet Wood near Frieth where a single male Plumed Prominent was caught.  Gussetts Wood was visited on 24th November and, again, just a single male came to light. 

Plumed Prominent, Hatchet Wood 23rd November 2016

Plumed Prominent, Hatchet Wood 23rd November 2016

    
          Hughenden Valley Green Farm (SU8695) owned by the National Trust

Green Farm overlooking High Wycombe, 2nd August 2016

Green Farm is a large chalk grassland site immediately to the north-west of High Wycombe and overlooks the town.  Traps were run there four times between April and September (rather fewer occasions than had originally been planned) but a reasonable species count of 200 moths was still achieved.  The majority of the records were of common and widespread species but the pick of the bunch has to be a Netted Pug Eupithecia venosata which came to light on 26th May.

Netted Pug, Green Farm 26th May 2016

          Milton Keynes Lodge Lake (SP8338) & Walton Lake (SP8837)

Lodge Lake, Milton Keynes, February 2016

Walton Lake, Milton Keynes, February 2016

These two sites are managed by the Milton Keynes Parks Trust.  Lodge Lake at Loughton is adjacent to the West Coast Main Line in Central Milton Keynes while Walton Lake at Woughton Park is in a slightly more rural setting adjacent to the Open University campus.  Both have reed-beds but those at Walton Lake are substantial and are probably the oldest in the area.  Lodge Lake was only visited twice during the season and suffers a great deal from light pollution.  Reed-feeding species recorded there included Chilo phragmitella, Schoenobius gigantella, Southern Wainscot Mythimna straminea and Silky Wainscot Chilodes maritimus but otherwise the site produced little of particular interest.  Affected rather less by light pollution, Walton Lake was visited five times between April and September and proved to have a good assemblage of common species as well as more of the expected habitat specialists.  In addition to those seen at Lodge Lake, Walton Lake also produced Orthotelia sparganella, Calamotropha paludella, Donacaula forficella, Obscure Wainscot Mythimna obsoleta, Crescent Celaena leucostigma, Twin-spotted Wainscot Archanara geminipuncta, Brown-veined Wainscot Archanara dissoluta and Webb's Wainscot Archanara sparganii.

Orthotaelia sparganella, Walton Lake 18th August 2016

Crescent, Walton Lake 18th August 2016

          Rammamere Heath (SP9229) managed by the Greensand Trust

This was another single moth-trapping visit at the end of a joint Bucks and Beds Invertebrate Group event held on 28th May.  My three traps produced a grand total of 45 species on what was a rather chilly night and there was little of significance apart from single examples of Larch Pug Eupithecia lariciata and Broom Moth Melanchra pisi.  The most abundant moth of the evening was Light Brocade Lacanobia w-latinum (26 caught).

 

Broom Moth, Rammamere Heath 28th May

          Rushbeds Wood (SP6615) owned by the Wildlife Trust

Quite close to home and unusual in that it wasn't "coniferised" by the Forestry Commission during the 1950s and 1960s, I had trapped regularly at this damp deciduous woodland site between 2007 and 2009 and thought it was about time for some further surveying.  In 2016 I ran traps there on 16 occasions between January and December.  The resulting list of 265 moth species didn't break any records and there was nothing particularly noteworthy amongst them apart from Lobesia reliquana and Triple-spotted Pug Eupithecia trisignaria, both of which were first records for the site.  The wood has always been good for Poplar Lutestring Tethea or and White-marked Cerastis leucographa, both of which turned up in good numbers, and it was also nice to see Scallop Shell Rheumaptera undulata and Red-necked Footman Atolmis rubricollis.  After a wave of sightings at various locations in the county between 2013 and 2015, this would be the only Red-necked Footman I recorded anywhere in Bucks during 2016.

Lobesia reliquana, Rushbeds Wood 4th June 2016

Poplar Lutestring, Rushbeds Wood 17th May 2016

White-marked, Rushbeds Wood 1st April 2016

          Stoke Common (SU9885) owned by the City of London Corporation

I accompanied Martin Albertini to this excellent heathland site on three occasions during 2016.  An early season visit on 12th May had as its main target Small Chocolate-tip Clostera pigra but unfortunately the species failed to appear.  The moth has not been recorded here, its only known site in Bucks, since 2011.  Highlights from this and the other two visits, one in June and one in September, included Fox Moth Macrothylacia rubi (two females to the same trap), Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia (one female to light, the site's first post-millennium record of this species which is most odd considering how extensive the heather is here), Grass Wave Perconia strigillaria, Beautiful Yellow Underwing Anarta myrtilli, True Lover's Knot Lycophotia porphyrea, Neglected Rustic Xestia castanea and Heath Rustic Xestia agathina.   

Fox Moths, Stoke Common 6th June 2016

Neglected Rustic, Stoke Common 6th September 2016

          Swain's Wood (SU7392) managed by the Wildlife Trust

Swain's Wood, February 2016

This permit-only nature reserve is a very steep-sloping chalk grassland bank surrounded by typical Chilterns beech woodland. Simply getting the equipment onto the grassland involved skills in mountaineering but it was worth the effort!  Three day-time and seven night-time visits were made between April and November and they resulted in 342 species being recorded, a very respectable total.  Nationally Scarce micro species comprised Nemophora metallica, Stephensia brunnichella, Elachista biatomella, Elachista subocellea, Agonopterix nanatella, Eulamprotes unicolorella, Acompsia schmidtiellus, Rhopobota stagnana, Hypochalcia ahenella & Merrifieldia baliodactylus.  Of these, Agonopterix nanatella was the first ever adult sighting of this species for VC24, the previous two records both being of larvae.  Another noteworthy micro was Delplanqueia inscriptella which was confirmed by dissection (see earlier under Brush Hill).


Nemophora metallica, Swain's Wood 26th July 2016 

Elachista subocellea, Swain's Wood 9th June 2016

Agonopterix nanatella, Swain's Wood 7th July 2016

Delplanqueia inscriptella, Swain's Wood 9th June 2016

Macro-moths sightings included Mocha Cyclophora annularia, Royal Mantle Catarhoe cuculata, Plumed Prominent Ptilophora plumigera, Kent Black Arches Meganola albula (present on site in some numbers, 21 being noted on 7th July) and several larvae of Striped Lychnis Shargacucullia lychnitis. 

Kent Black Arches, Swain's Wood 7th July 2016

Early instar larva of Striped Lychnis, Swain's Wood 26th July

          Turville Heath (SU7491) common land

This was a single night's moth-trapping on 2nd July in support of a Bucks Invertebrate Group field meeting held in memory of long-time moth enthusiast Tony Harman who lived in the village and had sadly passed away in September 2015.  After dark the temperature dropped very quickly and there were few moths around, my traps bringing in only 44 species.  Nearly all were common and widespread species and the only one of passing interest was a Gold Swift Phymatopus hecta. 


          Wotton Lakes (SP6817) privately owned

The Warrells at Wotton Underwood, February 2016 

Being less than three kilometres from home, I'd often thought that the lakes on the 200-acre private estate of the manor house in Wotton Underwood might be the source of some of the wetland moth species which I occasionally get in my garden at Westcott.  The lakes there were laid out in the mid-1700s by Capability Brown who was previously the head gardener at Stowe in the north of the county.  For 2016 I sought and obtained permission to trap regularly around The Warrells, the lake closest to the manor house which currently has the most extensive reed-beds.  Six visits at roughly one month intervals were made between April and September and produced a final list of 215 mostly common and widespread species, but they did include wetland specialists such as Calamotropha paludella, Schoenobius gigantella, Southern Wainscot Mythimna straminea, Obscure Wainscot Mythimna obsoleta, Bulrush Wainscot Nonagria typhae, Twin-spotted Wainscot Archanara geminipuncta, Brown-veined Wainscot Archanara dissoluta, Webb's Wainscot Archanara sparganii and Silky Wainscot Chilodes maritimus.   

Twin-spotted Wainscot, Wotton Lakes 15th August 2016

Brown-veined Wainscot, Wotton Lakes 15th August 2016

Webb's Wainscot, Wotton Lakes 15th August 2016