A couple of days down south, with the first night with traps out in North-west Dorset at two of my old regular sites at Holm Bushes and Minterne Seat Coppice - warm but breezy kept the numbers down, usual stuff with just Incurvaria oehmlmanniella as a new one.
However, after a very pleasant day at Portland and west Dorset, spent Friday night at Blackdown. This site is an island of heather and bilberry scrub heath, with some plantations, and was where I found the first confirmed Dorset record of Lead Belle on 3rd June 2006.
I set a 40w actinic in a small depression on the heath near Hardy's monument, and then a 160w MVB over a sheet in an open area adjacent to the heath, and the 125w MV in the woodland among beech and conifers...and what a night! At least 92 species, of which three were new for me, and another was my first Dorset one.
I set a 40w actinic in a small depression on the heath near Hardy's monument, and then a 160w MVB over a sheet in an open area adjacent to the heath, and the 125w MV in the woodland among beech and conifers...and what a night! At least 92 species, of which three were new for me, and another was my first Dorset one.
New for me were Dichrorampha plumbana, Tawny Shears and Beautiful Snout, while new for Dorset was Dark Spectacle.
Lead Belle
Galium Carpet
Esperia sulpherella
And to top it all off, on Saturday morning, while refuelling the car in Dorchester, there was my second ever (and two weeks after my first) Lime Hawkmoth perched on the pump...a bit like buses, none for ages then they all come along at once.
Lime Hawkmoth
What a great couple of days, superb scenery, some good moths, and brilliant weather.
A nice tale Gramps!
ReplyDelete