An easy Pug!

In my opinion this is the smartest British Pug and one that nobody should have any trouble identifying!

Netted Pug, Hughenden Valley 26th May

It came to light last night on National Trust chalk grassland in the Hughenden Valley above High Wycombe, Bucks.  I ran four MV lights there for the usual three hours from dusk and was very pleasantly surprised to amass a total of 85 species.  Apart from the Netted Pug there was nothing particularly noteworthy but it was so nice to get a half-decent result somewhere this year.  Macros comprised 64 species:  Common Swift, Chinese Character, Figure of Eighty, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Large Twin-spot Carpet, Common Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, Grey Pine Carpet, Green Carpet, Pretty Chalk Carpet, Small Waved Umber, Grass Rivulet, Foxglove Pug, Mottled Pug, Netted Pug, Lime-speck Pug, Common Pug, Shaded Pug, V-Pug, Double-striped Pug, Treble-bar, Yellow-barred Brindle, Scorched Carpet, Brimstone Moth, Scalloped Hazel, Peppered Moth, Waved Umber, Common White Wave, White-pinion Spotted, Clouded Silver, Lime Hawk-moth, Poplar Hawk-moth, Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Puss Moth, Swallow Prominent, Coxcomb Prominent, Marbled Brown, Lobster Moth, Pale Tussock, Orange Footman, White Ermine, Cinnabar, Least Black Arches, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Flame Shoulder, Small Square-spot, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Shears, Light Brocade, Bright-line Brown-eye, Hebrew Character, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Alder Moth, Dark/Grey Dagger, Coronet, Brown Rustic, Angle Shades, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Marbled Minor agg, Treble Lines & Nut-tree Tussock, along with a couple more Pug species still to be confirmed.  Of the macros, Green Carpet, Light Brocade and Treble Lines appeared in some numbers, as would be expected in that kind of habitat.  The micro turn-out was 21 species, mostly as singletons apart from Syndemis musculana, Crambus lathoniellus and Scoparia pyralella.  Another pleasant surprise was to get only the one Cockchafer! 

Back home at Westcott the actinic trap showed a small improvement last night with 22 species appearing, including Sandy Carpet, Ochreous Pug, Seraphim & Buff Ermine which were new for the garden list this year.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks