Away-days in Bucks

I've now had reasonable first sessions at two of the four or five away sites I'll be trapping at regularly this year.  Pavis Wood (owned by Bucks County Council) is now managed as part of the Wildlife Trust's Dancersend complex and a three-hour stint there with four MV lights on Friday evening produced 30 species.  There was nothing particularly unexpected although Scarce Prominent is always a good record, while Acleris literana and Dotted Chestnut may be new to Dancersend's already extensive moth list.  Lunar Marbled Brown (36) was the most abundant species while Alucita hexadactyla, Waved Umber, Pebble Prominent & Least Black Arches were new to me for the year.

Last night Marc Botham and Martin Harvey joined me at Grangelands near Cadsden, another former BCC reserve now managed by BBOWT.  This is a sensitive site, not only because it is an important SSSI but also because, being so close to Chequers, there's a need to keep the police informed of any strange goings-on at night!  Here the list came closer to 50 species from five 125w MV lights and one 15w actinic, with Micropterix tunbergella, Pyrausta aurata, Barred Hook-tip, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Common Carpet, Spruce Carpet, Dwarf Pug, Yellow-barred Brindle, Brimstone Moth, Scalloped Hazel, Square Spot, Iron Prominent, Lobster Moth, Orange Footman & Small Purple-barred being amongst those I hadn't recorded yet this year.


Barred Hook-tip, Grangelands 20th April

Lobster Moth, Grangelands 20th April

Orange Footman, Grangelands 20th April

Square Spot was a nice find.  Although there are quite a few records for Bucks (70+), in my experience it is quite an uncommon species limited mostly to the Chilterns.  It was good to see Scarce Prominent here too, as well as my first Dingy Skipper of the year which happened to wander onto Martin's equipment at packing-up time.  However, perhaps the most interesting catch of the evening was the tiny Micropterix tunbergella, two examples of moth No.1 on the British list coming to the actinic trap (Martin's picture below).

Micropterix tunbergella, Grangelands 20th April

As seems to be happening regularly now, some of the species seen were very early emergences.  For example, in Bucks there is only one previous April record for Small Purple-barred and that was on the 30th (in 2011).

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks