With permission from BBOWT, one of my half a dozen sites for regular "away" trapping this year is, once again, Finemere Wood in Bucks. The wood is quite local to me and one of several of the Trust's reserves which are under considerable pressure from HS2 construction work.
Mixed deciduous woodland is always the place to be for large numbers of moths at this time of year and a couple of MV traps run there for three hours after dark last night (Friday 7th) brought in a reasonable crop of nearly 300 moths from 20 species. That's not a bad total but I'd expect a much higher count later in the month when Small Quaker should be closer to its peak. Last night the highest tally was provided by Small Brindled Beauty (46), followed by Yellow Horned (39), Small Quaker (36) & Common Quaker (35). It was unusual to get a double-digit count of Shoulder Stripe (20 seen), while early examples of Engrailed, Red Chestnut, Lead-coloured Drab & Twin-spotted Quaker were also welcome. I was surprised to see only two Pale Brindled Beauty, one Spring Usher and no Early Moth at all, so the recent cold weather must have all but finished them off for the season - and unfortunately we've got more frosts to come next week too.
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| Shoulder Stripe, Finemere Wood 7th March |
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| Engrailed, Finemere Wood 7th March |
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| Yellow Horned, Finemere Wood 7th March |
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| Lead-coloured Drab, Finemere Wood 7th March |
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
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