It didn't put the Moccas on it after all.

Steve Whitehouse kindly organised an evenings moth trapping at Moccas Park, located in the Golden Valley between Hereford and Hay-on-Wye and filled with veteran oak trees. It was never going to be a fantastic night for moth numbers because of the lack of habitat variation, but the veteran oaks have been home to the elusive Marbled Pug and that was our target. We ran 7 light traps in the end, 3 were in the area where the moth had been recorded previously and 4 outside of this, but all near veteran trees. In the end 12 Marbled Pugs were seen both in the old and also the new areas targetted. In total just 19 species of macro and 9 species of micro were seen. Given the warm humid conditions, this paucity of moths was a little surprising. Peter Hall, Steve Whitehouse and Oliver Wadsworth

Moccas Park: One of the trapping sites. © Photo Peter Hall

Moccas Park: Pammene argyrana © Photo Oliver Wadsworth

Moccas Park: Marbled Pug © Photo Oliver Wadsworth

Moccas Park: Marbled Pug © Photo Peter Hall

Moccas Park: Esperia sulphurella  © Photo Oliver Wadsworth