Hereford and Worcester Moths: Haugh Wood

With the weather looking extremely promising I returned to Haugh Wood again to trap in the same spot as last week, which is adjacent to a number of large Small-leaved Lime trees. Patrick Clement joined me for the evening and together we ran 4 Hall-Robinson 125w moth traps. At switch on time it was around 21 degrees and after the usual 3 hour session and an hour or so packing up, it was still 15 degrees when we left. To our surprise things started off slowly, despite the perfect conditions, but slowly increased in activity as the night progressed. I'm unable to give you exact numbers of species, but my 2 traps recorded to date 91 macro-species and 38 micro-species and I reckon I have about another 15 or so still to id later in the year. That will make - using my Grammar school education - around 140+ species. In all probability, when Patrick's list is merged with mine, we will be looking at around 180+ species. Not bad at all in the end. This site usually turns up moths of interest. This was no exception, with a Double Line a nice find and the 5th county record. Beautiful Snout also appeared. Then I had 2 Brown Scallop in the traps - the first records for 17 years. And a regular, but still stunning Beautiful Carpet. The star of the show this time, was a micro-moth (of course) when we both recorded Salebriopsis albicilla which will be the third and fourth records for this moth in Herefordshire. I recorded it on the other side of the wood last year. Peter Hall

Haugh is a really excellent site and for me it is like holiday mothing, even relatively common species like Pretty Chalk Carpet and Haworth's Pug are species I don't see in north Worcestershire. Unfortunately the journey from Halesown to Haugh is also a bit like going on holiday so it is not a site I visit very often. Patrick Clement