Pickworth Great Wood 28/02/2009

It's not often that a moth makes me jump and shout/swear, but believe me this one did .. Red Sword-grass!!!! Only the third modern record for VC55, completely unexpected and by far the highlight of a short trapping session at Pickworth Great Wood. Needless to say, it's the first one I've ever seen. I ran 3 x 125W MV traps and the 80W actinic from 18:30 - 21:00. Temps started at 8.5°C, dropping to 7°C , and it was mainly cloudy, still and dry. The first hour was relatively busy but it soon steadied and by the time I packed up only the odd new moth appeared. The Red Sword-grass was picked up within the first half-hour - had this not of happened I may well have given it another hour but I reckoned I'd used all my luck for the night. The actual target species for the night was Small Brindled Beauty - still a rare species in VC55 though now well established at PGW. Otherwise I was just hoping to pick up a few late winter / early spring species. Total catch was 191 of 18sp. 0461 Ypsolopha ustella 10 688 Agonopterix heracliana 1 1025 Tortricodes alternella 61 1044x Acleris ferrugana/notana 2 1659 Yellow Horned (Achlya flavicornis galbanus) 26 1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) 1 1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 4 1925 Small Brindled Beauty (Apocheima hispidaria) 19 1926 Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) 14 1930 Oak Beauty (Biston strataria) 2 1932 Spring Usher (Agriopis leucophaearia) 4 1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 6 1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 4 2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 4 2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 12 2241 Red Sword-grass (Xylena vetusta) 1 2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 28 2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 1 Small Brindled Beauty Ypsolopha ustella Spring Usher Spring Usher