Enderby Quarry, 04/07/2009

I used to trap quite regularly at this site, but hadn't been since August 2007. It is an old quarry turned over to landfill, capped and left to go wild whilst still out-gassing. Sounds like a complete non-starter for wildlife interest, but the scrubby margins hold traveller's-joy that is known to have been present at the site since the 1940's when local naturalist Herbert Buckler used to work the site. I was hoping to record traveller's-joy feeders The Fern (last recorded there 2004) and Haworth's Pug (last recorded there 2005) again. As it turned out, a single 125W MV trap pulled in a massive 712 of 115sp. but the only highlight was an unprecedented 15 Eudonia pallida - a new species for the site and one that is clearly doing well in VC55 this year. The site has been superb for day-flying micros (especially Dichrorampha spp.) but it is now getting to the point where it is so overgrown that most of the site is inaccessible - needs a good going over with a chainsaw!