<p>Moth Trapping down on the farm
On Thursday night I made a trip up to my parents farm to see what I could catch.
I set up the traps early and decided to do a video on them and to show the habitat that I would be trapping in, no I didn't do any takes and I made some mistakes so forgive me!
</p><p>The farm is still there, no demolishing has taken place yet, and the last I heard was that it will be after Summer when they clear the farm ready for building (They have been saying this for years now).
</p><p>It will be a great shame when this little oasis finally goes, the surrounding area is pretty flat and uninspiring agricultural fields with a few nearby woodlands, the site after 10 years of set-aside is like a moth-trappers paradise and my catches over the years has demonstrated this (it still holds the title for the most species trapped in one night, two years ago at 252 species!).
</p><p>The weather when I turned up at 5pm was partly cloudy, a bit breezy but 20-21 degrees, things looked very promising indeed and I recorded 12 species of moth before I even set the traps up.
</p><p>When the traps when on at approximately 9.15pm the sky was duly clearing, the wind had dropped but by 10pm it was getting cold.
The moths were extremely slow to come to the lights after the initial flurry of Green Carpets, it just went pretty dead and by 11pm my car thermometer read 6 degrees, ouch!
</p><p>I decided that as I was staying the night, I would let the traps run all night.
</p><p>When I woke up at 4.30am I was surprised how light it was and so went out to check and sort through all of the traps.
There wasn't a huge amount of moths but enough to keep me interested at least, most numerous were Green Carpet (62) Treble Lines (34) and Rustic Shoulder-knot (16)
The rest of the species were pretty much what I would expect this time of year and with 54 species (32 Macros and 22 Micros) in total it was way down on previous years for the end of May, with some catches exceeding 100 species in the past!
</p><p>Still how was I to moan when I lifted an egg tray from one of my traps and spotted a new moth for my Hertfordshire records, a pristine Dog's Tooth!
Dog's Tooth is quite a rare moth in the County with just a handful of records (although I am waiting to here back from my CR for the exact figure)
My first encounter with this species was in 2011 at Canvey Wick in Essex, this one being only my second record in 10 years.
</p><p>Very chuffed indeed, and I don't think I have ever made a Summer trip to the farm without a surprise greeting me by the morning.
</p><p>Catch Report - 26/05/16 -Braughing Friars Farmland - 2x 125w MV Robinson Traps 1x 160w MBT Robinson Trap and 1x 80w Actinic Suitcase Trap.
</p><p>Macro Moths
</p><p>1x Dog's Tooth
2x Common Swift
62x Green Carpet
6x Cinnabar
7x Common Pug
2x Silver-ground Carpet
34x Treble Lines
1x Siver-Y
1x Pebble Prominent
1x Oak-tree Pug
3x Brimstone Moth
5x Flame Shoulder
1x Small Phoenix
1x Mottled Pug
1x Marbled Minor
1x Spectacle
2x Setaceous Hebrew Character
1x Scorched Wing
16x Rustic Shoulder-knot
1x Waved Umber
2x Pale Tussock
1x Small Square-spot
4x White Ermine
1x Brown Rustic
1x Swallow Prominent
2x Angle Shades
1x Privet Hawk-moth
2x Poplar Hawk-moth
2x Mullein
1x Light Brocade
1x Heart &amp; Dart
1x Large Nutmeg
</p><p>Micro Moths
</p><p>10x Anthophila fabriciana
60+ Glyphipterix simpliciella
1x Epiblema cirsiana/scutulana
3x Crambus lathoniellus
1x Mompha epilobiella
1x Incurvaria masculella
1x Mompha subbistrigella
5x Notocelia cynosbatella
4x Celypha lacunana
1x Pseudargyrotoza conwagana
5x Aphomia sociella
10x Endrosis sarcitrella
1x Monopis weaverella
7x Psyche casta
2x Scoparia ambigualis
1x Parornix sp
1x Cnephasia sp
1x Coleophora sp 
1x Elachista rufocinerea
1x Hofmannophila pseudospretella
2x Scrobipalpa acuminatella
</p>
1x Pseudoswammerdamia combinella
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/33398884@N03">Ben Sale</a> from UK
CC BY 2.0
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/33398884@N03/27213009172/">[2102] Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)</a>