Ditton Park Woods - Field Trip - 20/05/25

I ran some lights in a nearby woodland which is on the cusp of Suffolk, on the otherside of Newmarket.

It was a nice warm day, and as we pulled up it still felt relatively mild with a hint of cloud cover rolling in, but the temperature didn't seem to hold up for very long, we lost a bit of the cloud and there was a cool breeze hitting the exposed traps. 

 

By 11pm it was nippy and we donned our fleeces. 

 

At this point the moths had completely stopped flying, what was in and around the traps was extremely sparse and disappointing to say the least.

I think it was a combination of no substantial rain for over a month and the extremely low humidity that was mainly to blame.

There were however a couple of decent macro moths, with a fiery Cloud-bordered Brindle and a fresh Middle-barred Minor, a moth that seems scarcer in recent years. 

Micro moths were few and far between sadly, Epinotia subocellana & Coleophora mayrella the best, with just 19 species recorded (which included some netted at dusk).

 

55 species was not good for the 3/4 of May. Past catches have exceeded 120 species this time of year before.

 

But if you don't try, you never know!

 

20/05/25 - Ditton Park Woods - East Cambridgeshire - 1x 125w Trap, 1x 250w Robinson Trap, 1x 40w/22w Bucket Trap & 1x 20w Heath Bucket Trap

Macro Moths

Brimstone Moth
Buff Ermine
Clouded-bordered Brindle
Common Carpet
Common Marbled Carpet
Common Swift
Common Wave
Conmon White Wave
Cream Wave
Dwarf Pug
Flame Shoulder
Green Carpet
Green Silver-lines
Iron Prominent
Light Emerald
Maiden's Blush
Marbled White-spot
Middle-barred Minor
Mottled Pug
Nut-tree Tussock
Oak-tree Pug
Orange Footman
Pale Oak Beauty
Pale Tussock
Pebble Prominent
Poplar Grey
Poplar Hawk-moth
Purple Bar
Red Twin-spot Carpet
Scalloped Hazel
Scorched Wing
Seraphim
Silver-ground Carpet
Small Phoenix
Spectacle
White Ermine

Micro Moths

Anania hortulata
Aphomia sociella
Cameraria ohridella
Celypha lacunana
Coleophora mayrella
Crambus lathoniellus
Endrosis sarcitrella
Epinotia subocellana
Eulia ministrana
Hedya pruniana
Lathyronympha strigana
Micropterix calthella
Nemapogon cloacella
Nematopogon schwarziellus
Parornix sp
Phyllonorycter maestingella
Scoparia ambigualis
Tinea semifulvella
Tinea trinotella

Scalloped Hazel

Actinic Bucket Trap in a prime location

Clouded-bordered Brindle ab combusta

Coleophora mayrella

Epinotia subocellana

Maiden's Blush

Middle-barred Minor

Satellite Caterpillar