The survey of moths on the Elmbridge Commons is still ongoing. It began five years ago with a trial trapping at Fairmile Common, when Dave Page borrowed a generator, and Elmbridge NHS provided the trap. Now the event is monthly, organised by the Council, which now has its own equipment. It is usually advertised, the venue shifting each month, and usually mid-week. Starting time varies with time of year, between 8pm and 9pm; finishing time is usually around midnight, but nobody has to stay to the end (apart from the rangers!).
This year's surveying started in style. April is usually fairly quiet but, owing to the early spring, moths usually seen in mid-May appeared at the trap on 24 April. Twenty-seven species of macro-moth were recorded, including lime hawk, fox, poplar kitten, great prominent, lesser swallow prominent, coxcomb prominent, and iron prominent.
A new venue close to Middle Pond was chosen for 24 May. Prospects were improved by the arrival of expert Jim Porter, with three additional traps. It was a busy night with 37 macro-moth species recorded, including peach blossom, lime hawk, green silver lines and miller. Many micro-moths were also identified by Jim. The trap also attracted a lot of other insects, including a couple of hornets, and an assortment of beetles including click beetles and cardinal beetles.
The June event failed to get publicised, and was cut short by rain, but on 24 July we were again at The Ledges, under the transmission lines. After a slow start the moths eventually turned up, and we recorded 19 macro-moth species including several black arches, peppered, common footman, and yellow tail, plus rosy footman, birds wing, and ruby tiger.
The next events are on Tuesday, 21 August, 8.30pm at The Flying Circle, Fairmile Common, and Thursday, 20 September, 8pm at Lardy Pond, West End Common. It would be nice to see more ENHS members at these events again. All the records end up in the `Rucksack' database.
Dick Alder