Moth Trapping at Tomintoul - Sunday 2nd of July 2017

At the end of July 2016, moth traps were run near Craigalkie Quarry near Tomintoul. This is a limestone area with a special, unusual for the Highlands, lime-loving flora and it was hoped to find some equally special moths associated with that flora. Well, on that occasion we didn’t find anything out of the ordinary but we did notch up a decent 65 moth species. Seven of the macros and most of the micros were new for the 10km square and Acompsia cinerella was a “first” for the Vice-County (94 Banffshire).

I decided to trap the same site again in 2017 but four weeks earlier, to try and get a different selection of moths. It turned out to be a cool, breezy and partly clear night so the number of moths was quite low. This time we only managed 44 species – 35 macros and 9 micros. However, there were, as always, some lovely moths, such as Poplar Hawk-moth, Beautiful Golden Y, Grey Dagger, Sallow Kitten, Burnished Brass and Argyresthia brockeella. But the best was saved until last. At the end, as I was packing up one of the traps, Pete Gordon noticed a small moth hiding underneath the bulb holder that had been previously overlooked. I didn’t recognise it but Roy Leverton, who was standing next to me, recognised it straight away as a rather obscurely marked Barred Carpet. He also knew that it was a “first” for the Vice County, indeed realised later that it was new for North-east Scotland! Not only that, but according to my moth book (Waring & Townsend), Barred Carpet’s status is Nationally Scarce A, that is, found in fewer than thirty 10km squares in the UK. The book also states that it is found in “damp woodland and other sheltered damp places on base-rich rocks”. Yes, we had found our first lime specialist!

MACROS
Barred Carpet	Iron Prominent
Beautiful Golden Y	Lesser Swallow Prominent
Brimstone Moth	Light Emerald
Broken-barred Carpet	Map-winged Swift
Brown Rustic	Middle-barred Minor
Brown-line Bright-eye	Mottled Beauty
Burnished Brass	Pale-shouldered Brocade
Chimney Sweeper	Pebble Prominent
Clouded-bordered Brindle	Poplar Hawk-moth
Common Marbled Carpet	Purple Bar
Coxcomb Prominent	Purple Clay
Dusky Brocade	Puss Moth (two larvae)
Flame Shoulder	Sallow Kitten
Green Arches	Shaded Broad-bar
Green Carpet	Silver-ground Carpet
Grey Dagger	Small Dotted Buff
Hebrew Character (larva)	Small Square-spot
Ingrailed Clay

MICROS

Anania fuscalis

Argyresthia goedartella

Blastobasis lacticolella

Chrysoteuchia culmella (Garden grass- veneer)

Elachista atricomella

Endrosis sarcitrella (White-shouldered House Moth)

Glyphipterix simpliciella (Cocksfoot Moth)

Parornix sp. (To be identified)

Udea olivalis