{"id":4385,"date":"2019-06-24T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T11:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4385"},"modified":"2022-09-08T17:02:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T16:02:31","slug":"moths-at-hardwick-estate-1-june-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/moths-at-hardwick-estate-1-june-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Moths at Hardwick Estate – 1 June 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year\u2019s moth trapping excursion took place on the\nnight of 1st <\/sup>\u2013 2nd<\/sup> June at the Hardwick Estate, which\nruns from the Chiltern chalk escarpment down to the north bank of the Thames east\nof Whitchurch-on-Thames and west of Mapledurham.  The venue had been suggested by Sandra\nParkinson, who lives at nearby Chalkhills (Boze Down), where we have held\nprevious RDNHS moth trapping evenings.  The\nHardwick Estate is owned by Sir Julian Rose, a strong advocate of organic\nfarming, who has two organic farmers as tenants.  We were the guests of one of them, Iain\nTolhurst, who has three fields on which he grows organic vegetables for sale on\nsite, see http:\/\/www.tolhurstorganic.co.uk\/<\/a>.\n  Two\nof the fields, known locally as Lower Bec and Upper Knight, lie north and south\nof the Hardwick Road at the west gates of the estate, which is where Paul\nBlack, Roy Dobson, Ian Esland and myself (Norman Hall) ran our MV mothing\nlights, either as bare lamps over white sheets or as moth traps. Iain\u2019s other\nfield is a walled garden further east, near Hardwick House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other tenant farmer on the estate, James Norman, had\ngiven us permission, for which we were very grateful, to go into parts of his land\nadjacent to Iain\u2019s.  I was able to run one\nlight trap on a field of his, known locally as Bec Tythe which is chalk\ndownland (though the flora improved considerably higher up than my cable could\nreach) in addition to my two lights in Iain\u2019s field.  Jan & Laurie Haseler put lights in a\nspecies rich meadow of James\u2019s known as \u2018The Park\u2019, entering at the walled\ngarden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a surprisingly successful night, and very interesting because we had never trapped anywhere remotely similar. In Iain\u2019s two fields at the west gates we recorded 114 species of the larger moths (macrolepidoptera), together with 13 pyralid moths and 18 micros. \u00a0Only 2 additional<\/em> macrolepidoptera, Mouse Moth & Fern, were seen in James\u2019s fields, together with 3 more pyralid moths, a plume moth and 4 more micros, bringng the grand total to 155 species. I consider the number of macrolepidoptera species recorded on a single night to be a good indication of the overall biodiversity of a site and anywhere where more than 100 can be found on a single night (especially early in June before numbers peak) is very good indeed.\u00a0 [The number of microlepidoptera<\/em> recorded is less useful because micros are much more difficult to identify, and totals depend much more on the skills and experience of the observers than the numbers actually present.] \u00a0The high number of macrolepidoptera recorded may have been exceptional because of the weather conditions, which were ideal.\u00a0 The temperature had risen to 25\u00b0C (in Reading) in the day on June 1st<\/sup>, was still 17\u00b0C at midnight, and then had only come down to 13\u00b0C by 06.00 next morning. Conditions the night before and the night after were much less favourable, so we were very lucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least one example of each of the macrolepidoptera species\nwas kept for the benefit of the 8 RDNHS members who came to see and photograph\nthe catch on the Sunday morning. We were also able to show Iain Tolhurst a few\nof the moths after he had finished some early morning ploughing. Altogether a\nvery successful event. Records of particular interest to me included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buttoned Snout (2), which feed on hop, and I see very\ninfrequently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netted Pug (3), which I had never seen in Berkshire or\nOxfordshire. The larvae feed on Campions (Silene spp.)<\/em> which are\nnumerous in the \u2018beetle banks\u2019 (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pauper Pug (1), new to me, pointed out and verified by\nMartin Townsend, who visited us around midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandy Carpet (3), where there was a dark example. I had\npreviously only seen pale forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obscure Wainscot (1), a reedbed\nspeciality, always nice to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and a possible Phtheochroa\nschreibersiana<\/em>, which will need dissecting to confirm.  This is a Cochylid moth (Torticidae).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High numbers of the following were also\nof interest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grass Rivulet, 139. Normally quite\nscarce. Jan Haseler thought there could have been thousands in \u2018The Park\u2019,\njudging by the numbers she saw and the considerable area of the field<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small Elephant Hawk Moth, 52 were seen\nin all, compared with just 1 [Large] Elephant Hawk Moth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reddish Light Arches, 19 on Lower Bec\nnorth side. A local concentration. Others elsewhere but nowhere near as many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shears, 26 in Bec Tythe. \nOnly 6 others elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beetle banks, green manure and hedgerows. Notes on the\nhabitat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the vegetables in Iain\u2019s fields, there are strips of mixtures of Phacelia tenacetifolia<\/em> (Boraginaceae) and Crimson Clover Trifolium incarnatum<\/em> which are used as a \u2018green manure\u2019 to plough back into the soil.\u00a0 There are also \u2018beetle banks\u2019, which are not actually banks but strips planted with mixtures of tussock grasses and flowering plants such as Silene<\/em> spp., Centaurea <\/em>(Cornflowers) and Aster<\/em> (Daisies) that encourage beneficial insects and spiders, thus helping to reduce pest numbers. The number of moths caught or seen nectaring near these \u2018beetle banks\u2019 was impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of Iain\u2019s fields at the estate gates are surrounded by hedges which are either natural species-rich ancient hedges or hedges that that have been augmented by imaginative plantings of native trees such as oak, sallow, maple and alder. Many of the surrounding hedges have been (deliberately) left to grow much higher than is usual. Fields the other side of all these hedges are of species-rich grassland or downland that have been grazed by cows, but not over-grazed.\u00a0 The east side of the northern field (Lower Bec) is bordered by a high hedge, then a lane (Path Hill), then woodland. In the NE corner, the hedge is lower and there is a gate into James Norman\u2019s field (Bec Tythe) to the north. Near the gate is a flattish area grazed by cows, where the only interesting plant to be seen was Cynoglossum<\/em> (Hound\u2019s Tongue), but further north the ground rises steeply, becoming too steep for the cows, and here the downland flora is much richer. There is also a tongue of partly ancient woodland on the east side along Path Hill. \u00a0\u00a0The upper slopes at least certainly warrant further study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain\u2019s Walled Garden was, of course, bordered more by walls than by hedges, which is why we thought it best concentrate our attention on his other two fields, so for the time being the potential of the walled garden is untested. The biodiversity of the whole estate warrants further study through moth trapping, if we are encouraged to do so \u2013 and can find the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report by Norman Hall<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n