It has been very difficult to pick the best moths that I have recorded this year and the last year (Truth be known I forgot to do last year’s..oops!), as I have had many opportunities to survey different habitats and to join up with different amateurs like myself in the search for those elusive species. Both 2014 and 2015 were interesting years in their own rights, of course my highlight for 2014 was the capture of a Male Hyphantria cunea (Autumn Webworm) on the 28th of September in my garden in Stevenage, this being a new species for Britain and which sparked a search for this species in the local woods and parkland this year to see if it would turn up again, I made regular trapping efforts in September but as I suspected, the moth was never re-found. We can only assume that the moth was a migrant or an import. That very same year a new species of Tortrix to science! Was trapped by Andrew Wood in his back garden, the moth in question Tetramoera langmaidi was named after John Langmaid whom caught an unfamiliar Tortrix a few years before. Presumed to be of Oriental origin and was no doubt imported with Bamboo that Andrew’s neighbours had bought from a local garden centre…he caught three to my knowledge in 2014 and again re-captured one specimen this year proving that they were still breeding in the vicinity. Despite Andrew’s best efforts to find larval workings, no evidence was found. The third best moth was a specimen of Great Dart caught by Graeme Smith in Bishop’s Stortford, new to the County list. So in 2014 we had a new to Science, new to Britain and new to County, all from Hertfordshire!! 2014 was a year that would take some beating indeed. So here are my top species that are in order of appearance for both the year 2014 and 2015. 1) Depressaria chaerophylli- 24-02-14 (Back Garden - Stevenage) – I started the year early and it didn’t take long to add a new species of moth to my all time list. This Gelechiidae was checked by my County Recorder, not a bad record either as it is a scarce moth for Hertfordshire. 2) Agonopterix pallorella- 09-04-14 (Hexton Chalk Pit - Hertfordshire) – Another new moth for my records, we were of course searching for Northern Drab on this chalkland site, we did not succeed, so it was nice that we managed one of these, a return visit yielded another and then this year on another trip we turned up another specimen. It is a rare species for our County and was last seen 14 years ago in 2001 at this very site. It is always a nice feeling when you trap a location and find the species still thriving there. 3) Clay Triple-lines- 23-04-14 (Back Garden - Stevenage) – A moth of mature Beech woodland, the Clay Triple-lines. So imagine my excitement when one greeted me in my trap on a drizzly April morning, it was in stunning condition and was a garden first. 4) Grass Rivulet - 19-05-14 (Bovingdon Brick-pits - Hemel Hempstead - Hertfordshire) – The Grass Rivulet, a beautiful Geometridae favouring chalkland plants, so it was a bit of a surprise to trap our first one at the clay brick-pits (I would have easily put money on finding it first at Roughdown Common) It turns out that there was a resident population there, found by Lucy Flower during daytime forays. We also trapped it in 2014 and 2015 at Hexton Chalk Pit. 5) Pammene albuginana- 02/06/14 - (Roughdown Common - Hemel Hempstead - Hertfordshire) – A 3rd County record of this scarce Tortrix moth was trapped at one of the 125w MV Robinson Traps on a field trip on the Boxmoor Trust’s land, a new moth for all of us. 6) Gypsonoma oppresana – 12/06/14 - (Bovingdon Brick-pits - Hemel Hempstead – Hertfordshire) – The field trip traps strike again with another new species for my records, a pretty like Tortrix and with very few records for the County. 7) Alabonia geoffrella- 20/06/14 - (Broxbourne Woods - Hertfordshire) – On a field trip marred by many upsets, sockets not working, being bitten by a horse-fly and then the wind getting up as soon as I pulled the generator cord, we got a stunning example of Alabonia geoffrella. Typically a day-time flying moth they can be attracted to lights but not regularly, a species tick. 8) Royal Mantle, Reddish Light Arches, Grey Arches, Paratalanta hyalinalis & Agonopterix liturosa - 01/07/13 - (Hexton Chalk Pit - Hertfordshire) – The first of July heralded a very respectable list from Hexton Chalk Pit again, only this time I managed 5 new species to my all-time list, Roger exceeded this by having not seen a few more on top of this. All five are scarce moths in the County for the fact that they are pretty much restricted to chalk grassland. Out of all five, Paratalanta hyalinalis was the best having not been seen since 1937! This was quoted as one of the most important sites for moths in Hertfordshire when the book was released in 2006. 9) Gold Swift, Larch Pug, Mere Wainscot, Acleris holmiana, Acleris kochiella, Assara terebrella, Olindia scumacherana, Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana, Eulamprotes atrella, Hedya ochroleucana - 02/07/13 - (Home Wood – Biggelswade - Bedfordshire) – The night after the dream night at Hexton Chalk Pit I crossed the border into Bedfordshire and teamed up with a keen Father and Son whom run their traps in their gardens on a regular basis. Home Wood is a rather modest wood in size but with a variety of habitats, wooded areas, wet woodland and grassland… things couldn’t have gone any better and we were spoilt by how many species we attracted, 173 species was a site record and amongst this 10 species I had never seen before in 9 years of trapping. Blown away was an understatement. 10) Lead-coloured Pug and Olive Crescent - 03/07/14 - (Hockley Woods – Hockley - Essex) – On my third successive trip out (a week off work helped!) I managed to join good friends and fellow moth’ers Graham Bailey and Don Down. Two great species were added to my all time list. 11) Scarlet Tiger - 11/07/13 - (Bovingdon Brick-pits - Hemel Hempstead – Hertfordshire) – We had a very bright moon for this trapping session, but luckily by 10pm it was obscured by cloud which helped. We were of course searching for the Garden Tiger’s again (having seen them here last year) and with reports up and down the Country we thought we had picked a perfect night….we had. For another Tiger, a Scarlet! My first of this species. We didn’t manage to see Garden Tiger’s that year or this year which was a shame. 12) Metalampra italica- 17/07/14 - (Roughdown Common - Hemel Hempstead - Hertfordshire) – This moth evening followed a daytime temperature of 33 degrees! And as usual with this Country, we had violent storms predicted early morning. We couldn’t have timed it better as the first flash of lightning came minutes after packing up the last trap, by the time we got all the gear in the car the rain started. This moth was the highlight, a scarce introduced species that is now becoming more frequent in the south (we managed another this year in 2015 at the same site). 13) Gynnidomorpha alismana - 19/07/14 - (Braughing Friars Farmland - Hertfordshire) – A rare Tortrix from the biggest ever catch of moths in Hertfordshire ever, 252 species to be exact and what a night that will go down in history as a great achievement by all that turned up to help me count them all! 14) Silky Wainscot and Bucculatrix ulmella - 20/07/14 - (Back Garden - Stevenage - Hertfordshire) – Back home and after the field trip of the year the night before, things couldn’t really get any better, could they? Silky Wainscot was a shock Macro in the trap come the morning and although not a first for me (quite a regular species on Canvey Wick) it still was one of the best moths from the garden in 2014. Backed up by a pretty Bucculatrix ulmella, a first for me. Also of note and a continuation of the wetland moth movement I caught a Donacaula forficella the next night and then the night after that a Twin-spotted Wainscot! 15) Cydia amplana- 06/08/14 - (Back Garden - Stevenage - Hertfordshire) - A 4th County record of Cydia amplana was in my trap after a quiet night for the garden trap, this normally happens in August and it was definitely quality over quantity! 16) Cynaeda dentalis – 06/09/14 - (Dungeness - Kent) – This striking looking moth was the highlight of a trip to Dungeness in Kent, it wasn’t the only surprise though, a further 6 species were new to me including Pale Grass Eggar and Yellow Belle. I hooked with Colin Plant for the long drive down and although conditions weren’t perfect we did reasonably well.

17) Autumn Webworm - 29/09/14 - (Back Garden - Stevenage - Hertfordshire) – The biggest surprise all year, a new moth for Britain was ridiculously unexpected and will go down as my biggest find in my whole mothing career. The moth was confirmed by my County recorder at his home and it was a spectacle seeing him getting flustered over the prospect of it being Hyphantria cunea as he looked through the microscope. 18) Cypress Pug - 02/10/14 - (Westbrook Hay - Hemel Hempstead – Hertfordshire) – The year was still not done with surprises. Amongst a fairly modest haul was a not often seen Cypress Pug clinging to the outside of the exposed trap at Westbrook Hay, a first for us. 19) Bedellia somnulentela - (Back Garden - Stevenage) – The last interesting moth for the year was this little drab looking moth, what I initially thought was a Caloptilia. A new moth for me. 2014 was an incredible year and the most successful and prolific since starting mothing in 2006, could 2015 get any better? Let’s have a look and see what goodies I managed to record this year.