The "by-catch" recorded from selected Rothamsted light-traps concentrating on 2018 and 2019

In 2017the British Entomological and Natural History Society's Council established an "Accuracy of Species Recording Working Group". the group formed a network of identifiers for various taxa of the insect "by-catch", i.e. invertebrates other than macro-Lepidoptera, resulting from the operation of selected Rothamsted light-traps. Five sites were chosen from across the UK, and various members of the Society were contacted to elicit their participation. The project commenced in January 2018 and ran to the end of 2019. For 2019 one site, Beale Park, was dropped and another, Colwyn Bay, replaced it. This article reports the results of this initiative in relation to the taxa from the various by-catch groups identified. The annual phenology of some of the commoner species is examined, and some of the more notable records that would have otherwise remained undetected are highlighted. A total of 1,074 taxa were identified from 16 groups. These included 14 species of Nationally Scarce beetle, one Nationally Rare beetle, the most northerly UK record of the orange ladybird, a Notable A homopteran, new Hemiptera vice-county records for all five sites, some rare parasitic Hymenoptera including one species added to the UK list the year this work commenced, an uncommon ant, a nationally scarce mayfly, many unusual micro-Lepidoptera for VC 22 and an RDB1 crane fly. All five sites contributed to the recording of these scarce species, but Beale Park and Jealott's Hill, both in Berkshire, produced most species, and the highest numbers of individuals of the scarcer taxa.