Saturday 19 August 2017

Slow-down... (plus New Forest queries)

I'm hoping for some good catches in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, in what seems to be a promised heatwave in the next few days, but over recent weeks, things have slowed down considerably. Catches have been OK, but not especially numerous; they have included a few interesting or spectacular species, including several Red Underwings, a couple of Dark Sword-grasses (by no means an annual species here) and several occurences of Nephopterix angustella, which has only previously occurred once, in 2015.

Presumed Nephopterix angustella, 9/8/17
Micros haven't been that numerous, though the one below, approximately 7-8mm long, has me baffled so far - and suggestions would be gratefully received.

Unknown micro, 12/8/17
And with apologies for going out-of-region: my wife and I managed a brief visit to the New Forest in late July, and I managed to use a highly portable safari trap (which I also took to Corfu earlier this summer) to catch a few local specialities - notably (for me) Oak Hook-tip and Rosy Footman, plus the two individuals below: the micro is either a Crambus pascuella or a Crambus silvella, the latter apparently being very much a New Forest and east Dorset speciality; and the macro looks to me like a Beautiful Brocade, which would be a new species to me. Again, any confirmations or other suggestions would be very welcome.

Crambus pascuella or silvella, Brockenhurst, New Forest, 1/8/17

Possible Beautiful Brocade, Brockenhurst, New Forest, 31/7/17
Steve Goddard (with apologies for the photos: having a little trouble with my camera...)

2 comments:

  1. Hi Steve, you're correct with N. angustella, the unknown is Scythropia crataegella. I'll leave the New Forest ones to someone who has experience of them.

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  2. Thanks, Nigel -- the S.crataegella is yet another case of 'why didn't I see that?'.

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