Saturday 31 October 2020

Another Oak Rustic

Continuing the Oak Rustic theme, I trapped my very first Oak Rustic in the garden trap last night. This individual has the light orange kidney marking. Steve Trigg, Cookham

Brick or Yellow-line Quaker? and Blastobasis

 Not sure about this one. I don't often get the Brick. Townsend & Waring say the key diagnotic is the straightness or otherwise of the outer cross-line that makes this one a Brick? And Blastobasis lacticolella?



 



Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Friday 30 October 2020

An Early December Moth

 I was rather surprised to see this in the trap at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve this morning.  It is the earliest that I have ever seen one by about 5 days.  It was very welcome though because most of October has been pretty bleak up here in the North of Buckinghamshire.




Stigmella splendidissimella??

A first toe dipped into the dangerous waters of mining...is this Stigmella splendidissimella?

Barnaby Briggs, Iver, Bucks




Oak Rustic?

 A good night for me last night with 61 moths of 15 species. I caught this little moth and just wanted to check that it is an Oak Rustic?


Many thanks

Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon, South Oxon

Oak Rustic

 My, by now, annual Oak Rustic turned up this morning along with a fresh Silver Y



Steve Lockey (Garsington)

Wednesday 28 October 2020

Westcott, Bucks

Catches over the past seven nights have settled down to what I'd normally expect at the end of October with about a dozen species appearing in the actinic trap each time, drawn from exactly 30 recorded over the course of the week.  Sprawler and Brick are now the only species appearing in any numbers, with the remainder often just as singletons.  After an initial burst of activity even the Novembers have quietened down to just one or two per night.

There has been nothing further added to the garden year-list but new moths for this season have comprised Acleris logiana and Mottled Umber.

Acleris logiana, Westcott 23rd October

Mottled Umber, Westcott 23rd October

Once confined to Scotland, Acleris logiana was first recorded in Bucks during 2009 and has spread right across the county now although there are still fewer than 30 records altogether, its larvae feeding on birch.  It appeared in the garden here a couple of times during 2017 then after a two-year gap I had another in January this year which was confirmed by dissection.  It can be quite similar to the slightly smaller elm-feeder Acleris kochiella which is a regular at Westcott. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks  

Two quakers

There was a slight flurry of activity here in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, last week, with Green-brindled Crescent and Blair's Shoulder-knot both showing up (not surprisingly, as they'd been reported plenty elsewhere). I also finally got my first quaker species of the autumn on 20th October, and Red-line Quaker has shown up several times since. However, on the 20th, I think I also had a Yellow-line, a species I've not seen since. I attach a couple of photos, the first of the putative Yellow-line on its own, the second with that day's Red-line; I think they're sufficiently different to be the two species, but would be grateful if anyone could confirm.


Steve Goddard

Monday 26 October 2020

Second Brood Cypress Carpet


Not a lot of moths over the weekend here in Longwick but Green Brindled Crescent is still popping up. Following on from Dave's I had my first Sprawler of the year on Friday night and last night my first ever Cypress Carpet.

Finally crossing the border into Central Oxford I came across what should be an obvious leaf mine on some form of Willow but I can't pin it down using the key. Perhaps it isn't lepidopterous?



Sunday 25 October 2020

Weekend Callers

Things continue varied here: a 'Woolly Bear' washed along with our home-grown lettuce; Feathered Thorn; Large Wainscot; what seems a very pale Sallow; what also seems a very large November/Pale November and the two forms of Green-Brindled Crescent. And we have an extra hour of morning light! Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Saturday 24 October 2020

Recent Leafmines

 Had a couple of fairly brief sessions looking for leaf-mines this week. Firstly a couple of hours in Hell Coppice (Bernwood Forest) on the afternoon of the 17th turned up 40 species (though I didn't really get stuck into the many oak miners). Highlights were a few mines of Tischeria dodonaea on Oak and lots of mines of Phyllonorycter mespilella on Wild-Service Tree, both of which were new ones for me (along with an adult Epinotia maculana sat under an Aspen). I've looked for mespilella on Whitebeam on the chalk a few times, and never found it, so nice to finally tick it off. 

Tischeria dodonaea mine on Oak

Phyllonorycter mespilella mine on Wild-Service Tree

I spent a fair bit of time targetting Aspen, as the Phyllonorycter associated with it (the RDB sagitella) seems to be turning up in new places (Norfolk this year, Herefordshire and Beds last year) and has a rather disjointed distribution that comes quite close to Upper Thames anyway. No luck (but one to keep looking out for), though I did find several mines of Ectoedemia argyropeza and Stigmella assimilella as compensation.

Stigmella assimilella mine on Aspen

I also had a couple of shorter sessions around Oxford this week, at Longbridges Nature Park and Astons Eyot checking the Pear trees for their rare Stigmellas (of which no sign). These turned up most of the usual miners of Willows, Alders, and Apples, with added interest from Phyllonorycter comparella (White Poplar) and sorbi (Rowan).


Friday 23 October 2020

Vestal


Vestal last night (22 Oct) at Goring Heath (South Oxfordshire); also Blair's Shoulder-knot which is new for the garden (though haven't been trapping in recent years) and Red-lined Quaker which is surprisingly rare here.


Chestnuts Again ......





Apologies for monopolising the Blog. 
Using John Thacker's helpful reply to an earlier post this week, I've attempted to apply his criteria to identify top as Dark Chestnut and lower, Chestnut. But I could be wrong, seems they are very tricky.



 

Thursday 22 October 2020

Rusty-dot Pearl


Quite pleased to see this migrant at the trap last night in V23. A new species for the garden. Not entirely sure of its status in Oxon....

 

Wednesday 21 October 2020

Yellow-line Quaker

An excellent catch from last night in North Leigh, Witney. The highlights being no less than six Merveille du Jour plus a Clifden NonpareilFigure of Eight and this moth below which I have identified as Yellow-line Quaker. But given the conditions and prevailing winds, I wonder if someone could confirm this, given that (to my untrained eye) it appears to bear a passing resemblance to a Delicate.






Another old photo

This turned up on July 1st near Chesham. It's amazing what you start sorting through on a very wet day!

I'm imagine that this is some sort of Wainscot, but I'm not even sure about that! Can anyone help?


Best wishes, David

Westcott, Bucks

It seems that this year is far from over yet.  The past seven nights have been quite good in the garden, culminating in an interesting catch of 115 individuals from 34 different species last night (20th) even though there was nothing new amongst them.  In fact the only moths new for the garden year-list over this past week have been as follows:  (14th) Sprawler; (16th) Acleris sparsana; (18th) Pale November Moth.

Sprawler, Westcott 14th October

Acleris sparsana, Westcott 16th October

The Sprawler seemed quite early but on looking back at my own records I see that this one equals my earliest date (14th October 2006) and it often appears during the third week of the month.  The Pale November Moth sighting resulted from me deciding to check all seven males which came to the trap on the 18th and they proved to be November Moth (3) and Pale November Moth (4), so job done for this year and they'll all go down as the aggregate from now on.  If it appears at all, Autumnal Moth can wait until I get an obvious candidate as per the markings mentioned in the field guide.   

Proving the point about how reasonable the catches here have been, the following is a list of all 55 adult species seen here over the past seven nights (14th to 20th October inclusive):

15.010

Caloptilia stigmatella

20

41.003

Blastobasis lacticolella

16

17

19

45.044

Emmelina monodactyla

18

19

49.039

Epiphyas postvittana

14

17

18

19

20

49.069

Acleris sparsana

16

49.070

Acleris rhombana

17

49.071

Acleris emargana

18

49.077

Acleris variegana

15

18

20

62.075

Hypsopygia costalis

20

70.070

Mallow

16

19

70.077

Pine Carpet

16

70.095

Red-green Carpet

15

16

18

19

20

70.097

Common Marbled Carpet

14

16

17

20

70.106

Winter Moth

17

70.107

November Moth (and agg.)

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

70.108

Pale November Moth

18

70.244

Feathered Thorn

16

20

70.258

Willow Beauty

19

20

70.283

Light Emerald

20

72.002

Straw Dot

16

19

20

72.013

Yellow-tail

20

73.015

Silver Y

17

19

73.033

Figure of Eight

14

15

18

19

73.065

Sprawler

14

73.068

Green-brindled Crescent

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.095

Pale Mottled Willow

18

19

20

73.113

Angle Shades

14

19

73.123

Rosy Rustic

15

19

73.180

Barred Sallow

14

15

16

17

18

19

73.181

Pink-barred Sallow

14

15

16

17

18

19

73.182

Sallow

14

15

16

19

20

73.183

Dusky-lemon Sallow

18

73.186

Beaded Chestnut

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.189

Red-line Quaker

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.190

Yellow-line Quaker

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.192

Brick

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.193

Lunar Underwing

14

15

16

19

20

73.194

Chestnut

14

15

16

17

19

73.195

Dark Chestnut

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.201

Pale Pinion

16

73.202

Grey Shoulder-knot

18

73.206

Blair's Shoulder-knot

16

17

18

19

20

73.210

Satellite

16

19

20

73.224

Merveille du Jour

17

18

19

20

73.225

Brindled Green

20

73.233

Black Rustic

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

73.297

White-point

20

73.319

Turnip Moth

19

20

73.325

Shuttle-shaped Dart

15

16

18

19

20

73.327

Dark Sword-grass

20

73.342

Large Yellow Underwing

14

16

18

20

73.343

Broad-bordered Yellow U'wing

20

73.345

Lesser Yellow Underwing

18

19

20

73.357

Square-spot Rustic

18

73.359

Setaceous Hebrew Character

14

18

19

20


Winter Moth (17th) and Pale Pinion (16th) were new for the current season although both were seen back in the Spring.  The Winter Moth is actually my earliest ever record, beating the previous one by five days.  It doesn't normally appear until the first week of November.  The Yellow-tail last night would seem to be an attempt at a second brood, something I've noticed before in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Winter Moth, Westcott 17th October

Yellow-tail, Westcott 20th October

Although we've had south to south-easterly winds for the last three nights the only obvious migrant here was last night's very dark female Dark Sword-grass, although other possibles have included Turnip, Angle Shades and Pale Mottled Willow.  Four Angle Shades together on the 19th was definitely unusual here.  

Dark Sword-grass, Westcott 20th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks