Pug

At last a Pug I can identify and be fairly confident - new for me and my garden

a Cypress Pug.

Exit the Old Ladies

Like the ones in the charabanc on the left, the Old Ladies of Bridge 227 in Kidlington have gone. I've been meaning to bike down the canal for ages and finally did today. I don't know if anyone else has been recently and has a better idea of how long they may have stayed. As you can see below, I hope, Jon's suggestion that they had found fissures in the wonky stonework and built up from that base looks correct.  Thanks again for a fascinating find. Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Lesser Treble-bar?

Not a particularly stongly marked or great photo but I think this is a Lesser Treble-bar. It was a female so no help from an underneath shot.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Possible Agriphila selasella, and a tiny micro

In my garden, Agriphila tristella is still quite numerous, but geniculea is beginning to take over. I try and keep an eye open for any selasella candidates, and think I may have 2, photographed below. I think the first one in particular looks a possibility.

In last night's garden trap, I also found this very small micro (fw length just 3.5mm). Can anyone suggest what it might be?

Steve Trigg, Cookham

New species for the garden and for me

Many others on this blog have been seeing these two quite regularly, but they're new arrivals for me.

This Tree-lichen Beauty was a first for my garden (Great Kimble) on 2 August, a moth I've only seen once or twice before (outside the Upper Thames area).

And last night's list of about 50 species from the trap included Gypsy Moth (male), a species I've never encountered before, alongside repeats of a few other recent garden arrivals such as Jersey Tiger and White-point.

Possible White-point?

I had to go over last night's garden catch in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, in the shelter of a shed, as a very heavy shower intervened, so light conditions for photos weren't great. I had a couple of individuals which were on the Clay/White-point borderline, and only got a halfway decent photo of one of them, included below. My sense is that it looks more like a White-point - the 'speck' doesn't look especially tear-like, and the patterning looks similar to the illustration of the White-point in the Bible. I'm grateful for any thoughts.

Possible White-point, 17/8/19

Steve Goddard

Two moths to check identifications

Any advice on the below appreciated:

 A) is this Aptomis turbidana?

 and is this White Line Snout? 

Thanks

Barnaby Briggs, Iver

Micro from this week

After a couple of weeks in Greece (where our accommodation didn't prove to be very moth trap-friendly), I've run my actinic trap in my garden in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire on a couple of non-rainy nights this week, with not terribly much to show for it, though a Purple Bar on the 14th was a relatively nice garden record. The micro below looks like some form of Cydia, but I can't place what: it was distinctly short at about 7mm - as ever, all suggestions very welcome.

Unknown micro, 14/8/19

Steve Goddard

Pyrausta purpuralis

I ran a couple of traps at Homefield Wood near Marlow, Bucks on Thursday evening.  There weren't many moths at all but the usual suspects did turn up, including Oncocera semirubella, Mocha, Pretty Chalk Carpet & Clouded Magpie, along with a year-first Six-striped Rustic.

While checking the hind-wings (as I'm sure you all do...) to separate Pyrausta purpuralis from Pyrausta aurata, I found the odd-looking purpuralis shown below.

Pyrausta purpuralis, Homefield Wood 15th August

Pyrausta purpuralis, Homefield Wood 15th August

This is not the first time I've seen an aberrant form of this moth and a more extreme example from 2014, illustrated below, springs immediately to mind.

Pyrausta purpuralis, Bernwood Meadows 14th May 2014

Pyrausta purpuralis, Bernwood Meadows 14th May 2014

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks   

Foxglove Pug?

Size (FW about 8.5 mm) and timing (14 August) suggest that this could be a Toadflax Pug, but the small indentation on the outer part of the central crossband near to the costa suggest Foxglove Pug.  The Field Guide (WTL) suggests there is sometimes a partial second generation for the Foxglove Pug. Grateful for any advice.

John Thacker 

Harwell, Oxon

ID help appreciated.

My best guess, one of the Pyralidae?

Alan Diver

Tackley.

Westcott, Bucks

Well, that was quite an uninspiring seven days, although to be fair it was actually to be expected during this period in August when little usually happens.  Last night's catch of 274 moths of 57 species was fairly typical.  Adult moth additions to the garden year-list won't take long to cover:    

(8th)    Bucculatrix ulmella, Acleris cristana
(9th)    nil
(10th)  Narrow-winged Pug
(11th)  Cacoecimorpha pronubana
(12th)  nil
(13th)  nil
(14th)  nil

The list currently stands at 555 species for the year but that includes the leaf-mines discovered over the past week.  For adult moths the count is 542 (296 macros).

Numbers of Setaceous Hebrew Character are rising again and it has joined Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing at the top of the list of most numerous macros each night.  However, both of them are being outdone by the grass moth Agriphila tristella (a count of 70 last night is fairly typical).  I had a late Elephant Hawk-moth on the 11th, while a fresh Waved Black on the 12th might suggest a second brood.  Although not a year first, a very smart female Dark Spinach last night was only the fourth garden record for this supposedly common species (...as for Spinach, I haven't seen that here since 2007!).

Acleris cristana, Westcott 8th August 

Dark Spinach, Westcott 14th August

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks      

Gelechia nigra?

Gelechia nigra?

Alan diver

Tackley.