A Blog for moth recorders in Bucks, Berks and Oxon
Monday, 7 September 2015
Despite the cold
Temperature down to 7.2 last night but still 320 moths of 35 species First Feathered Gothic also Centre-barred Sallow, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Orange Swift, Dark Sword-grass and Rush Veneer. Also the three below which I hope can be positively identified. I have Dotted Rustic, Brown-spot Pinion and maybe Turnip moth?. Any help welcome.
Steve Lockey (Garsington)
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Hi Mark, yes to the first two (and that's a particularly smart Brown-spot Pinion) but I can't really see enough in that image of the third to be sure what it is. You certainly got a good total on Sunday night - I didn't get anywhere near that number of moths over here!
ReplyDeleteLast one looks like a Large YU to me, can't make it into anything else. Must have been a fairly small one if you thought it could've been a Turnip Moth. Did you check it's hindwings? BW, Marc
ReplyDeleteHI Marc, I had been wading through 230 Large UW's and this one struck me as very dark, not quite as long and a little slenderer than all the other variations. My only excuse is that by this time with 330 in total I should have tipped it over. I suggested Turnip because they do vary in size a little but now I must say it also might have been a Dark Sword-grass. What do you think?.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's Dark SG and am still fairly sure it looks like Large YU. They vary greatly in size and upper wing coloration. I jave also been inundated with them recently, though not quite so many with my first breach of the 100 mark last night. The dark form is fairly regular though usually they don't have the pale face. The markings on the one in your pic are very typical of those I've been seeing and smaller and more slender probably just means it's a male - it doesn't look too slender to be a LYU to me. The crest yours ppears to have I think is just where it's got ruffled up in the egg boxes, not unlikely given they seem to like to all cram into the dimples in the egg boxes - I had 12 in one dimple yesterday! A female LYU got stuck in an outbuilding in the garden of the house we rent and it couldn't get out and we can't get in to help it. It has laid all of its eggs on the inside of the window - those poor caterpillars are going to struggle to find food in there! BW, Marc
ReplyDeleteKnowing the LYU I'll probably catch it again later in the week!. Some of them are still kipping in the egg box a couple a days later when I go to use it again. 290 last night by the way!. Cheers.
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