Left some traps out at Warburg NR last night and despite getting absolutely soaked setting up had a fairly decent night with 30 species - quite amazing given how many 'expected' species were absent. 3 White-marked might well have been top moths had they not all been so worn as that, like Dave the other night, was my target and a moth I don't see very often - strangely no other species seemed to be that badly affected by the heavy rain. However, top moth for me was a female Oak Beauty. In the 15 or so years I have been trapping I have never seen a female of this species, even when I have had nights with over 100 males! So this really was worth getting soaked for. Other species of note were what seems to me like a fairly early Scalloped Hook-tip, Dotted Chestnut in every MV trap,
Acleris logiana, and two micros which I am not 100% sure of identification yet, but one definitely seems to be
Caloptilia populetorum and the other looks like an Elachista but also resembles
Amphisbatis incongruella (will try and get some decent shots to post for opinions)
. Was also nice to see fresh Yellow-horned and Frosted Green side-by-side again for second year running having last year considered that to be unusual and a first for me, and my first of the year Brindled Beauties.
Marc Botham, Didcot
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| Male and female Oak Beauties, Warburg NR 03/04/16 |
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| Yellow-horned and Frosted Green both showing the yellow horns, Warburg NR 03/04/16 |
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| Caloptilia populetorum?, Warburg NR 03/04/16 |
Were you under an oak tree, Marc? The only time I've caught a female was under a big tree and the female was the first moth to the trap when I switched it on. I reckon it just fell out of the tree in surprise and landed with a loud splat. Laid about a million bright green eggs.
ReplyDeleteAndy King.
Under an Ash tree, but I think they feed on many different deciduous trees so probably did come from that and expect like in your case it just dropped in. Didn't look particularly capable of flight and never really tried to fly, whereas males get active pretty quickly I've found. Know what you mean about eggs, had her in a pot only a short while and have thousands of eggs. I'm going to keep and rear a few as I have never reared this species. It felt like catching a new species, I've been after seeing the female for years :)
ReplyDelete900+ Oak Beauties under my belt and I've never seen a female!
ReplyDelete