Foresters back at Chalfont St Peter

Today I was pleased to see two Foresters at Chalfont Heights where I discovered them last year.  The grass is taller this year and knapweed and scabious have mostly been crowded out, but thistles are just coming out. Also there were numbers of Common Plume and Six-spot Burnets as well as seven butterfly species.

Wendy Wilson

New Forester Site

A new site for Forester Moth, found using traditional methods rather than the (non-functioning) pheromone lure, was confirmed yesterday afternoon with the discovery of seven individuals in some wildflower meadows near Charndon, Bucks.  This adds a new 10km square to the moth's distribution in the county.  Chrysoteuchia culmella, Six-spot Burnet, Yellow Shell and Burnet Companion were also active there.

Forester, Charndon 28th June

Back home at Westcott, on Monday our first garden Hummingbird Hawk-moth of the year was seen visiting honeysuckle blossom while that night's trap added Scorched Carpet to the year list.  Last night's additions comprised Common Emerald, July Highflyer, Brown-line Bright-eye and Blackneck but the overall catch was still very poor indeed (just 54 moths of 32 species).

Blackneck, Westcott 28th June

Brown-line Bright-eye, Westcott 28th June

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

Box Tree Moth

After a visit from the Box Tree Moth last year, I have found seven Box Tree Moth caterpillars on our Box Tree bushes!

Anania perlucidalis?

Am I correct in identifying this as Anania perlucidalis ?

If so how unusual is it? The UK moth website suggests it is scarce with few records whereas the Micro moth field guide just classes it as local with an expanding range.

It was one of a fairly small catch in my garden trap last night.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Which Wainscot?

I had the moth above down as a Smoky Wainscot after it visited on June 7 but kindly commentors on my own blog have suggested that it is actually an Obscure W.  This is my only pic of it but I would be grateful for views. Having rechecked the Moths Bible, I think that Obscure looks correct.

The Muslin Footman with its eye-blurring wing pattern, is very common here at the moment. Five in the trap this morning and a couple of others fluttered off from nearby foliage.

Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Mullein or Striped Lychnis?

Caught in my moth trap Saturday night this week.

Thanks

Peter

Westcott, Bucks

The garden trap results here at Westcott have taken a dive over the past few nights thanks to the afternoon thundery downpours followed by cool overnight conditions and a full moon.  For example, on Friday night (24th) it caught 64 moths of 29 species while last night (25th) was about the same with 57 moths of 35 species and that was using the 125wt MV each time rather than the actinic.  New species for the year list have continued to appear, though, and I've added Archips podana, Tortrix viridana, Hypsopygia costalis & Shark (all 19th), Argyresthia cupressella, Argyresthia curvella, Yellow Shell & Fan-foot (all 20th), Galleria mellonella, Buff Arches & Barred Yellow (all 21st), Anania (Phlyctaenia) coronata & Dwarf Cream Wave (both 22nd), Paraswammerdamia nebulella, Ditula angustiorana, Clepsis spectrana, Single-dotted Wave, Four-dotted Footman, Pale-shouldered Brocade, Smoky Wainscot & Light Arches (all 23rd) and Aphelia paleana & Blotched Emerald (both 25th).

Four-dotted Footman, Westcott 23rd June

Rather pleasingly, Argyresthia cupressella and Argyresthia curvella were both completely new species for the garden.  A recent immigrant from North America, the former appears to be only the second occasion that it has been recorded in Bucks.  It was a tiny moth and not in the best of condition, only being found because I persevered in searching through the detritus of fried flies, etc lurking in the bottom of the trap!

Argyresthia cupressella, Westcott 20th June

Argyresthia curvella, Westcott 20th June

Another completely new species for the garden was found on the 24th in the shape of an active leaf-mine on birch of Stigmella lapponica (egg on underside, greenish larva with brown head, early part of mine filled with dark green frass).

Mine on birch of Stigmella lapponica, Westcott 24th June

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks 

Back in the game

Finally got the Robinson trap up and running again after a few months out of action. I was hoping the experts could help with my tentative id of these which I have down as Uncertain (almost certain!), Common Pug (not convinced) and Hoary Footman (fairly certain - even though the latter is mainly a coastal species). Any help much appreciated!

A few more micro questions

Is the first one just a diamond-back moth? It was certainly about the right size - perhaps a little bigger.
Is the second a Coleophora and if so is it possible to identify the species? About 6-7mm in length.
I  assume the third is either Nematopogon schwarziellus or N.  metaxella?
For number 4 I think I have been identifying too many of the Scoparia and Eudonia moths that I have caught as S. ambigualis. This one certainly looks a bit different.



Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Another Notocelia

Its been a good week here in mk for moth this week, with new for garden Treble Brown Spot(17th), Aleimma loeflingiana(22nd) and White Plume Moth(23rd).  Last night i got a Nomophila noctuella, which looked like it had been caught in the monsoon earlier in the day.
Other NFY's This week were, Beautiful Hook-tip, Green Arches, Dark Arches on the 18th. Hedya nubiferana on the 19th, Light Emerald 20th, Common Wainscot, Mottled Beauty, Fan-foot, Brown Rustic, Hedya pruniana and Endotricha flammealis on 21st. Riband Wave, Dot Moth, Tortrix viridana and Eudonia lacustrata 22nd, Lozotaenia forsterana, Bordered White (no Pine around here) on 23rd, Double Square-spot and Heart and Club 24th.

Treble Brown Spot

Aleimma loeflingiana

Bordered White

Also had this Notocelia, looks more like rosaecolana to me but would appreciate an experts eye.

Darren Seaman, Milton Keynes.

Any ideas on this micro?

Any ideas on this micro?

and I really hope is is not another C lacunana!

Barnaby Briggs, Iver

Wow - double figures

I think this is the first time this year my overnight actinic trap has attracted more than 10 moths - and even thin only just. A couple which i could do with some help with please - one a micro which might not be possible as it's a rubbish photo and a macro that i thought was going to be a clouded drab but the timing appears wrong.

Benson, Oxon

I photographed this micro-moth along a trackside hedgerow at Cumnor Hill on 19 June - is it Nematopogon metaxella?

More IDs please

I have another pic of the macro that I put up yesterday - hope maybe this one is a bit clearer.

Then I think I have a Common Pug

A straw dot - sorry for the bad picture but it looked a bit plainer than usual

a micro I could do with some help with

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Vapourer larva

My wife spotted this colourful larva on a wisteria leaf in our front garden on Wednesday.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Away Trapping

On Tuesday night I ran a couple of MV lights at Walton Lake, Milton Keynes which is a reed-bed nature reserve managed by the Parks Trust.  There wasn't a great deal of note amongst the 80 species recorded because it is a little early yet for many of the interesting reed specialists, but a selection of China-marks and singletons of Donacaula forficella, Schoenobius gigantella, Obscure Wainscot and Silky Wainscot did put in an appearance.  It was also nice to see examples of Stathmopoda pedella (rarely recorded in Bucks) and Maple Prominent (the first I've seen this year).

Silky Wainscot, Walton Lake 21st June

Last night was spent at BBOWT's College Lake, Bucks where I had an excellent view of the impressive thunderstorms further south (luckily the rain held off until I was going out the gate at 3am this morning!).  The two MV lights on the chalk produced 130 species while the two in amongst the reeds managed about 90 of which around half were different.  The highlight for me was Tawny Shears which is a rare moth in Bucks these days with only about a dozen post-millennium records.  College Lake seems to be one of its last remaining strongholds (Ched George had another specimen there during the BC/BIG trapping for National Moth Night).  A handful of Obscure Wainscots and two Marbled Coronets were also good to see, as was a rather confused day-flying Chimney Sweeper which had been disturbed from its slumbers and ended up in the Skinner, but otherwise the macros were almost all widespread species.  There were a few nice micros, including Elachista bisulcella, Metzneria aprilella, Phtheochroa sodaliana, Spatalistis bifasciana, Rhodophaea formosa and probably the largest male Schoenobius gigantella I've ever seen (wing length 24mm).

Chimney Sweeper, College Lake 22nd June

Tawny Shears, College Lake 22nd June

Gigantic Schoenobius gigantella, College Lake 22nd June

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks      

help with IDs please

hi, I'll probably do a couple of posts.

In this one I thought originally I'd got Chilo phragmitella but I want to be sure

then - not sure - maybe it's not fully expanded the wings?

finally a couple of micros I'm struggling with - both of which flew off before I could get a size

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Scarlet Tigers in Aylesbury

I had three Scarlet Tiger moths in my Aylesbury garden trap this morning, and about a month ago i found a dozen larvae near Griffin lane, so i assume they have spread well around the town now. A couple of new for year were Swallow-tailed moth, Pandemis cerasana and Ephestia unicolorella.
Dave Maunder

Scarlet Tigers, 23-6-2016

Ephestia unicolorella, 23-6-2016

Pandemis cerasana, 23-6-2016

The macros

For 1 and 2 do I have an Uncertain and a Rustic or is it impossible to tell from photos?
Similarly for 3 and 4 are they a Heart and Club and a Turnip?

Finally is the last one a Dingy Footman?
Also my son caught a Cream-bordered Green Pea in the Milton Keynes area on Monday. I'm not sure how unusual this is but it is certainly a species I have not encountered before.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.