One of the places that I release my nightly garden moth catches to try and ensure no recaptures is just down the road at
Woodham, Bucks where there is an old land-fill site which has been capped and planted with trees. While there today I took time to inspect some patches of Coltsfoot on disturbed ground at the site, having found
Epiblema sticticana there last year. Sure enough, the mated pair below were found sitting on a leaf of the food-plant:
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| Epiblema sticticana, Woodham 9th May |
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| Epiblema sticticana, Woodham 9th May |
This is one of a trio of species that can be difficult to separate (
cirsiana and
scutulana being the other two) but the combination of correct food-plant and the fact that one example from the same patch of Coltsfoot was dissected last year means that I'm on relatively safe ground with this record.
Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
Unfortunately most of the Epiblema sticticana colony at Springfield Farm landfill has been wiped out by the dumping of several thousand tons of chalk rubble onto the coltsfoots.
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