I haven't seen it in my garden since exactly two months before your first, so maybe I'm due another too - hope so! Considering how common its food-plant is, I'm surprised we don't see it far more often.
Mocha (nice moth, by the way!) is a Nationally Scarce species but is reasonably frequent in the Chilterns. I don't know why it is not more widespread because there's certainly no shortage of field maple locally. Small Ranunculus is also thought to be worthy of Nationally Scarce status although it is a fairly recent UK colonist. Its larvae feed on prickly lettuce which pops up in just about any disturbed ground. In VC24 there are well over 100 records but the majority come from urban areas (Slough, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes).
If this species is double-brooded, what are the second brood larvae feeding on? The prickly lettuce is fast going over.
I managed to add Small Ranunculus to my garden list this year as a larva, by collecting prickly lettuce seeds last August and planting them out once they had germinated. At least 34 larvae present last month. The moth probably colonised over a distance of at least five miles.
I haven't seen it in my garden since exactly two months before your first, so maybe I'm due another too - hope so! Considering how common its food-plant is, I'm surprised we don't see it far more often.
ReplyDeleteI had my first today, plus my first mocha. Are they fairly common round these parts?
ReplyDeleteMocha (nice moth, by the way!) is a Nationally Scarce species but is reasonably frequent in the Chilterns. I don't know why it is not more widespread because there's certainly no shortage of field maple locally. Small Ranunculus is also thought to be worthy of Nationally Scarce status although it is a fairly recent UK colonist. Its larvae feed on prickly lettuce which pops up in just about any disturbed ground. In VC24 there are well over 100 records but the majority come from urban areas (Slough, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes).
ReplyDeleteIf this species is double-brooded, what are the second brood larvae feeding on? The prickly lettuce is fast going over.
ReplyDeleteI managed to add Small Ranunculus to my garden list this year as a larva, by collecting prickly lettuce seeds last August and planting them out once they had germinated. At least 34 larvae present last month. The moth probably colonised over a distance of at least five miles.