Nothing as exciting as a Beautiful Marbled in my trap! The only migrant was
Udea ferrugalis. I did have an example of
Argyresthia semitestacella, which was new for my garden (unless overlooked as
albistria in the past). It was nice and fresh and a bit of a monster at 7mm length compared to
albistria - it doesn't look dissimilar to Mark Griffith's photo posted a few days ago.
One of John Clough's Marlow Jersey Tigers made it my way - only my second here, but just up the road! I also had my largest ever count of Whitepoint, with six in the trap, so presumably well established locally. One was particularly fresh looking.
Contra to Dave Wilton's grass moth experience,
Agriphila geniculea was the commonest moth in the trap, with 34 individuals, with just the single
Agriphila tristella. Otherwise, out of the 51 species trapped, most were the usual suspects, though Centre-barred Sallow was new for the year.
I did have a small micro, c3-3.5mm length, that evaded the pot and so has been lost, but may be identifiable based on a poor record shot. It's posture was elevated slightly on the front legs - comments welcomed.
Adam Bassett
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteYour unidentified micro reminds me of Elachista biatomella which would be the correct size and with vaguely similar markings, but rather difficult to be sure from that photo.
Incidentally, point well made about Argyresthia semitestacella being a "monster" - to me its size is the first indication that this is what you have. The moth isn't at all common, in Bucks at any rate where I've trapped in the right sort of habitat at the right time of year many times and have seen it on only three occasions (four if you count one at Marc Botham's trap at Grangelands on Saturday night). There are only 30-odd records for the county and more than half of them come from the Burnham Beeches RIS trap. A very nice record for your garden.
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