Another visit to Aston Rowant on Thursday, this time focusing on the southern half of the reserve, added 21 further species to the list of the 8th.
The highlight was 3 cases of the proposed Red Data Book Coleophora squamosella on Blue Fleabane in the entrance field. This is a species I have searched for unsuccessfully in the past at sites with large amounts of the foodplant - I think because I was doing a fairly cursory inspection of the flowerheads (expecting the cases to be fairly obviously attached to the outside) when the ones I found yesterday were very deeply buried in the flowerheads. The only obvious giveaway was a slight darkening in the centre of the flowerhead, where the case shows through the feathery seeds, which then becomes more obvious as seeds are blown out - this is hopefully visible in the pictures below!
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| Coleophora squamosella cases - just visible as a slight dark object at the centre of the seedhead (more obvious when seeds are blown away as on the right). |
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| Coleophora squamosella case |
Other highlights were a case of Thiotricha subocellea in the same area, on marjoram, and the mines of Ectoedemia rubivora on bramble.
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| Thiotricha subocellea case on Marjoram |
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| Ectoedemia rubivora mines on Bramble |
The more common supporting cast included Phyllonorycter cerasicolella on Cherry, Parornix devoniella and scoticella on Hazel and Whitebeam respectively, Ectoedemia occultella on Birch, Coleophora laricella on Larch and Both Caloptilias and Phyllonorycters on Sycamore and Field Maple.
Brilliant stuff! Coleophora squamosella is a really good record and, like a couple of your finds on the 8th, may also be a first for VC23. I've seen it just the once, in 2012 at BBOWT's Calvert Jubilee nature reserve where there is quite a lot of Blue Fleabane, and that's still the only record for Bucks. I must go back and have another look...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave! I was very pleased to find it, having searched unsuccessfully for it in the past at sites with loads of the foodplant, only about 8 plants here with 3 cases. Once I cottoned on to the dark patches they were relatively easy to spot.
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