Garden Moths

Moths have continued to appear sporadically in the garden here at Westcott, albeit in very small quantities.  Tuesday night added Acleris logiana and Early Moth to the year list, Wednesday brought in only a brown winter form of the Green Shield-bug Palomena prasina, Thursday night produced the plume Emmelina monodactyla along with two more Early Moths and a Smooth Newt Lissotriton vulgaris (they're regulars foraging around the trap here), while last night another three Early Moths appeared before the temperature dipped below freezing.


Early Moths, Westcott 17th January

It looks as though we've got a run of frosts to come now so I doubt there'll be any significant activity in the garden for a few nights.  At least the results here have been better than the Rothamsted Insect Survey trap which I look after at nearby Marsh Gibbon,  whose 200wt clear tungsten bulb has picked up just two moths so far this year, a Dark Chestnut on the night of the 5th and an Early Moth on the 16th.

In the garden here I get Acleris kochiella regularly (its larvae feed on elm) but Acleris logiana (a birch-feeder) also started to appear in 2017 with two records that year.  Both are very similar in appearance.  I didn't get logiana in either 2018 or 2019 but I'm reasonably sure that this one has been correctly identified, although it will eventually be given closer examination just to be 100% sure.

Acleris logiana, Westcott 14th January

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks