Moth-trap by-catch

This year I've been getting significant numbers of the caddis-fly Stenophylax permistus in the moth-traps.  I often get it early in the year, my earliest ever being on 4th January 2013 (confirmed by Dr Ian Wallace of the Trichoptera Recording Scheme) although it normally doesn't appear until late-March.  This year the first appeared on 16th March and up until last night I'd had 28 in all, far more than usual.

Stenophylax permistus, Westcott 9th April

The moth trap has also produced the year's first few examples of what I would have recorded as the ichneumon Ophion scutellaris based on its very long antennae.  A parasite of over-wintering noctuid larvae, it has now been split into two species (scutellaris and wuestneii) both of which fly in the spring.  Thus, just like Ophion obscuratus which has also now been split into at least two and probably three species, recording any of these nocturnal ichneumons on sight is now virtually impossible without very close examination!

Ophion sp., Westcott 9th April

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks