I put the traps out in the garden on Monday night as it was forecast to be the last dry night for several nights. I caught so many moths of so many different species - more than a dozen new for my garden - that I didn't finish sorting through the last of the difficult ones (on and off) until Wednesday. Provisionally there were 67 species, which beats the previous garden record by about a third. I have many for which I'd appreciate some confirmation or help.
I'll start with the Pugs: I think these are Foxglove and Freyer's, respectively. I've had Toadflax once before, but I think this one is Foxglove (due to its size and the strong kink near the leading edge of the central cross-band). In the last couple of weeks I have caught several moths similar to the "Freyer's Pug" below: none have been as well-marked as it appears in the field guide, but this example is the best:
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Foxglove Pug?
Newton Longville 15th June |
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Freyer's Pug?
Newton Longville 15th June |
Next, two rather worn macros, which I think are Dingy Shears and Rustic Shoulder-knot:
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Dingy Shears? Newton Longville 15th June |
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Rustic Shoulder-knot? Newton Longville 15th June |
Then a collection of micros. The
Schoenobius gigantella (if that's what it is) seems to be away from its normal habitat, but there is a small area of reeds about 500m from the house and other more substantial patches about 2km away. I realised only now that I had photographed it on plain paper and that I hadn't measured its size at the time. Fortunately, the "graph paper" was underneath the plain paper and I can just see its lines, so I've edited the photo to include a 20mm scale bar (aligned with the graph paper!).
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| Schoenobius gigantella? Newton Longville 15th June |
I originally thought that I might have a
Phtheochroa sodaliana based on the whitish head & thorax and the red-brown spot at the apex. However, after reading about this species, it seems very unlikely to be what I have caught and I later found that some examples of the very much more common
Cochylis hybridella can have a small rusty mark in this position, so that's what I'm now favouring:
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| Cochylis hybridella? Newton Longville 15th June |
I've drawn a blank on the third micro after rejecting
Rhopobota naevana, but I think the fourth is
Gypsonoma dealbana. Finally, I think the fifth is
Notocelia trimaculana.
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Unidentified |
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Notocelia trimaculana? Newton Longville 15th June |
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Gypsonoma dealbana? Newton Longville 15th June |
Thanks in advance for any confirmations or corrections
Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks
Hi Tim, you're correct on Foxglove Pug and Freyer's Pug, as well as Dingy Shears. The latter is actually in quite good condition. Hopefully someone else will help on the rest.
ReplyDeleteHello Tim,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nigel's IDs and the fourth macro is indeed a faded Rustic Shoulder-knot. As I mentioned in answer to Martin Wainwright's post earlier, these large reed-feeding micros can be difficult to separate but on size alone I think your moth has to be a female Schoenobius gigantella (they can travel some distance from reed-beds). Then you have Phtheochroa sodaliana (trust your instincts - a very nice garden record!), a possible Isotrias rectifasciana (not sure about that one), Gypsonoma sociana (not dealbana) and Notocelia trimaculana.
My thanks to both of you, Nigel and Dave.
ReplyDeleteSize (for the female) was one of the reasons why I thought the large micro was Schoenobius gigantella. That one may not have travelled far, but Phtheochroa sodaliana is described as being found on hedgerows and scrub on chalk, and that's at least 20km from my very clay-bound garden. Given its Nationally Scarce b status, it is indeed a surprising and very satisfying record to have.
Regarding Phtheochroa sodaliana, while it is true that most of the Bucks records come from the Chilterns, yours is not the furthest north in the county (that honour goes to Stoke Goldington!). Its larvae feed on the berries of buckthorn which is fairly widespread so I suppose it could pop up anywhere. I suspect much of the vegetation around the housing areas of MK and its environs was brought in from elsewhere so the moth could have been imported with it.
ReplyDelete