Another Oak Rustic

Continuing the Oak Rustic theme, I trapped my very first Oak Rustic in the garden trap last night. This individual has the light orange kidney marking. Steve Trigg, Cookham

Brick or Yellow-line Quaker? and Blastobasis

 Not sure about this one. I don't often get the Brick. Townsend & Waring say the key diagnotic is the straightness or otherwise of the outer cross-line that makes this one a Brick? And Blastobasis lacticolella?

 

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

An Early December Moth

 I was rather surprised to see this in the trap at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve this morning.  It is the earliest that I have ever seen one by about 5 days.  It was very welcome though because most of October has been pretty bleak up here in the North of Buckinghamshire.

Stigmella splendidissimella??

A first toe dipped into the dangerous waters of mining...is this Stigmella splendidissimella?

Barnaby Briggs, Iver, Bucks

Oak Rustic?

 A good night for me last night with 61 moths of 15 species. I caught this little moth and just wanted to check that it is an Oak Rustic?

Many thanks

Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon, South Oxon

Oak Rustic

 My, by now, annual Oak Rustic turned up this morning along with a fresh Silver Y

Steve Lockey (Garsington)

Westcott, Bucks

Catches over the past seven nights have settled down to what I'd normally expect at the end of October with about a dozen species appearing in the actinic trap each time, drawn from exactly 30 recorded over the course of the week.  Sprawler and Brick are now the only species appearing in any numbers, with the remainder often just as singletons.  After an initial burst of activity even the Novembers have quietened down to just one or two per night.

There has been nothing further added to the garden year-list but new moths for this season have comprised Acleris logiana and Mottled Umber.

Acleris logiana, Westcott 23rd October

Mottled Umber, Westcott 23rd October

Once confined to Scotland, Acleris logiana was first recorded in Bucks during 2009 and has spread right across the county now although there are still fewer than 30 records altogether, its larvae feeding on birch.  It appeared in the garden here a couple of times during 2017 then after a two-year gap I had another in January this year which was confirmed by dissection.  It can be quite similar to the slightly smaller elm-feeder Acleris kochiella which is a regular at Westcott. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks  

Two quakers

There was a slight flurry of activity here in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, last week, with Green-brindled Crescent and Blair's Shoulder-knot both showing up (not surprisingly, as they'd been reported plenty elsewhere). I also finally got my first quaker species of the autumn on 20th October, and Red-line Quaker has shown up several times since. However, on the 20th, I think I also had a Yellow-line, a species I've not seen since. I attach a couple of photos, the first of the putative Yellow-line on its own, the second with that day's Red-line; I think they're sufficiently different to be the two species, but would be grateful if anyone could confirm.

Steve Goddard

Second Brood Cypress Carpet

Not a lot of moths over the weekend here in Longwick but Green Brindled Crescent is still popping up. Following on from Dave's I had my first Sprawler of the year on Friday night and last night my first ever Cypress Carpet.

Finally crossing the border into Central Oxford I came across what should be an obvious leaf mine on some form of Willow but I can't pin it down using the key. Perhaps it isn't lepidopterous?

Weekend Callers

Things continue varied here: a 'Woolly Bear' washed along with our home-grown lettuce; Feathered Thorn; Large Wainscot; what seems a very pale Sallow; what also seems a very large November/Pale November and the two forms of Green-Brindled Crescent. And we have an extra hour of morning light! Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Recent Leafmines

 Had a couple of fairly brief sessions looking for leaf-mines this week. Firstly a couple of hours in Hell Coppice (Bernwood Forest) on the afternoon of the 17th turned up 40 species (though I didn't really get stuck into the many oak miners). Highlights were a few mines of Tischeria dodonaea on Oak and lots of mines of Phyllonorycter mespilella on Wild-Service Tree, both of which were new ones for me (along with an adult Epinotia maculana sat under an Aspen). I've looked for mespilella on Whitebeam on the chalk a few times, and never found it, so nice to finally tick it off. 

Tischeria dodonaea mine on Oak

Phyllonorycter mespilella mine on Wild-Service Tree

I spent a fair bit of time targetting Aspen, as the Phyllonorycter associated with it (the RDB sagitella) seems to be turning up in new places (Norfolk this year, Herefordshire and Beds last year) and has a rather disjointed distribution that comes quite close to Upper Thames anyway. No luck (but one to keep looking out for), though I did find several mines of Ectoedemia argyropeza and Stigmella assimilella as compensation.

Stigmella assimilella mine on Aspen

I also had a couple of shorter sessions around Oxford this week, at Longbridges Nature Park and Astons Eyot checking the Pear trees for their rare Stigmellas (of which no sign). These turned up most of the usual miners of Willows, Alders, and Apples, with added interest from Phyllonorycter comparella (White Poplar) and sorbi (Rowan).

Vestal

Vestal last night (22 Oct) at Goring Heath (South Oxfordshire); also Blair's Shoulder-knot which is new for the garden (though haven't been trapping in recent years) and Red-lined Quaker which is surprisingly rare here.

Chestnuts Again ......

Apologies for monopolising the Blog. 

Using John Thacker's helpful reply to an earlier post this week, I've attempted to apply his criteria to identify top as Dark Chestnut and lower, Chestnut. But I could be wrong, seems they are very tricky.

 

Rusty-dot Pearl

Quite pleased to see this migrant at the trap last night in V23. A new species for the garden. Not entirely sure of its status in Oxon....

 

Yellow-line Quaker

An excellent catch from last night in North Leigh, Witney. The highlights being no less than six Merveille du Jour plus a Clifden Nonpareil, Figure of Eight and this moth below which I have identified as Yellow-line Quaker. But given the conditions and prevailing winds, I wonder if someone could confirm this, given that (to my untrained eye) it appears to bear a passing resemblance to a Delicate.

Another old photo

This turned up on July 1st near Chesham. It's amazing what you start sorting through on a very wet day!

I'm imagine that this is some sort of Wainscot, but I'm not even sure about that! Can anyone help?

Best wishes, David

Westcott, Bucks

It seems that this year is far from over yet.  The past seven nights have been quite good in the garden, culminating in an interesting catch of 115 individuals from 34 different species last night (20th) even though there was nothing new amongst them.  In fact the only moths new for the garden year-list over this past week have been as follows:  (14th) Sprawler; (16th) Acleris sparsana; (18th) Pale November Moth.

Sprawler, Westcott 14th October

Acleris sparsana, Westcott 16th October

The Sprawler seemed quite early but on looking back at my own records I see that this one equals my earliest date (14th October 2006) and it often appears during the third week of the month.  The Pale November Moth sighting resulted from me deciding to check all seven males which came to the trap on the 18th and they proved to be November Moth (3) and Pale November Moth (4), so job done for this year and they'll all go down as the aggregate from now on.  If it appears at all, Autumnal Moth can wait until I get an obvious candidate as per the markings mentioned in the field guide.   

Proving the point about how reasonable the catches here have been, the following is a list of all 55 adult species seen here over the past seven nights (14th to 20th October inclusive):

15.010	Caloptilia stigmatella							20
41.003	Blastobasis lacticolella			16	17		19
45.044	Emmelina monodactyla					18	19
49.039	Epiphyas postvittana	14			17	18	19	20
49.069	Acleris sparsana			16
49.070	Acleris rhombana				17
49.071	Acleris emargana					18
49.077	Acleris variegana		15			18		20
62.075	Hypsopygia costalis							20
70.070	Mallow			16			19
70.077	Pine Carpet			16
70.095	Red-green Carpet		15	16		18	19	20
70.097	Common Marbled Carpet	14		16	17			20
70.106	Winter Moth				17
70.107	November Moth (and agg.)	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
70.108	Pale November Moth					18
70.244	Feathered Thorn			16				20
70.258	Willow Beauty						19	20
70.283	Light Emerald							20
72.002	Straw Dot			16			19	20
72.013	Yellow-tail							20
73.015	Silver Y				17		19
73.033	Figure of Eight	14	15			18	19
73.065	Sprawler	14
73.068	Green-brindled Crescent	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.095	Pale Mottled Willow					18	19	20
73.113	Angle Shades	14					19
73.123	Rosy Rustic		15				19
73.180	Barred Sallow	14	15	16	17	18	19
73.181	Pink-barred Sallow	14	15	16	17	18	19
73.182	Sallow	14	15	16			19	20
73.183	Dusky-lemon Sallow					18
73.186	Beaded Chestnut	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.189	Red-line Quaker	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.190	Yellow-line Quaker	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.192	Brick	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.193	Lunar Underwing	14	15	16			19	20
73.194	Chestnut	14	15	16	17		19
73.195	Dark Chestnut	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.201	Pale Pinion			16
73.202	Grey Shoulder-knot					18
73.206	Blair's Shoulder-knot			16	17	18	19	20
73.210	Satellite			16			19	20
73.224	Merveille du Jour				17	18	19	20
73.225	Brindled Green							20
73.233	Black Rustic	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.297	White-point							20
73.319	Turnip Moth						19	20
73.325	Shuttle-shaped Dart		15	16		18	19	20
73.327	Dark Sword-grass							20
73.342	Large Yellow Underwing	14		16		18		20
73.343	Broad-bordered Yellow U'wing							20
73.345	Lesser Yellow Underwing					18	19	20
73.357	Square-spot Rustic					18
73.359	Setaceous Hebrew Character	14				18	19	20

Winter Moth (17th) and Pale Pinion (16th) were new for the current season although both were seen back in the Spring.  The Winter Moth is actually my earliest ever record, beating the previous one by five days.  It doesn't normally appear until the first week of November.  The Yellow-tail last night would seem to be an attempt at a second brood, something I've noticed before in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Winter Moth, Westcott 17th October

Yellow-tail, Westcott 20th October

Although we've had south to south-easterly winds for the last three nights the only obvious migrant here was last night's very dark female Dark Sword-grass, although other possibles have included Turnip, Angle Shades and Pale Mottled Willow.  Four Angle Shades together on the 19th was definitely unusual here.  

Dark Sword-grass, Westcott 20th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks