The August lull has hit here in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, to some degree, and recent cooler nights have seen a reduction in catches, though new records for the year have kept coming. One of these has been Black Arches, but in an unexpected form, which seems to be the eremita referred to in Waring and Townsend - I've had the species most years, but this is the first time I've seen this particular version of it. The first specimen came along on 1st August, and I had a single the next couple of times I trapped, which I assumed might be the same individual coming back for more, but since then, I've had up to four individuals on a couple of nights. I've posted photos of a couple of individuals below, just in case the lighter one is a Gypsy Moth... (but I don't really think it is).
Correction: the 'Black Arches' seem all to have been Gypsy Moths, a species entirely new to me.
Hi Steve, I think your 'Black Arches' are actually Gypsy Moths!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nigel. For what it is worth (probably very little!), I have never ever seen f. Eremita of Black Arches locally amongst some 1,500 individuals although I have seen quite a few of the black and white "half-way house" which is the only aberration that Bernard Skinner thought worth including in his original Identification Guide.
ReplyDeleteYour two micros are less contentious: they are well-marked specimens of Cydia splendana and Clavigesta purdeyi.
Goodness! -- thank you: I'm glad I posted them. I'd convinced myself from the illustrations in Waring and Townsend that they were a lot closer to Black Arches, and the write-up made Gypsy Moth seem an unlikely prospect. Thank you for the micro IDs, too: both species I've had earlier this season and should have recognised.
ReplyDeleteThe Gypsies are definitely on the move, I had a couple here last night in South Bucks.
ReplyDeleteGypsy Moth is now resident in Oxfordshire. Larvae and an egg mass have been found in widely separated places and males have been turning up in light traps in various places. This has all happened in the last 2-3 years.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Martin - hence why I've not seen any before. Remarkable how they've become one of the more predictable species in my trap for about the last two weeks.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing photo of Clavigesta purdeyi as I too was struggling with id for this!
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