Those Damn Chestnuts - and a micro!

Hi there, Firstly - Happy New Year to all those who have helped me improve my meagre knowledge in 2021! Here is a Chestnut (a nicely marked one!) and - I think - a Dark Chestnut. I'm looking at wing shape, the dark colour and the 'sheen', particularly visible on the left forewing. I'm also seeing a row of white dots on the costa, ending near the wing tip. These are visible in the Waring and Townsend illustrations for Dark Chestnut, but not for Chestnut. Are they significant - even diagnostic? On the other hand, am I completely wrong and it's just a very dark Chestnut!

The micro, I think, is Acleris schalleriana - but as always, I would appreciate confirmation.

Very best wishes

David

 

 A propos of the previous post.: Intermediate stage Buff Ermine larvae:

Tidying up 2021 records

Since I returned in late August from a month in France, other commitments have taken up more time than I planned.  One of the consequences is that although most of the moth photographs from August onwards had been labelled, there were a few more difficult ones that hadn't; nor had I looked again at some of the provisional identifications, and none of my records had been transferred from the notebook into my database.  Hence I've been spending quieter moments in the Christmas period going through the last five months of records (including most of the French records that I hadn't checked).  There have been a few interesting memory-joggers in there, and a few puzzles.

The only puzzle whose solution still eludes me is a caterpillar found on the outside of the moth-trap on the night of 28th-29th August which was the first time I ran it after getting back from France.  There appears to be nothing in the Henwood/Sterling/Lewington guide that matches the dark dorsal stripe, the yellowish edging and the green overall colour, with the long black hairs and the somewhat shorter whitish hairs.  Perhaps it's not a final instar.

Newton Longville 28th August 2021

Can anyone identify it?  The overall length was slightly below 20 mm.

With this single exception, I am now up to date for 2021, but I will delay running my yearly analysis: the weather forecast for the end of this week looks promising, so I will probably run the traps on Thursday night (and/or Friday) and hope to augment the figures ever so slightly.

Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks

A nice December Record from North Bucks

It was a nice surprise to find this unseasonal Angle Shades in the trap this morning - the day after I discovered a fully active adult frog whilst clearing out the still-growing Fools Watercress from my garden stream. What a strange end to the year!

Stowe garden moths 2021

This year I trapped in the garden with a mix of 20W actinic and 125W MV on 162 nights, whereas for most of last year I used just a 6W actinic, trapping on 140 nights, so year on year comparisons are probably a bit questionable.

Nevertheless, it does seem that Setaceous Hebrew Character had a better year with a count of 454 vs. 36 in 2020; similarly Common Wainscot at 649, was around nine times higher than last year, and was also the most numerous species. These two species were also the most frequently recorded, (i.e. occurred on the most trap-nights). On the other hand, despite the overall total catch being 2.5 times higher, both Lunar Underwing and Common Footman numbers were lower than in 2020, presumably reflecting a genuine decrease. Most numerous micro, as last year, was Chrysoteuchia culmella.

The best night for species diversity was 19^th July, with 89 species—the same night as reported by both Dave W and Peter A. The highest number caught was 443 moths of 39 species on 7^th Sept, with Common Wainscot the highest individual count.

As this was only my second year of mothing I added a lot of new species to the garden list—151 in total, (67 macros, 84 micros), most of which I managed to ID correctly(!), but thanks to Dave for putting me right on numerous occasions and to Peter Hall for ID'ing the species which needed dissection. 

Perhaps most notable among the micros was Platyedra subcinerea which was apparently only the third record for Bucks. Among the macros I was pleased to find Dewick's Plusia, Merveille du Jour (four, but on one night only), Jersey Tiger, Tree-lichen Beauty and Dark Spectacle (which I had passed off as Spectacle, so thanks for picking that up Dave!). I was also delighted and somewhat surprised to get no less than five species of clearwing to lures in the garden—they are beautiful little moths! On the downside, Clifden Nonpareil managed to avoid me, despite regular trapping plus wine ropes deployed at the appropriate time, and despite it turning up regularly nearby in Milton Keynes.  

If I include records from outside the garden as well, it seems, (according to iRecord), that I found 44 new species for my 10 km square SP63, though I think this just reflects the level of recording effort in the square rather than any genuinely unusual finds.

And finally...my youngest granddaughter is quite keen on moths and likes to help inspecting and releasing the catch. One morning, she had a Poplar Hawk-moth on her finger which decided it was time to leave; but instead of heading into the nearest cover it went up and away towards the tree-tops. This was a big mistake, because as we watched, a Spotted Flycatcher suddenly appeared out of nowhere and homing in at high speed like a guided missile quickly snapped it up! I suspect the Spotted Flycatcher didn't need to eat again for quite a while!

Phil T

Tilehurst, Berks 2021

As a casual moth-er, the MV robbo trap was dusted off for 13 appearances (once a month & twice in March). This resulted in a fairly average year for me with 111 species and 461 individuals.

14 new species including Pine Hawk-moth, Cloaked Carpet, Gypsy Moth, Brown-tail and Hoary Footman.

Garden Grass-veneer came top of the pops with 53 (record). Elephant Hawk-moth was No.2 with 28 (record).

Small Quaker made a return at No.9 with 11. This hasn't been in the top 10 since 2011, but is still a long way off the record set in 2010 with 53.

Others that had a poor year were Large & Lesser Yellow Underwing, Lunar Underwing, Square-spot Rustic and Common Quaker.

A big shout out must go to the Micro Tachystola acroxantha, which came in at No.8 with a count of 12.

Since 2005, Light Brown Apple Moth is by far the commonest moth recorded here, followed by Heart and Dart.

Still no Clifden Nonpareil.☹

My sincere thanks to Dave Wilton for helping me with the ID queries.

Merry Xmas everyone.

It is that time of year again...

Just a reminder that, if you haven't already done so, now is the time to think about collecting together your moth records for the year so that they can be passed on to your County Moth Recorder (contact details are available under the "Your Records" tab at the top of this page).  From there the data goes to the National Moth Recording Scheme where it is used to target the very important conservation work for moths which is carried out by Butterfly Conservation and its many volunteers.

Quite a few of you now use iRecord for your data which is actually the method preferred by our three CMRs.  Grateful thanks go to everyone who has submitted records that way over the course of the year, especially those of you who include photographs with most of your sightings - it makes verification so much easier! 

Thanks also to the many supporters of this Blog during 2021 and let's hope we all have a great mothing year in 2022.

Merry 🎄🎅🎄 Christmas!

Micro confusion!

 Hi there,

Here are 5 micros from mid-September near Chesham. The photos were put on one side at the time, but I would like help, please, with some and confirmation of others.

Taking the five images in order, I have no idea about No 1. No 2 I think is an Acrobasis sp. - but unsure which one. No 3 I have as Pandemis corylana, No 4 as Carcina quercana and No 5 as Acleris forsskaleana.

Can anyone please put me straight? Many thanks for all the help I've had from bloggers this year and Happy Christmas!  David

Westcott, Bucks

I continue to run the actinic light nightly here in the garden and have yet to suffer a zero return this month, although having said that now it is bound to happen this week!  Not tonight, though, because despite dismal weather six Winter Moths have turned up already and it is only just gone 5pm.  

Of course diversity has been poor, as you would expect at this time of the year, and some nights have produced just a single Winter Moth.  The only species recorded in December have been Acleris sparsana, Acleris hastiana, Epiphyas postvittana, Udea ferrugalis, December Moth, Red-green Carpet, Winter Moth, Pale Brindled Beauty, Mottled Umber, Scarce Umber & Brick.  There was a milder spell with southerly winds for several days from the 11th onwards which had the potential to bring in a few migrants but ferrugalis on the 15th was the only thing which turned up here.

Making a pleasant change from the usual Mompha species, yesterday evening a micro found flying around in the kitchen proved to be Caloptilia stigmatella which was nice to see.  It is one of several from that family which over-winter as adults. 

Caloptilia stigmatella, Westcott 19th December

 Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

The Old Vicarage, Worminghall, Bucks, 2021 in Numbers

Inspired by Dave's annual review here are a few numbers from the Old Vicarage, Worminghall. This is the most intensive effort (by a long way) so I don't have anything meaningful to compare it to for previous years limited efforts (e.g. our all time total number of moths from the site is 484 species). 

Total number of species recorded in 2021 was 427 over approximately 80 nights mainly from one Robinson 125 W MV  (converted to an actinic in the winter) but also an additional Heath Trap and an LED trap when conditions looked good. 

The best night for diversity was 19th July with 112 species of 289 moths. 318 moths of 50 species on 5th September was the highest number of moths in one night which were mainly Common Wainscots (120) and Setaceous Hebrew Characters (90).

Some personal highlights included Cydia amplana, 6 Clifden Nonpariels,  female Gem, Mere and Fen Wainscots, Assara terebrella,  Beautiful China Mark, Metalampra Italica, Minor Shoulder Knot, Olives and Feathered Gothics.

As this was the first year of relative intensive trapping, many species were new for site.  Special thanks to Dave Wilton for all the help in identifying them! 

Clifden Nonpariel 

Assara terebrella

Cydia Amplana

Gem

2021 in Numbers

Finding out what people thought about their own mothing year is always a fascinating exercise.  Around this time in December I try and present a few statistics on what the year has been like for moths in my garden in the hope that others may by now have had time to do something similar.  In fact the numbers for Westcott are very much provisional at the moment because many of the dissections needed to complete the data for 2021 have yet to be carried out, but there is still sufficient information to give an idea of what the results were like.

Just to be clear, it is the comparison with previous years at a particular site which brings out important information, not the comparison between here and other sites in the same year.  Different sites will always produce different results and I'm well aware of how lucky I am to be trapping in this particular edge-of-village garden, surrounded by a reasonable amount of decent habitat. 

Number of nights the traps were run (1st Jan to 30th Nov):  303, of which 158 were with a single trap (twin-30wt actinic) and 145 were with two traps (actinic and 125wt MV).  The overall number of nights was fairly typical (300 in 2019, 317 in 2020, again to the end of November) but there was a significant reduction in two-trap nights thanks mainly to dismal weather in April and the first half of May.

Number of species caught:  at least 650 (circa 330 macros) but will be higher when dissections are complete.  That compares very well with totals achieved over the previous five years, from which the average is 670.

Nights with 100+ species:  13, all in July and using both traps (up very slightly from 11 the previous year but still well down on the 26 of 2018 and 19 in 2019).

Best night for moth numbers:  18th July, 821 moths of 165 species.  The best night would normally see a count above 1,000 individuals.  However, although provisional (depends on dissection results), the species total of 165 currently equals the highest ever recorded here on a single night.

Highest overall counts for a single species:  Common Footman (2,029), Setaceous Hebrew Character (1,624) & Common Wainscot (1,060) for macros, Chrysoteuchia culmella (716), Acentria ephemerella (524) & Agriphila tristella (310) for micros.  Those three macro species were the only moths to score above 1,000 individuals in 2021, the results for Large Yellow Underwing, Heart and Dart, Square-spot Rustic, Dark Arches etc being quite poor.  However, Setaceous Hebrew Character bounced back after a very poor showing the previous year so it is probably all swings and roundabouts. 

New for the site in 2021:  Six macros and at least nine micros.  The new macros were Balsam Carpet & Cypress Carpet (both spreading), Beautiful Marbled (migrant), Red Sword-grass (probable migrant) & Radford's Flame Shoulder (migrant), as well as the Japanese Silk Moth Antheraea yamamai which was obviously a local release or escapee. 

Total number of moths caught in the garden (1st Jan to 30th Nov):  circa 29,000 which is a very disappointing total, down by 25% on the count for 2020 and by almost 50% on the record count for 2019. 

In summary then, moth diversity was at expected levels but moth abundance was much reduced, due at least in part to poor weather during the early part of the season.   

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Oak Rustic

A bit worn but this looks very much like an Oak Rustic to me, caught here last night, 15th December.  If confirmed this will be a new species for this site.

There are Holm Oaks in the next door garden.

On 11 December I was surprised to find a rather tatty Vine's Rustic in the trap - I've had this species in November before but the last one seen here this year was on 14 October.

Richard Ellis

Chorleywood

Dozy December Moths

After a big catch of (31) December Moths two nights ago, I had to stop releasing them as my local Robins had spotted what was going on and would have made short work of them. So I decided I'd keep them in the trap for the day and then open it after dark, which I did.
Out of curiosity I checked at 10:00 pm to see whether they had gone, to find they were all still there, despite it being a mild night for the time of the year (~ 10°C). And when I checked again this morning,all but  two were still present! Had it been cold I could perhaps have expected it, but it seemed a bit odd. When I have done this before everything usually departs soon after dusk, though as far as I recall, I've not done it before at this time of year.

I shall leave them in the trap again today and see what happens tonight!

Phil T

Acleris schalleriana?

 Is this one Acleris schalleriana? 12mm in length. Caught last night. The first micro for some time.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

More Umbers

 After Dave Wilton's helpful explanation  of what to look for, here are a few that I think are all Mottled Umber. They all turned up last night - it was good to see such a variety of forms.

Best wishes

David

A good night's mothing!

 Hi there,

30 moths in the trap last night - 5 species in total, with a Pale Brindled Beauty turning up rather early in the winter. I had a good range of Mottled Umber in all its variety of forms, and the three moths shown, where I'm not sure between Mottled and Scarce Umber. Please put me straight!

Many thanks and best wishes

David

I think the middle one is Scarce, but I'm particularly unsure about the other two because of the shape of the outer cross-line.

Checking out a Plume

 

I've just lit the lamp for the first time in ages and it reminded me to ask if it might be possible to identify this Plume which came on 19 November. Since then I've had many a December moth so my list of 'usuals' is now complete.  Many thanks in anticipation, even if the answer is 'No'. Merry Christmas and thanks for all the help, interest and fun during the year.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon.

What is this micro?

 Hi there,

Found this dead in my trap two nights ago. Not in great nick, but can anyone help with it?

Thanks, David

Pale Brindled Beauty

Making a change from just Winter Moths, which is all I've had each night since the 4th, there was a little more variety last night with December Moth (1), Winter Moth (1), Pale Brindled Beauty (1) & Mottled Umber (3) all turning up to the garden actinic light.  After a frosty night tonight things look to be warming up a little for about a week.

Pale Brindled Beauty, Westcott 9th December

Although traditionally one of "next year's moths", Pale Brindled Beauty is increasingly being seen during December and sometimes even earlier than that (for example, Phil Tizzard had one on 19th November this year).  Spring Usher could well start flying soon too, while it is also time to look out for some of the early spring noctuids such as Common Quaker and Hebrew Character which have been known to appear before Christmas in some years.  I even had a Lead-coloured Drab on 17th December in 2018 (see here).

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Moths are still out there

Last night the garden actinic light brought in seven moths of four species:  December Moth (1), Winter Moth (3), Mottled Umber (2) & Scarce Umber (1).  All had arrived by 8pm apart from the Scarce Umber which must have turned up sometime in the early hours.

December Moth, Mottled Umber & Scarce Umber
Westcott 3rd December

It is getting a bit late for Scarce Umber now.  The one above equals the latest date I've ever had a male of the species in the garden here, although I have seen them throughout December in local woodland and I found an active female on the conservatory roof at the end of January this year. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Westcott, Bucks

The carpet of snow here started to disappear after dark as the temperature finally began to rise and I thought there might be a chance of moth activity before dawn this morning.  I was expecting the usual Winter Moth or Scarce Umber (all I've had other than blanks for nearly a week now) so it made a change to find this smart Satellite at 6.30am, looking as though it had only just turned up to the light.  There was nothing else to be seen apart from a few flies.

Satellite, Westcott 29th November

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Mine on oak leaf

 I believe this mine on oak is either Stigmella roborella, ruficapitella or atricapitella. If so, can one can get any further? I assume the larva has left and pupation has occurred, but there seems to be no visible exit hole!

Phil T

Acleris notana??

 I know this can be variable, and not sure what else it can be. Please put me straight.

Best wishes

David

Mompha species

The ditches in our local area are full of willowherb (Epilobium spp) and during the winter months I often find inside our house examples of some of the Mompha species which feed on them.  Four appear here in that way, Mompha epilobiella, Mompha subbistrigella, Mompha jurassicella and Mompha bradleyi.  Of the others which hibernate as adults I've had langiella once to light but never found it indoors, while neither divisella (seemingly absent from Bucks) nor sturnipennella (very rare in the county) have been found here. 

This month I've seen epilobiella a couple of times already (easy to identify because of its overall light brown shading).  Yesterday evening I caught the moth below flying around in our kitchen and I suspect that it is jurassicella, although that one and bradleyi are quite difficult to separate especially when they're no longer fresh.  The former is far more common here than the latter (50+ records for jurassicella, an annual find indoors with many confirmed by dissection, and four for bradleyi, all confirmed by dissection with the most recent sighting in 2019).  This one will be retained to be sure which of the two it is.

Likely Mompha jurassicella, Westcott 24th November

The actinic light is still being run here nightly despite the steep drop in temperature and, so far at least, I've only had one blank night (the 22nd).  Last night produced Winter Moth (3) and Scarce Umber (1).  The only other species I've had over the past six nights have been December Moth, Red-green Carpet, Mottled Umber and Brick.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Pale Brindled Beauty

Assuming I have the ID correct, (I spent a while trying to turn it into a Mottled Umber before the penny droppped!), a very early Pale Brindled Beauty in the MV trap last night. 

Phil T

Black-spotted Chestnut

Robin Knill-Jones had his first Black-spotted Chestnut of the season in Denham, Bucks last night.  Surely by now someone else in south Bucks must start getting this species!  It has already made appearances at two or three sites in Bedfordshire over the past couple of weeks. 

Black-spotted Chestnut, Denham 19th November

 

Pseudargyrotoza conwagana and new photo

Having now got a better photo of the deformed micro from my previous post against a neutral background I think Acleris sparsana looks most likely.

Last night's rather disappointing catch did include a late Pseudargyrotoza conwagana. 

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris. Oxon.

E-moth

The latest issue of E-moth from Butterfly Conservation should be available at the link here.

Caterpillar--Angle Shades?

I found this rather fat green caterpillar in one of my gardening gloves when I put it on this afternoon! I think it's Angle Shades? Was it thinking of pupating there I wonder? 

2021 isn't over yet...

Just a reminder to those who may be new to mothing that although numbers have now fallen off a cliff there are still a few species out there to be found, some of which you won't see at any other time of year.  Provided that the temperature is a few degrees above freezing at dusk, even if a frosty and clear night is forecast there will still be moths around for the first few hours after dark.  In fact last night was quite a good example of that here, with December Moth (1), Feathered Thorn (1), Scarce Umber (1), Sprawler (2) and Chestnut (1, the first arrival even before it was properly dark) all appearing by 10pm.  The only addition between then and dawn this morning (by which time we had a light frost) was a third Sprawler.  Running a trap even for just an hour or two from dusk can often net you a handful of moths over the winter months.  

Scarce Umber, Westcott 15th November

Last night's Scarce Umber here (above) is one of those moths which only fly at this time of year.  It is quite common and widespread but is usually found only during November locally, unlike Mottled Umber which keeps going well into the new year. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks 

Another Epiphyas postvittana?

This micro from last night appeared very different by torchlight but on closer examination the apparently pointed wings are actually the hindwings protruding. It is just over 10mm in length. I suspect just another Epiphyas postivittana?

 Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Two micro puzzles in moth trap

 This micro looks like Pseudargyrotoza conwagana but it's surely too late in the year isn't it?

 This one is new to me - looks like it could be Tachystola acroxantha which I read is an import from Australia.

 

 

Westcott, Bucks

There was a little flurry of micro-moth activity here last night out of a total catch of 17 moths from 14 different species.  They included a single migrant Plutella xylostella and the tortricoid moths shown below:

Likely Acleris ferrugana, Westcott 12th November

Acleris schalleriana, Westcott 12th November

Acleris variegana, Westcott 12th November

Epiphyas postvittana male, Westcott 12th November

Epiphyas postvittana female, Westcott 12th November

Acleris ferrugana needs dissection to separate from Acleris notana.  This example won't be checked because one was confirmed here at the beginning of the year and I only ever seem to get ferrugana in the garden.  They are both species which over-winter as adults, as is Acleris schalleriana, and could appear again on warmer nights early in the new year.  Acleris variegana, on the other hand, is single-brooded locally between July and October, although increasingly these days it seems to keep flying into November and I've even had a December record (on the 5th, in 2005).  Epiphyas postvittana, the infamous Light Brown Apple Moth from Australia, can be found in any month of the year and there is a marked difference in size, shape and markings between the smaller male and larger female.  Coupled with the fact that both sexes are quite variable, this can often lead to identification problems for the unwary.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks