Westcott, Bucks

Further recent arrivals for the 2022 garden moth list have included Spectacle (19th), V-Pug (20th), Cnephasia sp, Eudonia angustea, Green Carpet, Turnip Moth & Flame Shoulder (all 22nd), Common Pug & Pebble Prominent (both 23rd), Scrobipalpa acuminatella & Knot Grass (both 24th), Parornix sp (26th), Treble Lines (27th) and White Ermine (28th).  The Cnephasia and Parornix await determination by dissection but the first appearances here are usually of communana and anglicella respectively.

Cnephasia sp., Westcott 22nd April

Green Carpet, Westcott 22nd April

Pebble Prominent, Westcott 23rd April

White Ermine, Westcott 28th April

They take the garden list well past 100 species for the year, a figure usually achieved during the third or fourth week of April so nothing unusual there.  Last year's poor Spring weather meant that this milestone wasn't reached until 12th May so we really shouldn't complain about the recent run of chilly nights - it could have been far worse!  For the past week I've had anywhere between 10 and 15 species per night with Powdered Quaker and Hebrew Character still in the lead, but they will be starting to tail off now as Treble Lines ramps up in numbers.  Diversity should improve as we get into May.

A species worth highlighting for its better-than-usual numbers this year is Brindled Beauty.  Up until 2018 the average total here was one per season and there were a few years (2005/09/13/15) when it didn't appear at all.  Since then numbers have crept upwards with 16 visiting the trap last year and 20 so far this year, with the last one only three nights ago so that total might still be added to.  Tawny Pinion is also worth a mention after last night's trapping session brought in the third one here so far this year.  I get few sightings of this moth in the garden and it can go several years with none appearing at all.  Those records that I have had are also weighted heavily towards the Autumn rather than post-hibernation in the Spring.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks           

ID help, please

Six of these micros in my trap last night.  I feel I should know what they are but have had to admit defeat so would welcome assistance:

 Photo against 5mm grid square.  No discernible markings but yellow head, some of the others more so than this example.

Richard Ellis

Chorleywood

More early stages

An hour looking around the garden this afternoon in very hazy sunshine produced a few more species.  Yellow-tail caterpillars were out and about, three late-instars on Blackthorn and one early instar on Swedish Whitebeam.  

Yellow-tail larva on Blackthorn, Westcott 28th April

Removing some sprawling White Dead-nettles from on top of our patch of Calamint produced obvious feeding signs on the hidden leaves and a quick check on the underside of a couple of stems produced three active cases of Coleophora albitarsella (a species classified as local).  I haven't previously noticed its early stages in the garden but examples of the adult from here have been dissected almost annually for at least the last 15 years so it is obviously resident.  That find prompted me to look at the copious amounts of Ground Ivy in the garden (another food-plant used by albitarsella) and, sure enough, a handful of additional cases were found on it.  

Mined leaves (and partially obscured active case of
Coleophora albitarsella just visible) on Calamint,
Westcott 28th April

Mined leaves on Ground Ivy, Westcott 28th April

Active case of Coleophora albitarsella on Ground Ivy,
Westcott 28th April

Best find of the afternoon, though, was some unexpected activity on our youngest Silver Birch (one of four in the garden, the other three being mature and their leaves unreachable without a ladder!).  This particular sapling, only about 8ft tall, had been in a pot for several years and was only planted out last summer.  I was very pleased to find some very early Eriocrania leaf-mining under way on at least half a dozen of its very small leaves.  Five of the mines could easily be identified as Eriocrania sangii because of the obvious dark grey larvae within, while the other was a different species and I suspect Eriocrania semipurpurella although it'll have to wait until it is larger to be sure because I don't want to damage the leaves.  Neither species has been recorded in the garden before.

Early mine of Eriocrania sangii, Westcott 28th April
Can anyone identify the aphid?!

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Another dumb question??

 Hi there,

I think this might be Tineola bisselliella??

Thanks!

David

Macro assistance needed with micros!!

 Hi, Being very new to micros, I hope you won't mind if I ask for quite a lot of help this summer - starting with this. Really not sure about it at all. Both photos are of the same specimen.

Thanks, David

Another under-recorded Coleophorid

Robin Knill-Jones has been finding active mines of Coleophora solitariella recently on Greater Stitchwort Rabelera (was Stellaria) holostea adjacent to Great Halings Wood near Denham Green in the far south-east of Bucks.  Classified as Nationally Scarce, this is a species I've never seen.  The literature suggests that the adult rarely comes to light and I'd have to agree with that.  Of only three Bucks records of adults, two were from the Burnham Beeches RIS trap and the third was from a malaise trap on Stoke Common.

I had to go into Bernwood Forest this afternoon so decided to have a look at some of the Greater Stitchwort there myself.  Luckily it is just coming into flower, making it reasonably obvious where to search, but I didn't really expect to find anything.  However, a close look at the lower leaves of some sixty or seventy plants produced three which had appropriate feeding signs although only one had an active case present.  Still, one was enough!  Caution is needed in separating this species from Coleophora lithargyrinella (also Nationally Scarce, not yet found in Bucks although it is known from Berks & Oxon).  It feeds in a similar way to solitariella at the same time of year but there are subtle differences in case construction.  

Greater Stitchwort with mined leaves towards its base,
 Bernwood Forest 23rd April

Active case of Coleophora solitariella on underside of leaf,
Bernwood Forest 23rd April

The plant is host to a third species too, Coleophora lutarea, but the larvae of that one feed on the seeds and only form a case when ready for pupation.  As an adult it is a daytime flyer and can be found next month sitting on the flowers of the food-plant.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
    

Phtheochroa rugosana

Only 10 moths to the garden trap last night, but the highlight was this beautiful Phtheochroa rugosana. This is only the second record for my garden, the previous one being in 2018.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Possible Pammene suspectana

 Despite the strong breeze this one came to the FUN lure this afternoon. I think it is likely to be Pammene suspectana although I know it will need dissecting for confirmation. 

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Daytime garden activity

Yesterday afternoon I noticed the first small larval web of Yponomeuta cagnagella on our garden spindle, some of the tiny caterpillars being just about visible in the photo below.

Yponomeuta cagnagella larval web, Westcott 21st April

Further adult examples of the hawthorn-feeder Incurvaria masculella were also active, two of them being males which were rather oddly paying particular attention to the lowest branches of our hazel - but then I noticed the female sitting on one of its leaves.  Sadly we don't seem to get Incurvaria pectinea around here (whose larvae do feed on hazel).  Back to hawthorn and a quick glance over one of our bushes produced an example of the very smart purple and red tortrix Pammene rhediella in typical pose, sitting on a developing flower bud enjoying the sunshine. It was quickly potted for the image below.

Pammene rhediella, Westcott 21st April

Pammene rhediella is a common species although undoubtedly under-recorded.  There have been relatively few reported sightings in Bucks, probably because it is mostly active during the daytime.  This was the first confirmed record for the garden since 2010 but I suspect it will have been around unnoticed throughout the intervening period.

     I didn't hold out much hope for recording anything today due to the cloud cover and high winds, but the sun unexpectedly broke through briefly this afternoon and a quick look around when it did produced further activity from Incurvaria masculella and my first sighting here this year of Adela reaumurella.

Adela reaumurella, Westcott 22nd April

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Photographing Emperors to lure

 I seem to remember an earlier post about Emperor moths and lures and them not settling for photos but can't seem to find it now!? That has also been my experience with the lures, although unmated females seem to be more alluring. This afternoon I put out the lure about 6ft off the ground, and the first arrival flew around a bit and then left without landing as per usual . When the second appeared a while later my wife (Cathy ) suggested putting the lure on the ground, since that is where the females usually sit!

Lo and behold the moth proceeded to investigate the trap more avidly and actually entered it allowing some nice photos (after a little bit of refridgerating). (In future this shall be known as Cathy's Technique -all Pats ending US rights Reserved).

A dark Brindled Beauty

I have been seeing a lot of Brindled Beauties in my MV trap in Wheatley, but the attached photo (apologies for poor quality) of a dark form seen last night is the only one of this form I have come across.  Is this common ?  The most common moth seen last night was the Frosted Green - 10 in all (see second photo).

Richard Harding

Daytime micros

Two micro-moths from a daytime visit by myself and Sue Taylor to Rammamere Heath (Bucks) last Sunday. Firstly, the tortrix Epinotia tetraquetrana (Square-barred Bell), which is supposed to be a common species that feeds on birch and alder, However, this is only the second time I've seen it, and the first was in 1995!

And here is one of the absolutely gorgeous species in family Eriocraniidae, and probably another birch-feeder, but one that will need dissection to get to a species name. 

First half decent evening in Longwick!

A slightly better selection of moths on the 17th here with a couple of Dotted Chestnuts and a Mullein to add a bit more interest. Esperia Sulphurella also made an appearance. Additionally what appears to be a small Eriocraniidae. is this likely to be Dyseriocrania subpupurella? I cant recall trapping many of this family previously. 

 

Away trapping

While I haven't stopped going to either Finemere Wood or Bernwood Forest, both of which I trap at regularly throughout the year, the last week has seen first visits for this season to three of the half dozen other sites I plan to trap at monthly during 2022.  The first was what Google Earth suggested would be a promising piece of mature woodland in an under-recorded tetrad on the east side of the Waddesdon Estate, but the mix of trees there proved to be mostly Ash, Beech, Horse Chestnut & Sycamore, not exactly the best combination for moths!  They are all quite old and were probably planted when Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built Waddesdon Manor in the 1880s.  The understory seems to be mostly Snowberry and Sweet Chestnut, but there is a bit of Hawthorn and Hazel dotted about too so I'll have to wait and see what the site produces.  My visit there on the rather chilly night of 14th April produced just 16 species of which the only one to appear in any numbers was Nut-tree Tussock (41 counted).  Least Black Arches & Dotted Chestnut were nice to see, as were new-for-year Small Phoenix, Common Pug & Scorched Carpet.
 

Small Phoenix, Waddesdon Estate 14th April

The next night saw me make a visit to some private mixed woodland near Lillingstone Dayrell on the edge of Silverstone race-course.  This site has a much better potential for moths thanks to it being long-established mixed woodland with plenty of Oak and Poplar as well as various Conifer species.  I made a couple of visits there towards the end of the season last year and it proved its worth then, including the discovery of a healthy population of Devon Carpet (only the fifth known site for that species in Bucks).  On 15th April, another chilly night, I got nearly 30 species of the expected mix for this time of year although few of them appeared in any numbers, Purple Thorn being the clear winner with 14 of them between the two traps.  However, that total pales into insignificance against a count of 51 between two lights in Bernwood Forest a week earlier - Purple Thorn is certainly having a good season locally!

Some of the Purple Thorns, nr Silverstone 15th April

The third site to be visited was one of my favourite trapping locations in Bucks, the chalk downland at Grangelands not far from Chequers in the Chilterns.  Martin Harvey joined me there and between us we ran four lights, my two on the grassland and Martin's in the adjacent woodland.  You don't expect much on chalk grassland at this time of year anyway, but there was an annoying down-slope breeze and then eventually that huge moon appeared over the hill-side behind us, so it wasn't exactly the most productive of nights!  However, our combined species count still reached the mid-20s with Mottled Pug and Iron Prominent both newcomers to me for the year, although the best moth was this fresh (and rather early) example of Ancylis unculana.

Ancylis unculana, Grangelands 16th April

Last night (18th April) I made yet another visit to Bernwood Forest, my fourth there over the past three or four weeks in search of Scarce Prominent.  Thankfully, this time the moth turned up (in fact 13 of them did) although only to the trap closest to the largest area of Birch that I'm aware of there, suggesting that they don't stray all that far from the larval food-plant.  Some very welcome cloud cover and no breeze meant that nearly 40 species were caught in the usual three hours, including Pebble Hook-tip, Birch Mocha & an early Orange Footman.  Great Prominent seems to be at its peak now in Bernwood because 83 of them came to one of the lights for a total of 101 altogether.

Birch Mocha, Bernwood Forest 18th April

Scarce Prominent, Bernwood Forest 18th April

Orange Footman, Bernwood Forest 18th April

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks       

Another black & white micro - Elachista apicipunctella?

 Prompted by the post below - I got something very similar a couple of days back. It's going for dissection.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Macro micro

Martin T kindly asked if I had larger pictures of the micro shown in  my last post, three down from here, and here are a couple which I hope will help.  Many thanks, Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Brindled Pug? and a mystery moth?

 Help requested with both of these. The 'Brindled Pug?' has a touch of green which makes me doubt it, and the other image . . . . .HELP!!

Many thanks

David

Least Black Arches & Grey Pine Carpet?

 Least Black Arches this morning on the kitchen door, don't often get them.

 

 

I'm thinking this is a Grey Pine Carpet on the basis of the more rounded cross band.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

All sorts

Busy and varied here with a strongly-marked Pale Pinion. I'm still hunting the micro's ID and if a pug expert is passing...  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Coleophora lineolea

If you have the common hedgerow plant Hedge Woundwort Stachys sylvatica growing in your garden or in shady corners locally, it is worth having a quick check now for one of those moth species which use it at their larval stage.  We have plenty in the garden at Westcott and it is home to both Coleophora lineolea and Endothenia nigricostana (as well as a colony of the smart little shield-bug Eysarcoris venustissimus).  I noticed the first feeding signs of Coleophora lineolea this morning on the upper surface of one young leaf (a mined area, with an obvious hole in the lower surface through which the larva feeds).  Sure enough, attached to the underside of the same leaf was the culprit in its case, the size of which suggests that it was almost fully grown.  This is a common moth in our area but, like many Coleophorids, is under-recorded because the adult generally needs dissection to get a species ID.   

Feeding signs of Coleophora lineolea, Westcott 18th April

Active larval case of Coleophora lineolea, Westcott 18th April

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks 

Emperor

I was forced to walk around Bicester Outlet Village today with the family, and was surprised to observe a male Emperor Moth flying weakly along the main walkway between the shops. 

This was actually my first encounter with this species in the South Midlands!

Advice needed!

I had a reasonably good night's trapping in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire last night; 17 individuals of nine species, several (Muslin Moth, Early Thorn, Pale Prominent) new for the year. Also my second Emperor Moth of the year - a rather battered female, who turned out to have laid eggs on one of the egg boxes. I've released her, but have cut out the bit of the egg box with her eggs - I'd like, ideally, to try to raise them to caterpillars, but have little idea how to do it. I think of the food plants listed in the Bible, bramble is the obviously easiest to acquire; but any suggestions as to where/at what temperature to keep the eggs, and what to do when they hatch, would be very welcome.

Female Emperor Moth, 16th April 2022

Steve Goddard

A poor night in Stoke Goldington

 Despite the warm days, the temperature has been dropping here at night, with the full moon also complicating things. Last night I ran two traps (MV and Actinic), and had a grand total of 6 moths of four species: Hebrew Character, Common Quaker, Brindled Beauty and Flame Shoulder (1st for year)! Despite trapping almost every night, struggling on 53 species this year so far, with virtually no micros.

On a more upbeat note, I had two Emperor Moths attracted to the EMP lure in the garden, in the late afternoon. Are there any tips on getting them to settle for a photo, as I spent a frustrating twenty minutes chasing them around without being able to fire off a single shot?