This is my first season recording micros although in the past I did extensively record macros when living in Cambridgeshire and Cheshire.
I am working through a few outstanding records from earlier in the year and would appreciate comments on these three. On the 31st of July I caught this one and posted the picture on the Berkshire Moth Group Facebook page but no one suggested an ID. I then posted it on the UK Micro Moth page and Ben Sale suggested Rhopobota stagnana which appears to be a fairly rare moth in the County.
Then on the 3rd August I caught this one and didn't recognise it as the same thing - there were a lot of moths in the trap late July and early August although looking now it certainly looks like the same thing.
I posted the image on the Berkshire Moth Group page and Ben Dale kindly id'ed it for me as a second R. stagnana.
I've been sorting through my photos over the last few weeks and have found this one from the 1st August
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which looks like a third record.
I'd agree with your identification I think, Adrian. It is a pretty under-recorded moth, but can be very common on some chalk grasslands (eg. on the Chilterns) where there is lots of Small Scabious, you get it to light or can flush it by day (sometimes in numbers). Are you near any sites like that?
ReplyDeleteI’m on the downs near Ashampstead although the postal address is Hampstead Norreys
ReplyDeleteHello Adrian,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog. I've added a title to your post (one of Blogger's pitfalls is that the "Post Title" box appears above the tool-bar and is therefore easy to miss).
As you suggest, these are all females of Rhopobota stagnana (the males and females look rather different in both shape and the brightness of their markings). It is a reasonably widespread species and certainly in Bucks I see it quite regularly on dry, grassy locations, particularly chalk grassland as Will mentioned, although I have a site for it very close to home along a disused railway line here on the clay in the Vale of Aylesbury. There it is using devil's-bit scabious alongside the rather uncommon tortrix Aethes piercei.
Thanks Will and Dave - greatly appreciate your help
ReplyDeleteLooks to be pretty rare in Berkshire with 3 records on the 2020 spreadsheet and two more on iRecord
ReplyDelete