Shoulder-striped Wainscot?

While re-checking the ID of some records I came across this one. Shoulder-striped Wainscot seems possible from the illustration in Waring & Townsend. 

I took the photo on 22/7/2019 at Otmoor. This site seems to meet the SSW's habitat requirements.

Confirmation or other suggestions welcome!

David Hastings

 

Westcott, Bucks

Small Brindled Beauty (19th) and Oak Beauty (20th) were the last adult species added to the garden year-list even though moths have continued to visit in very small numbers since the weather turned chilly again.  However, I have added the two early-instar caterpillars shown below, which take that list to 33 species for 2023:

Common Footman larva, Westcott 22nd February

Old Lady larva, Westcott 26th February

The Common Footman larva (9mm) was walking around on our conservatory windowsill next to the actinic light, while the Old Lady larva (22mm) was found by torchlight, crawling up the side of our garden shed. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks  

Light Crimson Underwing

 Unplanned photo 24/07 of my garden

moth of the year 2022

Tortricodes?

Encountered last night in Stoke Goldington, Bucks I am assuming (at least for the time being) that this nicely marked micro is one of  the variants of  Tortricodes alternella?

Ypsolopha mucronella

 Things have been a bit disappointing here over the last few nights with plenty of Pale Brindled Beauty and a few a the commoner spring moths but nothing of note until last night brought in an Ypsolopha mucronella which is a new garden record.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Loosley Row

A Red-green Carpet to our house lights tonight.

Nigel

Bernwood Forest

I trapped in Bernwood Forest for the usual three hours last night.  Only 10 species were seen with no surprises, the full list comprising just over 360 individuals:  Tortricodes alternella (96), Acleris ferrugana/notana (1), Small Brindled Beauty (73), Pale Brindled Beauty (75), Oak Beauty (3), Spring Usher (93), Dotted Border (3), Chestnut (14), Satellite (5) & Common Quaker (2).

Oak Beauty, Bernwood 18th February

A handful of non-moths came to light as well, including a couple of early nocturnal ichneumon wasps (one of them surprisingly not Ophion obscuratus agg. so that one has been retained) and the ground-hopper Tetrix subulata shown below.  The latter is my earliest record to light - not that I see it very often - but a quick search on-line tells me it can be found throughout the year.

Tetrix subulata, Bernwood 18th February

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Westcott, Bucks

If  new moths continue to arrive at the rate they are at the moment then the garden could be on its way to a record-breaking Spring.  25 adult species have been recorded here so far this year (plus another four as early stages), of which Tortricodes alternella & Satellite (both 15th), Dotted Border & Common Quaker (both 16th), Ypsolopha ustella, Mompha epilobiella & Clouded Drab (all 17th) and Hebrew Character (18th) have turned up since the last report.

Ypsolopha ustella, Westcott 17th February

Tortricodes alternella, Westcott 15th February

Common Quaker, Westcott 16th February

Hebrew Character, Westcott 18th February

The garden Pale Brindled Beauty total for 2023 has now reached 75, surpassing the previous highest count of 65 in 2019.  Amongst the micros, Agonopterix heracliana has been particularly busy of late with a dozen different individuals spread over the past four nights.  I've also had two more Acleris visitors, one bright cristana and one poorly-marked schalleriana, but these two species were recorded here back in January.

Acleris cristana, Westcott 15th February

Acleris schalleriana, Westcott 18th February

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks  

Just checking . . . . .

 I make this Euzophera pinguis. Am I right?

Last August near Chesham - with Ash trees nearby.

Thanks.

David

Which Yponomeuta?

 Hi there,

Another photo from last August near Chesham. I think I've narrowed this down to malinellus or cagnagella, but not sure I can rule out rorrella or padella, although I think the apparent 'grey' areas are more shadow than pigment. We have willow, spindle and apple in the garden!

Can anyone help with a more specific ID?

Even Clothes Moths count...

Seen hover-taxying (you couldn't really call it flying) across the carpet in my study this morning was a freshly-emerged tineid.  I don't think there's much doubt that this is Tineola bisselliella although it'll be checked in the usual way.  It is only the third I've ever seen in Bucks after one to MV light on Rammamere Heath in 2017 and an example which turned up in the garden actinic trap here during July last year.  The question now is to find where it might have come from because our carpets are all of man-made fibre...

Likely Tineola bisselliella, Westcott 17th February

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks  

Early Drab

 I was surprised to find my first Clouded Drab of the season this morning (Stoke Goldington) along with the more usual Dark Chestnut. It beats my previous earliest by about a month!

Westcott, Bucks

Species added to the garden year-list over the last couple of nights have comprised Agonopterix alstromeriana (10th), Grey Shoulder-knot (10th) & Dark Chestnut (11th), while a likely Mompha jurassicella was found indoors on the 10th.  Last night's catch by the garden actinic light was actually a record-breaker here for February, comprising 32 moths:  Agonopterix heracliana (2), March Moth (1), Pale Brindled Beauty (21), Spring Usher (4), Early Moth (3) & Dark Chestnut (1), while a likely Satellite put in a very brief appearance at 6.30am this morning as I was shutting off the light but escaped before it could be confirmed. 

Mompha species, Westcott 10th February

Grey Shoulder-knot, Westcott 10th February

The Mompha will be checked but is likely to be jurassicella, although I do get bradleyi here too on occasions and those two species can be very hard to tell apart visually.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

One more query from last August

 Any suggestions gratefully received!!

Thanks, David

ID teaser

 Hi there,

I can't work out what this is - it's from August 19th last year.

Any help gratefully received!

Thanks, David

A Winter's Tale

 Many moth species overwinter in the larval stage of their life cycle. They often enter a phase known as diapause (suspended development), and many have evolved additional mechanisms for survival in cold winters. Typically they produce cryoprotective substances such as glycerol in their bodies but some may also synthesise anti-freeze proteins (AFPs); remarkably these can bind to ice crystals, inhibiting their growth. The Spruce Budworm Choristoneura fumiferana, a destructive pest of conifers in Canada and NW USA that overwinters as a tiny caterpillar (second instar) on host tree branches, is known to produce AFPs as well as wrapping itself up in a silken 'hibernaculum' for diapause. In a recent publication* the location and sequence of the genes specifying these AFPs was found. Similar genes were then found in other north American Choristoneura species but not in a few other tortrix species for which genome data are available (including the codling moth Cydia pomonella, common in the UK, which overwinters as a 5th instar larva but in a loose cocoon spun under tree bark or in leaf litter). However, similar genes were found in the genome of the Bramble Shoot Moth Notocelia uddmanniana. This strikingly-marked species is also common in the UK, and in a nice correlation to the Canadian story it overwinters similarly as a tiny caterpillar in a hibernaculum on the stems of blackberries, raspberries and loganberries (therefore perhaps more exposed than C. pomonella). This study raises some interesting questions about the evolutionary relationships of these species and the origins of AFPs.

Notocelia uddmanniana

*The Spruce Budworm Genome: Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Antifreeze Proteins. Catherine Béliveau et al. 2022 Genome Biol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evac087.

John Thacker,  Harwell  VC22

Danger of humiliation!

 Hi there,

I got the trap out this week - usual suspects - but I'm also going through some photos from last year. This one, from August 19th last year, I'm not even sure is a moth! Is it? And if it is can someone help with the ID? Thanks! David

Nine species

I took advantage of a milder evening by taking a couple of MV traps to nearby Finemere Wood, Bucks at dusk yesterday for my first away trapping session of the year but the results weren't all that exciting.  A grand total of 45 moths turned up in just over three hours, drawn from the following species:  Acleris cristana (1), Acleris ferrugana/notana (1), Tortricodes alternella (1), Small Brindled Beauty (3), Pale Brindled Beauty (16), Spring Usher (11), Dotted Border (1), Satellite (3) & Chestnut (8).  I was expecting Tortricodes alternella, Pale Brindled Beauty and Spring Usher to be around in rather larger numbers than that by now, but I suppose there's plenty of time yet for them to get going.

Small Brindled Beauty, Finemere Wood 3rd February

Dotted Border, Finemere Wood 3rd February

Co-incidentally, back home in the garden at Westcott the actinic light also brought in nine species, comprising Agonopterix heracliana (6), Acleris cristana (1), Acleris schalleriana (1), Acleris ferrugana/notana (1), Emmelina monodactyla (1), March Moth (1), Pale Brindled Beauty (3), Spring Usher (1) & Early Moth (1), along with the first ichneumon wasp here of the year (Ophion obscuratus agg.).  

March Moth, Westcott 3rd February

It looks as though tonight might bring in a few more moths, during the hours before midnight at any rate, but then we should be heading back to colder conditions again for at least a week. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks