Hi
Not had the trap out very much this year but last night seemed like a good night,better results than the rest of the year so far,i had something that i was not familiar with looks like it could be a Dingy shell,but does not look likely according to the atlas and in a suburban garden in Banbury,can someone positively id it for me please,thanks in advance Mike Banbury
Edit: cropped and lightened photo below
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Looks like a Dingy Shell to me. I had one last year in Sibford (not yet on the online atlas) so they are in the area. I agree that a suburban garden doesn't seem the most likely habitat.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dingy Shell too. An unusual garden record!
ReplyDeleteI must admit to having been slightly unconvinced by the wing shape but couldn't see what else it might be. Thanks to an e-mail from Tony Vials in Northamptonshire (thanks, Tony!) it has become clear that I'd overlooked something much more interesting than Dingy Shell - it appears to be a male Rannoch Looper which in our area would be a very rare migrant. Do you still have the moth, Mike? I hope you don't mind but I've added another image which has been lightened in photo-shop and hopefully Martin Townsend will be able to say for sure what it is.
ReplyDeleteHi Dave sadly I don't still have the moth
ReplyDeleteYes, as Dave suggests this is a Rannoch Looper. It is usually a rare immigrant but occasionally occurs in quite large numbers. From 2008-11 there was a population explosion on the continent, mainly in Holland, and it was seen in numbers in SE England. None were recorded in VC23 though so this is new. The wind has been in the right direction so no doubt there will be others.
ReplyDeleteMartin
Thanks for the confirmation,i would not have considered Rannoch Looper,but looking at some national websites there does appear to have been a few being reported from the east of the country this week
ReplyDelete