Yesterday Andy & Melissa Banthorpe discovered mines of Ectoedemia hannoverella on black poplar by the River Ouse near Olney, Bucks which is a first for our three counties. The moth has been spreading very slowly westwards from East Anglia since its discovery in Suffolk in 2002. A page for the species (and some photos of the mine) have now been added to our on-line Atlas.
Thursday 31 October 2024
Tuesday 29 October 2024
Scarce bordered straw?
Hi there,
After a few nights of catching nothing, this turned up in my trap this morning. I'm thinking it's a scarce bordered straw. As it's got the word "scarce" in the name and I've never seen one before, I thought I better ask the experts. Is this another of those immigrant species that now also breeds here? Sorry the pictures are poor, it wasn't very co-operative. The dark photo was taken inside, and the colour was much lighter, really a light olive. I added the other picture to show that it had a dark band on the underwing.
Monday 28 October 2024
Important News from MapMate
MAPMATE ALERTS! ISSUE 169
For MapMate Ltd
28 October 2024
Sunday 27 October 2024
Ectoedemia quinquella
David Lees carried out some searching for leaf-mines at Burnham Beeches today and was lucky enough to find active mines of Ectoedemia quinquella within "green islands" on a decaying oak leaf. This was a first for Bucks and is a species well worth keeping an eye out for at the moment (there are quite often several mines to a leaf, as in this case). David also found a leaf-edge fold of Parornix carpinella on hornbeam, a rare moth in the county.
Ectoedemia quinquella mines on oak, Burnham Beeches 27th October |
Ectoedemia quinquella mine, Burnham Beeches 27th October |
A couple of late (ish) records.
Both P. ruralis and Buff Arches last night to MV; and A. ipsilon (2) and Box moth (2, both forms) to MV. Of these is the Buff Arches latest for Bucks?
24 October.
Harris Tweed
Good to have a couple of tweed-coated Sprawlers in the very lightly-populated trap, one of the few remaining regulars which had not yet showed. Also my first Mottled Umber of the year, a Barred Sallow and a Black Rustic. My iPhone's bug-spotter got them all right - and for those intrigued by such technological novelties, it also newly allows me to isolate, copy and paste the images - minus a leg, antenna or two - into emails to the grandchildren. Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon
Saturday 26 October 2024
Friday 25 October 2024
A puzzle
This moth was caught in my garden on Wednesday night (23rd). Is it a White-line Dart? It's worn and very dark; I lengthened the exposure in order to make some features easier to see. It's very late for one to be flying and I'm also not convinced by the stigmata. The lack of arrowheads on the subterminal line might indicate Garden Dart, but could be due to wear and doesn't help with the lateness.
Or have I missed something obvious? The moth is reposing in my fridge.
Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks
Woodland trapping
Diurnea lipsiella, Finemere Wood 23rd October |
Figure of Eight, Finemere Wood 23rd October |
December Moth, Bernwood Forest 24th October |
Rosy Footman, Bernwood Forest 24th October |
Buff Footman (female left, male right), Bernwood 24th Oct |
New Garden Moth
Stoke Goldington, North Bucks:
Attracted to Actinic front door lights, last night, this Figure of Eight is a garden first. Scarce in SP84, I think this is probably a first record for square SP84J. The light also attracted a rather late, pristine Swallow-tailed moth.
Thursday 17 October 2024
Mompha bradleyi?
Am I safe in ID'ing this as Mompha bradleyi, without dissection? The Field Guide seems to suggest it would need genitalia examined to separate from divisella, but the "hourglass" is distinctly buff-tinged, rather than pure white, so I can't see it being the latter. I have had bradleyi here before (gen det), plus divsella looks very unlikely per the the atlas.
Thanks
Phil T
Too worn to ID?
Hi there,
This rather unexpectedly turned up last night. Can those more experienced that me make anything of it?
Many thanks,
David
Wednesday 16 October 2024
Mine on Comfrey
I found this leaf-edge roll on Comfrey yesterday. It looks almost identical to that of Parornix devoniella, but the nearest hazel is ~5m away, and as far as I can tell, (the top leaves are not accessible), there are none of the blotch mines of that species on it. There appears to be nothing that mines Comfrey that creates such a roll, so a bit of a puzzle! The roll is 3cm long, and empty apart from frass at one end, (the left hand end in the image below.)
Westcott, Bucks
November Moth (genitalia checked), Westcott 9th October |
Figure of Eight, Westcott 5th October |
Merveille du Jour, Westcott 1st October |
Cypress Carpet, Westcott 14th October |
Neocochylis molliculana, Westcott 7th October |
The only obvious migrants of late have comprised Plutella xylostella (2nd, 6th, 15th), Udea ferrugalis (2nd, 15th), Scarce Bordered Straw (7th) and Palpita vitrealis (14th), but Delicate has appeared almost nightly in the garden throughout this period (17 individuals) and I suspect many of them will be migrants because there has been quite an influx at coastal sites. However, as has already happened with White-point, Delicate is a species which I believe may also be in the process of becoming established in our area. There was another sighting here of Plumed Fan-foot (8th), this time during the day when it was disturbed from vegetation, and it may or may not have been a migrant.
Palpita vitrealis, Westcott 14th October |
Pink-barred Sallows, Westcott 4th October |
Active mine of Ectoedemia intimella, Westcott 11th October |
Sunday 13 October 2024
With apologies...a few more mines for ID
After ploughing through both volumes of Micro-moth Field Tips, I am still struggling to identify these mines found this afternoon, so some help would be appreciated. (It feels a bit like when I started trying to identify micros!).
The first two examples are on birch, on the underside of the leaf, and both have active larvae in them, but I can only just see the head moving, so no detail.
The next two are on hazel and appear to be vacated--images of both upper and lower surfaces. Both have a mine in the body of the leaf, plus an edge folded over. My guess for these is Parornix devoniella.
The final mine is on beech, and here my guess is Stigmella tityrella
Thanks
Wednesday 9 October 2024
Evidence of Choreutis pariana?
Is this evidence of Choreutis pariana? The leaf is from an apple tree, and the mined area is translucent. The leaf edge is curled over as shown in the second image. There are very few images of the mine online, but those I have found do not appear to be on the edge of the leaf like this. As it's not a species I have seen here, and it doesn't seem that common in the region, I strongly suspect it is not!
Thanks
Phil T
Tuesday 8 October 2024
Whizz Pop Bang!
I don't know how many of our blog's households subscribe to Whizz Pop Bang!, which calls itself the Awesome Science Magazine for Kids, but it's encouraging to see that its Emmi's Eco Club column features a DIY children's moth trap. I warned the parent who tipped me off that it isn't the best time of the year to start light-trapping but apparently they've run it as part of a Hallowe'en, world of darkness theme. Anyway, it can always be set aside until the Spring. Or maybe they'll get a Porter's Rustic. Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon
Monday 7 October 2024
Another Snowberry mine
Checking the Snowberry in my garden again today, I found the mine pictured below which this time I think looks good for Phyllonorycter trifasciella. The leaf is strongly distorted and there are creases on the underside of the mine, both features mentioned in Micro-moth Field Tips.
I am reluctant to open the mine in case pupation has not yet occurred, but I suspect that, if it is this species, then if I retain it, it may well emarge in a month or so?
Thanks
Phil T
Caloptilia honoratella iRecord frustration!
I attempted--and failed--to upload a batch of records to iRecord from a .csv file today. For some reason it would not recgnise Caloptilia honoratella, and the species was not in the dropdown list. Yet there are records in iRecord of Caloptilia honoratella, so it's a mystery why it wouldn't acccept it.
As there is no option to drop a species at this stage in the upload process, rather than start all over again and remove it from the spreadsheet, I decided to change it to a random Caloptilia species that was on the list and delete it later. However I never got the opportunity to do so as the server failed to respond in time, so nothing got uploaded. What a waste of time!
Ypsolopha sequella check
Just checking that this is Ypsolopha sequella rather than vittella.
Also from last night a nicely coloured Carcina quercana
Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.
Friday 4 October 2024
Mines of Royal Leaf-miner (Phyllonorycter pastorella) in Bucks
I recently found a mine of the Royal Leaf-miner Phyllonorycter pastorella near Peterborough. I noticed the scarcity of records across the Upper Thames area (albeit only records up to 2022) and thought I would have a look for it locally.
Phyllonorycter pastorella mines long-leaved willows such as Hybrid Crack-Willow Salix x fragilis, Crack-Willow Salix fragilis, Weeping Willow Salix x sepulcralis and White Willow Salix alba.
I had a short walk around Hughenden Park this morning, and found several mines on three different looking willows.
Phyllonorycter pastorella on Weeping Willow Salix x sepulchralis. |
Phyllonorycter pastorella on Hybrid Crack Willow Salix x fragilis |
Phyllonorycter pastorella on Crack-Willow type Salix fragilis agg. |
The first record of this species was from Buckingham Palace gardens in 2014. It seems to be spreading quickly with records of mines from Kent west to Oxfordshire and north to Nottinghamshire.
If you have long-leaved willows nearby (they usually occur near water) it is worth checking them out. It is a lower surface mine extending from the centre vein to the leaf edge and with a single strong crease. Pupation in the mine in a flimsy cocoon and frass in the opposite corner.
Neil Fletcher
Walter's Ash VC24