The move to Facebook

As mentioned several days ago, we are now going to suspend this blog and move to Facebook.  We realise that this won't please everyone and we may lose one or two contributors as a result, but with more and more people experiencing problems with Blogger we felt the need to move to a more stable platform and there really seems to be very little choice out there.

For those of you who record moths within our three counties and wish to join us on Facebook, please request membership at the link here.  While basic details are now in the public domain, this remains a private Facebook group so messages are only visible to those who join.  We hope that those of you who regularly contribute to the blog, or who have done so in the past, will join us there and make it as successful as this blog has been.

For anyone who wishes to refer back to it, the blog itself will remain visible but inactive.

Westcott, Bucks

The actinic lights here at Westcott had mixed fortunes during the first half of March, with some blank nights at the beginning (1st, 2nd) as well as at the end (12th, 13th, 15th) but a reasonable amount of moth activity for the remainder.  New for the 2025 garden year-list were:

     (5th)  Lead-coloured Drab

     (6th)  Agonopterix ocellana

     (7th)  Emmelina monodactyla

     (8th)  Agonopterix alstromeriana, Acleris ferrugana/notana, Twin-spotted Quaker

     (9th)  Satellite

     (10th)  Small Quaker

Nothing unusual there.  The adult species count has now past 30 and, apart from a couple of recent seasons when we've had unusually warm weather at this time of year, that point is usually reached sometime during the first half of March so progress seems to be fairly close to where it should be.

 

Lead-coloured Drab, Westcott 5th March

Agonopterix ocellana, Westcott 6th March

 

Likely Acleris ferrugana, Westcott 8th March

Satellite, Westcott 9th March

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Two queries

 Hi,

I'm hoping I've got in under the wire before this excellent facility moves to Facebook.

Here are two species that turned up a couple of nights ago. I'm suggesting that the first two images are of  Agonopterix alstromeriana, and that the second pair are one of the Acleris species - maybe shalleriana.

Can someone confirm or put me straight? Many thanks,

David

Important: the blog's future

As more and more people seem to be having trouble contributing to (or in quite a few cases now, even simply viewing) this blog, we feel that after nearly 12 years of successful operation it has run its course.

However, having somewhere up-to-the-minute for local moth recorders to circulate what they've been seeing and to ask questions is still just as important as it ever was, perhaps even more so now with increasing numbers of people turning to this fascinating subject, so we've decided to change platforms rather than wind things up altogether.  After some research, and much as some of us personally dislike using it, the only suitable place would seem to be Facebook, so this blog will migrate to a newly-established private Facebook group in the next week or two.  Watch this space...

Dotted Chestnut

 Despite being "widespread across the region", this was the first here for four years. A very smart moth!

Micro query

 This was trapped on Otmoor this morning. Wondering if it might be a form of Acleris hastiana?? Thanks, Linda.

Finemere Wood, Bucks

With permission from BBOWT, one of my half a dozen sites for regular "away" trapping this year is, once again, Finemere Wood in Bucks.  The wood is quite local to me and one of several of the Trust's reserves which are under considerable pressure from HS2 construction work.

Mixed deciduous woodland is always the place to be for large numbers of moths at this time of year and a couple of MV traps run there for three hours after dark last night (Friday 7th) brought in a reasonable crop of nearly 300 moths from 20 species.  That's not a bad total but I'd expect a much higher count later in the month when Small Quaker should be closer to its peak.  Last night the highest tally was provided by Small Brindled Beauty (46), followed by Yellow Horned (39), Small Quaker (36) & Common Quaker (35).  It was unusual to get a double-digit count of Shoulder Stripe (20 seen), while early examples of Engrailed, Red Chestnut, Lead-coloured Drab & Twin-spotted Quaker were also welcome.  I was surprised to see only two Pale Brindled Beauty, one Spring Usher and no Early Moth at all, so the recent cold weather must have all but finished them off for the season - and unfortunately we've got more frosts to come next week too. 

Shoulder Stripe, Finemere Wood 7th March

Engrailed, Finemere Wood 7th March

Yellow Horned, Finemere Wood 7th March

Lead-coloured Drab, Finemere Wood 7th March

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Westcott, Bucks

We're back to chilly nights again now but at least that slightly warmer spell during the second half of February brought out a few seasonal moths to get the year-list moving:

     (19th)  Hebrew Character, Dark Chestnut

     (20th)  Acleris cristana, March Moth, Oak Beauty, Common Quaker

     (21st)  Dotted Border

     (22nd)  Small Brindled Beauty, Clouded Drab

     (24th)  Mompha epilobiella, Acleris logiana

     (26th)  Chestnut

Most of those species were to be expected although Small Brindled Beauty has only been regarded as an annual here for the last six years, before that it was just a very occasional visitor.  The birch-feeding Acleris logiana was a nice record of a fairly recent arrival in our area, having only appeared in the garden during two previous seasons (2017 and 2020).  I'm happy with the ID for this one but there is a possible confusion species in Acleris kochiella (associated with elms) which is far more common locally. 

Acleris cristana, Westcott 20th February

Acleris logiana, Westcott 24th February

Small Brindled Beauty, Westcott 22nd February

Oak Beauty, Westcott 20th February

Dave Wilton, Westcott, Bucks

Mompha jurassicella

 Found indoors yesterday, I am pretty confident that this is Mompha jurassicella, rather than bradleyi/divisella. It is dull overall; the basal area is dull yellowish brown not white or whitish, and the pale cross-band at 3/4 is faint and broken in the middle. And, FWIW, I had one here, gen det by Peter, on 22 Feb last year.
I have retained it just in case, but I'm rather assuming that gen det won't be needed.

Thanks

Phil 

The first of many?

Last year we had a total of around 200 Bee Moths in the house, (to my wife's dismay!). Perhaps this is the vanguard of another invasion!? 
 

First Micro query of the year

Attracted to a lighted window tonight and then flew off. Any ideas please. Maybe some sort of Acleris ? 

Atlas query

 For some reason the Atlas is giving a large number of Recorder Unavailable results, see below for a random example for Agonopterix heracliana, but the problem affects many species.   

Westcott, Bucks

The first half of February turned out to be a fairly dismal fortnight.  Not only was the weather dull, grey and cold but few moths ventured forth even when the temperature was above freezing.  The lights here were run every night, even if only for a few hours after dark, but I've very little to show for it.  The 4th provided the best result, when Pale Brindled Beauty (2), Spring Usher (1) & Early Moth (2) turned up, but other than that it has just been further occasional appearances by Pale Brindled Beauty.  Not even a Dotted Border yet.  It does look as though we might be due a slightly warmer spell from next week onwards so hopefully that will prompt a bit more activity.  There have been only two adult species to add to the year list since the beginning of the month and they were both found indoors:

     (4th)    Tineola bisselliella 

     (14th)  Mompha jurassicella

Tineola bisselliella, Westcott 4th February

There have been two or three more examples of bisselliella found resting on interior walls since that date so our carpets are obviously being put to good use...  The only other thing worth a mention from this period was a 15mm larva of what I think is Scarce Footman which was found crawling up the exterior conservatory wall towards the light: 

 

Scarce Footman larva, Westcott 5th February

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

 

Westcott, Bucks

I've run the light every night since mid-month because even on the frostier ones the temperature remained above freezing for a few hours after dusk which meant there was potential for moth activity.  There were blanks on the 17th, 20th, 23rd, 25th, 27th & 30th but otherwise something did turn up each time, although there was very little diversity and Pale Brindled Beauty accounted for the majority of the visitors seen.  Early Moth first appeared on the 18th and three more turned up prior to Storm Eowyn but then there were no more until last night when the catch comprised Acleris schalleriana (1), Early Moth (2) & Spring Usher (3).  Newcomers during this two-week period are listed below, taking the adult moth count to nine species for the year to date:  

     (18th)  Early Moth

     (24th)  Acleris hastiana

     (29th)  Acleris schalleriana

     (31st)  Spring Usher

Acleris hastiana, Westcott 24th January

Spring Usher, Westcott 31st January

Early Moth, Westcott 18th January

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

2024 Winners and losers

 Having got my 2024 records sorted and feeling that it was a good year for the number of species recorded (especially micros) overall numbers were down. I decided to look more closely at what had happened with the more common species.

I looked at the 52 commonest species in the garden. These are ones that I have recorded more than 400 individuals of since I started trapping regularly in 2016. I compared the numbers caught in 2024 with the average caught in 2016-2023.

In 2024 14 species did better than expected. The best 5 were Dingy Footman, Riband Wave, Green Carpet, Straw Dot and Buff Footman. 

8 species were much the same as in previous years.

30 species appeared in much lower number with the poorest being Large Nutmeg, Flame, Middle-barred Minor, Lunar Underwing and Heart and Dart.

Generally it was the heavier, more robust moths that performed badly and the lighter ones that did well.

Other less common moths that did well in 2024 were Pine Hawk-moth, Early Moth, Delicate, Cypress Carpet and Magpie moth. Two species showing a notable decline here in the last few years are Small Angle Shades and Satellite.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Mine ID

 I found this vacated mine yesterday on a bramble leaf. It doesn't seem to match any of the moth mines listed for Rubus sp. in British Leafminers, so I suspect it is either a fly mine (vaguely similar to Agromyza filipendulae?), or perhaps a polyphagous moth species not listed under rubus. Or something else!
Thanks

PhilT

Westcott, Bucks

The garden at Westcott finally got off the mark for 2025 on 5th January.  This has been a very quiet period thanks to the lengthy cold snap and the lights remained off for the majority of it.  An attempt on the 1st (more out of tradition than expecting anything to arrive!) produced nothing at all, the next attempt on the 5th brought in two moths, while a slight improvement in the weather from the 13th onwards did attract a bit more activity on that and the following two nights with the following new for the year list:

     (5th)  Agonopterix heracliana, Winter Moth

     (13th)  Pale Brindled Beauty

     (14th)  Ypsolopha ustella, Mottled Umber

Hopefully Early Moth, whose flight period is limited mainly to January and February, will put in an appearance very soon now.  It is a regular here and its first record is usually during the first two weeks of the new year, so I'm surprised not to have seen one already.  

Ypsolopha ustella, Westcott 14th January

At the moment Peter Hall is kindly working his way through a number of dissections for me from 2024 and there have been a couple of 'newsworthy' items already.  Perhaps the most significant is Phyllocnistis asiatica which was discovered as new to the UK in 2018 (more info can be found on the Atlas page for this species).  It is identical in appearance to Phyllonorycter saligna and, like Spiny Hook-tip, is another moth which seems to have been "hiding in plain sight".  To date it appears that only females of asiatica and saligna can safely be determined to species via dissection and four examples of asiatica have been confirmed from Westcott so far (23rd June, 29th July, 30th July x 2) with more still to be checked.  That saligna hasn't (yet) been found is perhaps equally as interesting!  

Phyllocnistis asiatica, Westcott 23rd June 2024

The other notable discovery was confirmation that I had an example of Saltern Ear to light at Westcott on 24th July 2024.  I thought at the time that it might be that species and the picture can be seen here on the blog.  This was a first record for Bucks.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks  

Latest moth reports from Les Finch and Martin Finch

Three new reports from Les Finch and Martin Finch are now available from the Berkshire Moth Group website, adding to the long-running and absolutely fascinating series that they have been producing since 2005. The overall summary for their home trapping is that there were fewer individuals in 2024 compared to 2023, but more species, and both individual and species totals in 2024 were higher than the longer-term average for 2014-2023:

The trend for early emergences of some of the spring species has continued:

Les and Martin provide lots more additional information and analysis in their full reports, and I recommend exploring them in detail!

Stowe 2024

 

Having finished my analysis of last year, I find that the total trap count for 2024 was similar to 2022, but down by around 25% compared with 2023. The number of species recorded though was only down by 5%, with the macro species count being the highest ever, offset by a lot fewer micros. Despite this, of the 36 new species recorded in the year, 26 were micros and only 10 macros.

	2022	2023	2024
Nights	174	162	174
Total count	11725	14867	11053
Species count	435	481	457
Macros	256	270	295
Micros	179	211	155

 

Of the new macro species, Reddish Light Arches seems a long way from any chalk, and there appear to be no other records in this part of Bucks. Clouded Magpie too was a long way from its regular sites. This year I tried a pheromone lure for Gypsy Moth, (which proved very effective at attracting Black Arches), but I needn’t have bothered as several turned up in the light trap, filling a distribution gap in NW Bucks.
Among the micros were Caloptilia honoratella, Elachista luticomella, and Cnephasia pasiuana, IDs thanks to Peter, plus Lyonetia prunifoliella, all of which appear to have very few records in the region.

                                                             

                                                                Caloptilia honoratella

                                        

                                                                    Lyonetia prunifoliella

Phil T
                                                               

Westcott, Bucks

Happy New Year one and all.  May there be plenty of moths in all of our traps this coming season, although the current weather forecast suggests that those of us who keep recording throughout the winter may have to wait a few days before getting off the mark for 2025!

The lights were on each night throughout the second half of December here in the garden at Westcott but on four occasions they produced a nil return (18th, 19th & 31st thanks to very strong winds but, unexpectedly, also on 30th when conditions were actually quite benign).  Otherwise something turned up each time and species seen over this period comprised Ypsolopha ustella, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, Emmelina monodactyla, Acleris schalleriana, Cypress Carpet, Winter Moth, Pale Brindled Beauty, Mottled Umber & Dark Chestnut, while found indoors were Tineola bisselliella & Mompha epilobiella.  

Ypsolopha ustella, Westcott 29th December

This two-week period also saw a handful of other insects brought to the overnight lights, including water beetles Colymbetes fuscus (24th) & Dytiscus marginalis (23rd & 24th), predatory shield-bug Troilus luridus (25th) and a seemingly rather early example of ichneumon wasp Ophion variegatus (30th).  I get lots of that particular Ophion here, but usually not until mid-January onwards.

That brings activity in the garden to a close for 2024.  I don't yet know exactly how many moth species appeared here during the year but the macro count will be somewhere just above 330 and I believe the overall total will be in the high 600s.  It is possible that I may just reach the 700+ level achieved in each of the previous three seasons but somehow I doubt it.  I do know how many individual moths turned up though, and as expected that total shows a marked reduction over previous years.  26,270 was the total for 2024, which is the lowest count for twelve years and didn't reach half of the number seen here in 2019 for a roughly similar amount of trapping effort.  The steady increase in the number of trapping nights which can be seen in the table below is certainly not accounted for by me being absent from the garden any less often (we've been away for three or four weeks altogether in most of the years listed).  It appears to be down to our ever-warmer winters providing suitable conditions more and more frequently in January, February and December when moths could be flying, which probably isn't a good thing at all.     

Year	Nights trap was run	Micro species	Macro species	Overall moth count
2015	298	309	324	33,941
2016	289	316	315	26,697
2017	279	326	336	28,189
2018	286	346	338	42,063
2019	323	344	355	54,400
2020	320	345	330	36,784
2021	335	380	332	29,330
2022	326	383	360	38,146
2023	320	362	350	34,986
2024	340			26,270

Macro-moth additions to the site list comprised Chamomile Shark & Plumed Fan-foot as well as Spiny Hook-tip (genitalia now checked thanks to Peter Hall).  A definitive count for new micros is still awaited but certainly includes Stigmella catharticella, Crassa tinctella & Diurnea lipsiella.  The final number of additions is expected to be the lowest here in 20 years of trapping this site but realistically I should be pleased still to be getting any at all after that length of time. 

Chamomile Shark, Westcott 14th April

Plumed Fan-foot, Westcott 10th August

Spiny Hook-tip, Westcott 1st November (gen det)

How was your experience of 2024?  Did you also find that there was a marked reduction in numbers compared to earlier years?

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks