Moths from my "away" sites

In conjunction with Tori Summerell, Andy King & Rob Payne, I had traps out last night at the Burial Park and the Open Air Museum.

The former was with the usual 6W trap plus a UV light and the security lights. Most of the moths were Cinnabar, but the 6W produced a few "new for year" with Great Oak Beauty, Beautiful Golden Y, Blotched Emerald and Toadflax Pug.

 Beautiful Golden Y

Great Oak Beauty

The Open Air Museum was a 3-MV all-nighter; there were quite a number of micros taken away by Mr King, but the list has 74 species on it, plus maybe a few on Mr Payne's phone as both pens ran out!

Best of the list (i.e NFY) were Lime Hawk-moth, Maple Prominent, Green Oak Tortrix, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Epiblema uddmanniana (Bramble Shoot Moth), Small Angle Shades, Beautiful Hook-tip, Common Footman, Tinea semifulvella, Archips xylosteana (Variegated Golden Tortrix), Pretty Chalk Carpet, Epiblema roborana, Birds Wing, Grey Arches, Bright-line Brown-eye & what we are all pretty sure is Phlyctaenia perlucidalis.

 Maple Prominent

Phlyctaenia perlucidalis

IDs & Confirmations please

Like Steve I noticed what I think is a Heart & Club amongst the Heart and Darts this morning. I think I also have a Clouded Brindle this time and maybe a Garden Rose Tortrix? The final one I think is a Lychnis.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Stoke Common

A walk around Stoke Common, Bucks yesterday (11/6) afternoon was notable for two of the rather beautiful Brown China-marks by the largest of the ponds. On the heathland were dozens of Common Heaths and a few Brown Silver-lines.

Dave Ferguson

Reddish Light Arches

I am still catching up with Monday night's bumper visitation and left the moths undisturbed on Tuesday. Fortunately last night's tally was relatively modest although I have taken to heart Steve's Heart and Dart alert in the post below.

My hopelessness with noctuids has been greatly helped by Ben Sale of Essex Moths who identified the above (from Monday) as a Reddish Light Arches. Other arrivals that night include Dark Arches (first this year here) Brown Rustic, Large Nutmeg, Rustic Shoulder Knot and my first Broad-barred White.  Micros included Aphelia paleana, Chrysoteuchia culmella, Eucosma cana and Ephestia parasitella. Mindful of Dave's \two pic' guideline, I'm not posting photos but they're here should anyone wish to see them.

I very much like the Reddish Light Arches if only because that handy website UK Moths says of it: 'The early stages are incompletely known, but the larva is said to feed on the roots of grasses.' A DPhil there for someone...

I also found a 20-plume on my computer screen last night. It's a good time for moths coming to lights other than the doughty Robinson.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Not all Heart and Darts?

At the moment Heart and Darts are by far the most common species in my moth trap. However, I did notice a couple of moths that were similar but different.
The first does not have the black stripe on the front of the collar and the forewing measured 19mm. Would this be a Turnip Moth?

The second was smaller with a forewing of 15mm, and the markings looked different from the other Heart and Darts. Could this be a Heart and Club?

Finally, can I add a micro to this posting. The forewing was 8mm and it looked more silvery than in this photo. Suggestions welcome.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Common Pug confirmation

Hopefully I've got this one right. This one was particularly obliging this morning.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

 

Blotched Emerald

My monthly survey at Harcourt Arboretum (VC23) yielded a relatively short species list last night though within half an hour of setting up a trap that i sat with for 2 hours I had three hawkmoth species (Lime, Elephant and Pine). I was hoping to catch some Pauper Pugs to check the population we discovered there a few years ago is still thriving. I didn't catch any, but pugs were generally short in supply. Lots of Udea olivalis, and fair numbers of Marbled Brown still, but otherwise a pretty standard and somewhat disappointing catch with only one or two of most species. Did include my first Blotched Emerald of the year, which was a lovely pristine individual. Marc Botham, Benson

Back garden.

Dave consistently gets good numbers in his back garden. On the same night (night before last) I took just 36 moths of 24 species in my Chorleywood back garden. I did, however, get 3 Tachystola acroxantha and I post a photo, showing how a rather worn and poorly marked specimen can look very little like the images in the books.

Rather more like the 'proper' thing is this image of an Argyresthia. I think it's an A. pruniella, but does anybody disagree and think bonnetella?

Andy King.

A Good Night in the Garden

Like Martin, I had quite a good result in the garden here at Westcott, Bucks last night.  The trap wasn't overloaded with moths (Heart and Dart taking the lead with just 29 individuals), but 80 different species attended.  Some of the summertime pyrales are starting to appear, Phlyctaenia perlucidalis and Hypsopygia costalis/Gold Triangle being first sightings for 2014, while as usual my first phycitinid of the year was Pempelia formosa.  I seem to have cornered the market for the latter species in Bucks as there hasn't been a record of it from anywhere else in the county since 2006 yet I get it annually in the garden.  Other new micros included Bryotropha affinis, Agapeta hamana and Ancylis achatana.



Pempelia formosa, Westcott 9th June

There were few new arrivals amongst the 56 macro species, with only Double Dart, Burnished Brass and Beautiful Golden Y being additions to the garden year list.  Even though it is the epitome of drab-looking moths, Double Dart is always nice to see because it ranks joint second (at 98%, alongside Garden Dart and Dusky Thorn) behind V-Moth in the list of those moth species which suffered the greatest decline in numbers between 1968 and 2007.  It doesn't appear in the garden every year but I do get it quite regularly and in Bucks it seems to be restricted now to this north-western corner of the county.

Double Dart, Westcott 9th June

Dave Wilton 

Going green

Goodness what a night for moths! Well over 300 and still counting here in Thrupp, Oxon, with new species for the year including Drinker, Spindle Ermine, Scarlet Tiger and this delightful Green Silver Lines, plus 12 Elephant Hawks, one tucked up in a row on an eggbox with an Eyed and a Privet like a trio of puddings in a posh restaurant.

The colour green also features in the Thrupp School for Emperors where a couple of the catties have now shed their previously sombre black skins. This prompts me to ask two questions which have long interested me but remain unresolved: first, why are relatively few UK moths green when this is such an important element of camouflage (as I guess their larvae show)? And secondly, more intriguing to me, why do hardly any of them have any blue?  (I guess this also raises questions about the handful which do).

I have Googled at intervals for info on this without success, though exchanges with other amateurs suggested that flying by night might be relevant. Anyway, I'd be very grateful for any thoughts or links to studies of the subject.  Hope your moths have been abundant too.  Martin Wainwright.

Pheromone Success

I put the VES lure out in the garden here at Westcott, Bucks at 3pm this afternoon and sat down with a cup of tea to watch for clearwing activity, expecting none as is usually the case!  I've had Orange-tailed Clearwing here to that lure on a couple of occasions in the past and was hoping that I might perhaps get it again.  However, within ten minutes a different species appeared which, after netting, proved to be Yellow-legged Clearwing, a new species for the garden.  Very nice!  Nothing else had turned up by 3.30pm so I then tried the TIP lure for Currant Clearwing and one very small male duly appeared at 4pm, just as I was about to give up.  These lures are four or five years old but obviously retain their ability to bring in the moths if looked after and kept in the freezer.

Dave Wilton

Yellow-legged Clearwing, Westcott 9th June

Currant Clearwing, Westcott 9th June

  

Micro or caddis fly? And a faded macro.

Am I correct in thinking that this is a caddis fly rather than a micro moth? It caught my attention as it is a lovely silvery colour, rather than the usual brown variety. The forewing measures 7mm.

In addition, I have a rather tatty macro that I cannot identify. Any suggestions welcome (the forewing measures 15mm).

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Hornet Moth Field Trip

In response to a demand for an easy access site to photograph fresh Hornet moths, Berkshire Moth Group is running a field trip on Saturday (14/06/2014), For more information and booking details see https://sites.google.com/site/berksmoths/Home/diary

There may still be one or two places available. As with all trips, there are no guarantees, but this site has not disappointed over the the last several consecutive years.

Kind regards,
Mark Calway

IDs please

Not much over the last two days although I did get the first Scarlet Tiger yesterday after the caterpillars have now become a regular find in the garden.

Pictures aren't much good unfortunately, bit warm this morning I think. Possibly a Vine's Rustic and a Eudonia species, possibly Eudonia mercurella?

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Be Determined

Can I just remind everyone who are posting moths on the blog for identification, that you should include the correct determiner/determiners in your annual summary of records to your local county moth recorder. That way, when he comes to verify the record, he knows who has identified it and hopefully realises it is a reliable record. We have 4 Martins as CMR's ( to make it easy to remember their names) and 3 read this blog and they will be expecting correct records. I'm sure most of you are all doing this already. Thanks. Peter Hall

Hornet Moth

For those who like to look for this handsome beast, the season seems to be under way.  I haven't seen an adult locally yet this year but a search of some black poplars near Grendon Underwood, Bucks this afternoon produced this freshly-vacated pupal case in typical position just a few inches above ground level at the base of one tree.  Dave Wilton

Hornet Moth exuvia, Grendon Underwood 8th June

Two for ID / Confirmations please

After yesterday's bonanza, slimmer pickings today although the Large Yellow Underwings are starting to show up. Two not very good photos I'm afraid, the first I'm thinking is a Mottled Beauty on the basis of the scalloped hindwing, the other I think might be an Oegoconia, the patterning looks right but I'm not sure about the posture. The length (rather than wingspan) was about 2 mm.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Should have been better

OK, so it was about 44 species and over 100 individuals, but I had the impression the night 6th-7th June should have been better here in Wolvercote, Oxon - it was very warm, cloudy, windless - but still a slight sense that we should have had a few more. Notwithstanding, a few new species for the year came up - our first Green Pug and Riband Wave, for instance, and a few debatable individuals shown below: what may possibly be a Denisia albimaculea, though the photo is poor (it was very small: maybe 4mm long?); a couple of individuals I think are Common Carpet, but which look a little out in terms of colour; one I tentatively suspect is a Lychnis (the two stigmata seem more or less separate, the outermost cross-line looks right); a presumed Scoparia ambigualis; and a micro from the 5th which I can't ID at all. As ever, all suggestions gratefully received. Steve and Xander Goddard.

Possible Denisia albimaculea, 6/6/14

Possible Common Carpet, 6/6/14

Another possible Common Carpet, 6/6/14

Presumed Lychnis, 6/6/14

Possible Scoparia ambigualis, 6/6/14

Completely unknown micro, 5/6/14

Handlebars

It's always a treat to have one of these in the trap, a Longhorn Micro, in this case Nematopogon Metaxella. But why do they have these extraordinary appendages. Can anyone enlighten me?

Meanwhile, here's a good tip from a friend on dealing with predatory birds. Apologies if you are familiar with it, but it was new to me. I received it with extra warmth because my first Light Emerald of 2014 was dismembered by a bird which reached it before me, as you can see. Here we go:  Because of the marauding robin problem, we ended up buying what is called our 'mothing basket'. This is a lidded wicker affair whose lid is left slightly ajar to allow moth egress but absolutely no birdy predators in. We pop the be-mothed egg boxes in there straight from the trap. Most moths leave of their own accord once darkness has fallen... best wishes from the home of overengineered solutions.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon.

Macros for ID / Confirmations

I think I have Riband Wave, a Treble Brown Spot (that was in the greenhouse) and a pug, maybe Brindled?

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxon

Micro IDs / Confirmations

Bumper night last night with both Privet Hawk and Small Elephant Hawk. I collected a number of micros at about 10.30pm, I think I have a Barred Fruit Tree Tortrix, Codling Moth, what might still be a light brown apple moth but it semed a bit smaller than the female and not marked quite like a male, Pseudargyrotoza cowagana (there were lots of these) and another one I've been unable to find.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

COAM Moths

A session last night (2 traps left overnight) at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, with Rob Payne and Andy King, to acquire some live specimens to enhance a show-and-tell session gave me a few new moths for my year list.

Andy has taken a few away for further study, and we had a huge range of colour variants of Ingrailed Clay (the most common species by a long way), but the list included:

Sandy Carpet, Green Arches, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Dark Arches, Burnished Brass and one we're 99% sure is White-point. Also during the day, a Burnet Companion.

Popular moths with the punters were Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Peppered Moth, Brimstone and Angle Shades.

 Burnished Brass

 Green Arches

 Peppered Moth

Small Elephant Hawk-moth

Dave Morris

IDs & Confirmations Please

First up is one I had got previously, looks like I got the same individual. Not sure if it is a Dark Arches or Dusky Brocade - the more definite W and the black extending from that W looks like Dark Arches - but I really don't know.

I think number 2 is a Brown Rustic?

Number 3, I failed on, I'm assuming it's a pug but I've not been able to match the overall grey colouration, lack of a black spot on the forewing and the dark line across it, help?

Final one, The Lychnis as the spots don't join up?

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Oxford Festival of Nature: Cutteslowe Park

Hi All,

BBOWT are holding a bioblitz style event called the Oxford Festival of Nature at Cutteslowe Park this weekend. I mentioned this a while back and a few people expressed interest so thought I'd give more details on the moth side of it. I will be setting up with Chris Bottrell at 20:30pm this evening (Chris is bringing his fantastic screen trap for us to sit around). The itinerary for this evening is as follows:

18:00-19:30: Hedgehog talk (Oxford mammal group)
20:30-22:00: Bat talk/walk  (Oxford mammal group)
22:00-00:00: Moth trapping (me and Chris).

Because it doesn't get dark until late I suspect most people won't bother coming this evening, but will come in the morning when the moth trap opening will be held at 10:00 am ( I will go round first thing in the morning and record everything and close up the traps). However, I have looked at the weather forecast and tomorrow morning it is supposed to rain, with thunder storms expected. Tonight, at least before 01:00am, it is supposed to be fairly cloudy and reasonably warm and so we might actually see some moths, whereas in the morning it might be a bit of a washout, although hopefully we'll have some of tent to go through the traps under. I don't know how good it has been recently as I have just got back from Spain, but I put my traps on in the garden last night to try and catch some specimens to show people this evening and I caught only 5 moths of which none were worth keeping to bring along (worn Treble Lines, Common Swift, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Green Carpet and Mottled Rustic). I'm crossing my fingers that tonight will be better :).

Anyway, that is the schedule, so perhaps see some of you there. Best wishes, Marc Botham