Another Good Night

Last night it was the turn of Finemere Wood, Bucks to receive a February visit.  Two MV traps were run for the usual three hours but they didn't perform as well as they had the night before in Bernwood because the combined total was 'only' 571 moths.  At Finemere it was noticeable that Pale Brindled Beauty and Spring Usher were both well past their peak whereas at Bernwood they seemed just to have reached it.  The 13 species seen were Acleris hastiana (1), Tortricodes alternella (238), March Moth (5), Shoulder Stripe (4), Small Brindled Beauty (200), Pale Brindled Beauty (69), Oak Beauty (2), Spring Usher (22), Dotted Border (5, plus a female on a nearby oak trunk), Small Quaker (1), Common Quaker (2), Satellite (4) & Chestnut (18).

Acleris hastiana, Finemere Wood 19th February

Back home in the garden at Westcott the twin-30wt actinic brought Agonopterix heracliana (5), Tortricodes alternella (1), March Moth (1), Dotted Border (1), Common Quaker (2), Satellite (1), Chestnut (3) & Dark Chestnut (1) to the conservatory windows, the best result of the year so far.  However, it looks as though we're almost at the end of this current warmer period and the weather should soon turn very wintry again, probably until the middle of March. 

Satellite, Westcott 19th February

Dark Chestnut (left) & Chestnut (right), Westcott 19th February

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks  
 

5 moths

5 moths came to light last night. 2 micros, both very tatty, not worth photographing. One each of Chestnut, Early moth and Common Quaker.

Alan Diver
Tackley.

Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella?

hi, can anyone confirm this would be Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella?

Only other moth last night was a Dotted Border.


Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Agonopterix sp? Banbury

Any ideas on this one? Found this evening in my Banbury garden under a security light. My initial I.D. was Agonopterix yeatiana but on learning it's common name, Coastal Flat-body, I'm not so sure. Also the distribution map on NBN Atlas would suggest otherwise.

Sorry for the poor photograph. I will try again tomorrow in better light if necessary.

FW: ~10mm

Shoulder Stripe?

I too put my trap out last night with the warmer weather arriving. I caught March Moth 3, Pale Brindled Beauty 2, Small Brindled Beauty 1, Oak Beauty 1, Satellite 1 and what I think is a Shoulder Stripe. Am I correct?
I was so pleased to catch an Oak Beauty, they certainly live up to their name!

Shoulder Stripe?

Oak Beauty

Small Brindled Beauty

Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon

Bernwood Forest

I certainly got my February "fix" of moths last night!  Two MV Robinsons were taken into Bernwood Forest, Bucks for the usual three hours and, with the promised drizzle holding off until after I'd packed up, between them they managed to bring in a reasonable 14 species.  However, the total number of moths caught (885) was just about double my expectations, with 374 to the trap in Oakley Wood and 511 to the other one in Shabbington Wood.  The combined species totals were as follows:  Acleris ferrugana/notana (2), Acleris cristana (1), Tortricodes alternella (71), March Moth (43), Small Brindled Beauty (127), Pale Brindled Beauty (287), Oak Beauty (4), Spring Usher (224), Dotted Border (34), Small Quaker (1), Common Quaker (4), Clouded Drab (1), Satellite (31) & Chestnut (55).

Acleris cristana, Bernwood Forest 18th February

Oak Beauty, Bernwood Forest 18th February

Clouded Drab, Common Quaker & Small Quaker
Bernwood Forest 18th February

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

  

Pale Brindled Beauty?

Both Pale brindled beauties? Came to light 18/19 Feb.

Moth A

Moth A

Moth A

Moth B

Alan Diver - Tackley

Satellite

Hopefully a sign of much more to come soon - I got a solitary moth, a Satellite last night.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Window of Opportunity

The current slight improvement in overnight temperatures has produced a few moths to the conservatory windows here at home, the actinic light having been run inside on the windowsill until about 11pm.  On Thursday night I got a Pale Brindled Beauty, Friday night brought a Chestnut while last night there was almost a "glut" of five moths before the light was turned off:  Agonopterix heracliana (1), March Moth (1), Dotted Border (2) & Dark Chestnut (1).  It looks as though we might get a couple more worthwhile sessions before the frosts return and I might even be tempted to run the light for the whole night tonight.   

March Moth, Westcott 17th February

March Moth, Westcott 17th February

The average number of macro-moth species recorded here by the end of February is ten and I'm currently on track with eight, so this year is shaping up quite normally.  One thing which I did notice on looking back at the statistics is just how many more macro species than usual had appeared in the garden by the end of March last year, something that I hadn't appreciated before.  That figure was 37, which is eleven more than the previous high (26 in 2011) and way above the average here since 2005 which is 22 species.  Seven of the 37 put in March appearances here for the first time ever:  Water Carpet, Brindled Pug, Oak-tree Pug, V-Pug, Brimstone Moth, Purple Thorn & Nut-tree Tussock.  Hopefully this rather more normal winter won't bring quite so much disruption to flight times.        

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

Pale brindled beauty moths.

These 2 male Pale brindled beauty moths came to light night of 17/18 February.

So far in 2018 I have taken 9 moths, 8 of them outside the trap.

Alan Diver
Tackley

Lackey eggs

A return visit to Lapland Farm this afternoon produced another fairly typical find while searching blackthorn for Brown Hairstreak eggs, this being a Lackey "ring".  The female moth lays her batch of whitish eggs in a black gunge which glues them to a stem of the food-plant for over-wintering, making them look rather like a piece of snake-skin.

Lackey eggs, Lapland Farm 16th February

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks 

First Hebrew Character, and moth trapping on TV

I put my garden moth trap out on Tuesday night the 13th Feb, and was rewarded with a single Hebrew Character. This is the earliest date I have recorded a Hebrew Character in my garden (although admittedly that's only over 6 years).

On a different note, a nature programme that had a feature on moth trapping! It was Hugh Fearnley-Whittonstall's series "Hugh's Wild West" - episode 6 broadcast on Saturday 10th February.
It is available on iPlayer - select episode 6, and if you go 37 minutes into the programme the section on moths will be about to start. It is worth watching just to see the "mothing dog assistant".

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Local Events for Wildlife Recorders

Just a reminder that two local Recorders' Conferences are not far off now, should anyone be interested in going.  Booking is essential!

TVERC Spring Recorders' Conference (Oxfordshire)
Saturday 10th March at CEH Wallingford
See http://www.tverc.org/cms/spring-conf-2018

Buckinghamshire Recorders' Seminar
Friday 16th March at Green Park, Aston Clinton
See http://www.bucksmkerc.org.uk/news/

Drinker

A search for Brown Hairstreak butterfly eggs on hedgerows at BBOWT's Lapland Farm reserve in Bucks today produced plenty of the targets as well as a couple of Blue-bordered Carpet eggs and this early-instar Drinker caterpillar (apologies for the low-quality camera-phone image).  Drinkers are grass feeders but their larvae climb out onto adjacent scrub to hibernate, spending the winter clinging to vegetation, as this one is doing on a blackthorn stem.  Oak Eggar larvae are very occasionally found over-wintering on blackthorn too but at least in their case it is also the caterpillar's food-plant.

Drinker caterpillar, Lapland Farm 8th February

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks     

Something different

I have just picked up what appears to be a Death's-head Hawk-moth pupa lying in the middle of a path. It appears undamaged externally although I expect it is probably dead. The path is not far from where I usually grow potatoes but I have no idea how it got to where it was.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Hardy Moths

Last night didn't seem to be at all suitable for moth activity, with the temperature having been a maximum of 3C all day and then a frost forming quickly after dark, but these two hardy male Dotted Borders had still come to the actinic light here at Westcott by 7pm.

Dotted Borders, Westcott 4th February

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

Spring usher

Spring usher came to light 30/31 January. Another outside trap.

Alan Diver
Tackley, Oxon

Tortricodes alternella

One of these appeared in my bathroom on Jan 28th. A record photo is below - not the best marked individual.  Also a Dotted Border came to the porch light on Jan 29th.

Adam Bassett
Marlow Bottom

Grey Shoulder Knot?

I put my trap out last night and caught 3 Pale Brindled Beauty (one in the dark form?) and 1 Dotted Border. I noticed when I was putting my trap away this morning that there were a further 6 Pale Brindled Beauty and what I think is a Grey Shoulder Knot on the house wall! I will always look around the surrounding area a bit more carefully next time!
Am I right in thinking it is a Grey Shoulder Knot?

Grey Shoulder Knot?

Pale Brindled Beauty f.monacharia ?

  

  Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon, South Oxon

 

Dave

Thanks Dave,

Do any of these images help?

Alan

First away trap of the year

Taking advantage of the much warmer conditions, I took two MV traps to local oak woodland for the usual three hours last night where they were run in sheltered spots out of the ever-increasing wind.  This was actually my second choice of site, having failed to get past the padlocked barrier at the first one, so I was a little bit late getting set up!  The results were, if anything, just a little bit disappointing in that only nine species appeared.  With one exception there were almost no micros and there was no sign yet of early Orthosias such as Common Quaker and Hebrew Character or of Oak Beauty, all of which have put in appearances elsewhere already.  However, they'll all appear in good time and in any case more than 500 moths were seen so I've nothing to complain about:  Acleris ferrugana/notana (1), Tortricodes alternella (47), Small Brindled Beauty (6), Pale Brindled Beauty (233), Spring Usher (207), Dotted Border (10), Mottled Umber (8), Early Moth (4) & Chestnut (3).  More unusually, a couple of shieldbugs had been tempted out of hibernation and came to one of the lights, Hairy Shieldbug Dolycoris baccarum and Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina, the latter in its brown winter form.

Tortricodes alternella, 28th January

Early Moth, 28th January

Small Brindled Beauty, 28th January

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks            

Acleris sparsana?

I'd be grateful for help. Acleris sparsana?  What ever, 5th of 6 moths taken in January found OUTSIDE the trap.

Alan Diver
Tackley, Oxon

Micro help needed

Having finally caught a few moths (three Pale Brindled Beauty and this one) I would welcome some advice.

I have looked at some of the Acleris species that might be around at this time of year or maybe a female Epiphyas postvittana but none seem quite right. It is 8.5mm in length.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

First moths of the year

Last Thursday (26^th January) I found a micro Acleris schalleriana (?) in the house and Angle Shades in my  garden in Wooburn Common.

Spring usher

This Spring usher came to light on the night of 25/26 January.

I have not had many moths in 2018 but, 3 of the 4 I have had have been outside the trap; 1 on the trap and 2 on the nearby house wall. It is well worth checking around the trap as well as within it.

Alan Diver
Tackley, Oxon

Help with micro ID

Hi, this tiny chap was at my window this morning. I find identifying micros very daunting, but I wondered if it might be Rhomboid Tortrix? Am I totally wrong?

 Many thanks
Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon

Pale brindled beauty

Another Pale brindled beauty outside trap 23/24 January.

Alan Diver
Tackley
Oxon

Dark Chestnut, or a dark Chestnut?

First moth of the year.

I'm leaning towards a dark example of a Chestnut rather than a Dark Chestnut on the basis of wing shape. I had to take the picture in the rain so it's not that great.

Can someone confirm?

I'm stiff having an odd issue with the blog that means I can't comment to thank any identifiers or ask questions in comments.

It's really odd. I got to this blog page and it then says "sign in". I click on that and it automatically signs me in, I don't have to put my e-mail or password. I get taken immediately to the page where I can make a post. When I check it I'm in on the right account.

However, once I do that and return to the main blog page it says "sign in" and I cannot comment.

I've tried logging in and out again. I've cleared my cache several times. This has been going on since before Christmas I think.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Pale brindled beauty

This moth came to light 22/23 January. On outside of trap.

Pale brindled beauty.

Alan Diver
Tackley
Oxon

Spring Usher

Last night's warmer weather brought Pale Brindled Beauty (5), Spring Usher (1) and Chestnut (1) to the actinic light here at Westcott.  It was particularly nice to see Spring Usher because this is not a guaranteed annual visitor and, when it does appear, more often than not it is just one visit by a singleton for the year.  There are few oaks in our immediate area.

Spring Usher, Westcott 22nd January

Last night also produced this year's first example of the nocturnal ichneumonid wasp Ophion obscuratus, with no doubt many more to come over the next couple of months (in the past I've had up to 30 a night to the actinic light, the peak being reached in February).  It is a very common parasite of noctuid moth larvae and at this time of the year is one of very few which can be identified safely thanks to the markings on its thorax.

Ophion obscuratus, Westcott 22nd January

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

ID?

Despite frost and ice on pond, this moth came to light 18/19 January.

Chestnut?

Alan Diver
Tackley
Oxon.

First moth of 2018

I haven't yet put the trap out and the house lights haven't attracted any moths yet either, so my first moth of the year is from indoors.  Similar to last year, my first moth is Cydia pomonella - last year one appeared on 22nd Jan in the kitchen and today's moth was also in the kitchen.  Although there were plenty of apples in the kitchen in the Autumn, there haven't been any there for at least a couple of months, so once again, I'm intrigued as to where this has emerged from.

Adam Bassett
Marlow Bottom