Leaf Mines 2

 A few more.

I think the first is Callisto denticulella on Apple.

I searched for Gracillaria syringella on our lilacs. Usually most of the leaves look burnt by the end of the year. Today I only found a couple of possibles.

Then I have what I think is Stigmella tityrella with the corridor starting near to the mid rib on Copper Beech.

 

The last one I am uncertain if it is Phyllonorycter messaniella or some other damage, possibly hail damage.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

News from Flackwell Heath, Bucks

The garden trap run by Paul Bowyer and Karen Roberts in Flackwell Heath brought in a decent migrant on 1st September, a Scarce Bordered Straw.  However, even better was a Clifden Nonpareil which appeared overnight on 8th September.  There have only been a handful of records from south Bucks so this may give hope to others in that area who have yet to see one this year.

Leaf Mines

Encouraged by Dave's posts I've had a look for leaf mines in the garden this morning. It's made harder this year as so many leaves have blemishes following the hail we had a month or so ago.

Anyway I think I have Lyonetia clerkella on Apple, 

 

then Phyllonorycter maestingella  on Beech (not so sure about the second one)

 

and Stigmella aurella on Bramble.

I need to have a look at the Lilac's, they are usually martyrs to Gracillaria syringella, although I can't recall seeing them this year.

On the macro front the first Lunar Underwing appeared a day ago and the first Frosted Orange a few days before that.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Elachista or similar...?

Things have settled into a bit of a rut here in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire; much the same species turning up most nights, and a very autumnal flavour to things. The micro below is giving me a little trouble, annoyingly because I'm pretty sure it's a species I've seen before, but not this year. It looks like a Swammerdamia or Elachista, but nothing in the Micro Moths field guide looks quite right. It was about 5mm long, at a guess; I'd be grateful for any suggestions, if only to drive my garden year list up by one...

Unknown micro, 9/9/20

Steve Goddard

Unidentified moth

 Hi there,

This turned up in my trap in SW Bucks the other night. Suggestions so far are Deep-brown Dart or a very dark Common Rustic. Can anyone help?

Oak leaf-mine

Even though it doesn't seem to have affected the number of Oak-feeders I get in the garden traps, this tree species is actually in short supply around our village.  During the spring I planted out a sapling I've been growing in a pot for the last few years and it has already earned its keep by attracting one of several Phyllonorycter species which use Pedunculate Oak as a food-plant.  On 24th August I found five small blotch mines on its leaves and two of them, both on the same leaf, were taken into custody.  The adults both emerged today and, contrary to expectations (I thought they'd be the very common harrisella which I've had in the trap here in previous years), they proved to be Phyllonorycter heegeriella which is a completely new species for the garden.

Can't really call it a tree yet...

Phyllonorycter mine on oak leaf, found 24th August

Phyllonorycter heegeriella, emerged Westcott 10th September

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

Can't keep them away

Back this morning for the fourth time, on a cold and fairly sparse night; and this is definitely a different specimen, fresher and with less wing edge damage. I wonder if the Kent and Norfolk Broads colonies in the past were bigger than recorded because there were no light traps for most of their existence? Otherwise things have been quite busy on the warmer nights, with Orange Sallow, Feathered Gothic and a couple of Old Ladies among a host of Square-spot Rustics, Hebrew Characters, Silver Ys, Light Emeralds, Brimstones (the latter two favouring out-of-trap perches) and assorted Yellow Underwings plus my first Autumnal Rustic today.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Westcott, Bucks

After 2nd September there was a gradual decline in moth numbers at Westcott thanks to much colder nights, the trough being reached on the 5th when there were just 53 moths of 19 species shared between the MV and actinic traps. However, the last two warmish nights have seen an improvement (177 of 40 species on the 7th and 174 of 41 species on the 8th) even though Square-spot Rustic hasn't exploded into action here quite as much as I know it has done in other gardens already.  Another five adult moth species have been added to the garden year-list over the past seven nights:

(5th)  Deep-brown Dart
(7th)  Lunar Underwing, Black Rustic
(8th)  Caloptilia syringella, Orange Sallow 

Other species seen during the past week include Red-green Carpet (3rd, first of the autumn here), a late Early Thorn (7th) and another Hoary Footman (7th, hind-wings checked although this late in the season it is unlikely to be anything else).

Red-green Carpet, Westcott 3rd September

Hoary Footman, Westcott 7th September

  
I'm really starting to run out of  possible new moths for the year now.  Although dissections will eventually improve the situation, as things currently stand the garden list for 2020 is at 558 species.  Last year's final count was 699, but based on what is likely still to come this year I won't even achieve 600 just with adult moths so I'd better pull my finger out with some more leaf-mining!  By my calculations there are only 25 macros and one micro which are virtually guaranteed, plus maybe another half a dozen which may or may not turn up.  The latter include Tawny Pinion (intermittent here but seen more often in the autumn than the spring) as well as Dewick's Plusia and Oak Rustic which were first-timers in 2019.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

 

Cochylis hybridella?

 I think this is Cochylis hybridella - can someone confirm?

 

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Elephant Hawk Moth Pupa Advice

 Over the last couple of days I've found a couple of Elephant Hawk Moth pupae in our back garden. I suspect this means that one of my visitors to the trap earlier in the year saw fit to lay eggs in the back garden. What I want to know is what I should do with it. Is it now looking for somewhere to pupate over the winter or is it still wanting to feed? Should I put it somewhere safe in the garden or can I keep it myself and let it overwinter within a box or something?

Some Micro ID Queries

Sunday night was a reasonable night for moths, despite the bright moon. I had 45 species in the two traps, though the total number of moths caught was distorted by Square-spot Rustic (126) and Large Yellow Underwing (41). No Catocala, though.

I would appreciate confirmations on a few micros, starting with Pyrausta purpuralis. I've used the excellent "Common Micro-moths of Berkshire" PDF to distinguish this species from P. aurata. I'm reasonably sure that a couple of points make it P. purpuralis: the dorsal section of the yellow cross-band is arched; and the subterminal line on the underside of the forewing is narrow, straight and doesn't reach the costa. My photo of the underside is hampered by being taken through glass and the tip is missing on one side.

Pyrausta purpuralis upperside
Newton Longville, 6 September 2020

Pyrausta purpuralis underside
Newton Longville, 6 September 2020

I think the second moth (FWL c. 5½ mm) will have to go for the chop. Coleophora trifolii is too large, but there are several other possibilities. I looked at the antennae with a hand-lens: not easy as it never stops waving them around, even after refrigeration! They have thicker basal segments and pale tips (the latter not clear in my photo), so I've ended up with C. alcyonipennella or C. frischella. The Hants Moths site says that the latter is confined to SW England, but that statement doesn't seem to be generally accepted. Anyhow, I thought I'd check here in case gen. det. isn't needed.

Coleophora sp.
Newton Longville, 6 September 2020

My last moth may be Orthotaenia undulana. Unfortunately, its markings are not well-defined and although it doesn't seem to have the pale horizontal streak that would make it Celypha lacunana, I'm not 100% sure of this. O. undulana's flight season should be over whereas C. lacunana is still flying.

Orthotaenia undulana or Celypha lacunana?

Finally, if time permits I do sometimes try to identify some of the other orders that I find in/near the trap. This leafhopper amused me with the human face on its scutellum: I think it's Populicerus laminatus. It will find its way onto iRecord in due course.

Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks

Toadflax Brocade

I was lucky enough to get my first adult Toadflax Brocade in the garden trap back on 8th August.  There are a few scrappy plants of Purple Toadflax growing up through the pavement in our road and on checking them today I found four mid-instar caterpillars.  It is nice to know that the moth is breeding locally so I may get to see the adult again next year.

Purple Toadflax, Westcott 8th September

Toadflax Brocade caterpillar, Westcott 8th September

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

The Nicotiana delivers again

I've been looking out for Convolvulus Hawkmoth for a few weeks now, and finally the wait is over, just checked the moth trap and about 4m up the wall of the house next to the moth trap there it was!
Apologies for the dodgy photo, but the combination of light and distance makes photos very hard.  I'll see if it comes to the trap and try and get a better shot tomorrow.

I grow a patch of Nicotiana close to where the moth trap is located which has produced 3 previous records from the garden, 2 in 2016 and 1 in 2018.  
Still waiting for the Clifden Nonpareil though!
Neil Fletcher
Walter's Ash, VC24

Leaf-mines

Perhaps a bit of a niche interest to many, but this is just a quick reminder that September and October are the traditional months for leaf-mining, when many of our smallest and most difficult micro-moth species are identifiable at their larval stage.  A thirty-minute look around the garden this afternoon produced a handful of mines each with a larva present (as well as a host of vacated ones).  The active mines included Parornix anglicella and Phyllonorycter corylifoliella both on hawthorn, Phyllonorycter cerasicolella on cherry, Phyllonorycter leucographella on apple, Phyllonorycter schreberella (mine containing pupa in cocoon) and Stigmella ulmivora both on elm, Phyllonorycter nicellii on hazel, Stigmella plagicolella on blackthorn and Phyllonorycter esperella on hornbeam.


Back-lit photo of Stigmella plagicolella mine on blackthorn
to show larva, Westcott 5th September

Mine of Phyllonorycter esperella on the upper surface of a
hornbeam leaf, Westcott 5th September

Back-lit photo of mine to show larva of Phyllonorycter esperella
feeding inside, Westcott 5th September

A hornbeam hedge was planted in our front garden about ten years ago and Stigmella microtheriella was found on it almost straight away, but the eight active mines of Phyllonorycter esperella discovered today are the first time that particular species has been recorded here (becoming garden moth species no. 1010).  It is the 63rd micro to be recorded as a leaf-mine in the garden.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks  

Return of the Feathered Gothic

I recorded my first Feathered Gothic for 4 years in my garden trap last night. A welcome return. This specimen does not have feathered antennae, so I guess it is a female.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Hanging around

Back for the third night running - this time with a cousin. I think this one's a returnee but in any event, I'm glad that they like living round here.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Oak Lutestring

I paid another visit to nearby Finemere Wood, Bucks last night.  There was again no sign of Clifden Nonpareil so I'm convinced that BBOWT's felling of aspen here has had an effect on its colonisation of the wood, but hopefully the moth is around in sufficient numbers now in the local area to be able to try again (I had another one to light at home last night, my third of the season, and we have no aspen at all within a mile of the house although there are plenty of poplars).  However, I did have luck with the other target species at Finemere which was the much-declined Oak Lutestring.
 

Oak Lutestring, Finemere Wood 3rd September

This moth has a patchy distribution in Bucks.  In the south it seems to have a stronghold at Burnham Beeches and there are post-millennium records from other sites in that general area of the county.  In mid-Bucks you'd expect it to be in Bernwood Forest where it was certainly recorded in numbers up to the 1980s but I've been trapping there regularly at the right time of year for more than a decade now and have never found it.  It continues to hang on at Finemere and is probably in one or two of the other (mostly private) blocks of ancient woodland in this area.  I've also seen it at Rammamere Heath on the Bucks/Beds border and in Salcey Forest at the far northern end of the county where it hopefully continues to survive.  There have been one or two garden records of it too (not yet in mine, I hasten to add!) so this is a moth to look out for throughout September.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

And another

This morning. But I think Marc's record is safe.  For now.  This one was almost tame, going for short flights round our garden and settling long enough for me to take pictures.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Update: I've been looking at the wing damage on the edge of the right forewings and I'm pretty certain that the bottom two - one of yesterday's arrivals and today's - are the same. So, a returnee.

Acleris kochiella?

Looking at the micro book, I think Acleris kochiella is the closest fit for this micro spotted at a lighted window yesterday.  

Can you confirm from this slightly fuzzy mobile phone photo?

Thanks!

Barnaby Briggs, Iver

Blue Wednesday

With a much warmer night finally forecast I trapped at Bagley Wood (VC22) with Martin Harvey last night as well as leaving a couple of traps out as I normally do when surveying there. My first trap positioning resulted in over a hundred hornets in the first hour, so that had to be shut down and moved. Before that though we did have a Clifden Nonpareil which made up for what was an otherwise fairly disappointing night for moths with very little activity despite the warm, cloudy conditions. Oak Lutestring was one of the main targets and put in an appearance with 5 individuals, making it the most abundant moth in the trap! Overnight traps checked this morning were considerably better, but still not fantastic, with Oak Lutestring in double figures, but perhaps more amazingly 5 Clifden Nonpareils (4 in one trap, one in the other which was also had a much darker ground colour than the others). The garden trap continues to be uninspiring while I read with green eyes glowing of some of the recent catches down in the south-west.

Marc Botham, Didcot 

Clifden Nonpareils, Bagley Wood, 02/09/20

Oak Lutestring, Bagley Wood, 02/09/20

What is the collective term?

Anyone got a collective term for more than one of these - a pair in the MV trap this morning. What an incredible success story the Clifden Nonpareil is!  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Need help please

 Have taken on a local nature reserve Outside Banbury to use my 6 watt trap and I have two moths caught Last night that I am struggling to identify. I would very much appreciate any help

Iain Sibford Ferris

Westcott, Bucks

Including, as it did, both the August Bank Holiday weekend and National Moth Nights, this was always going to be a dire week for weather!  I can't remember ever having had such poor garden results on nights in August (31st in 2019 brought 180 moths of 38 species, 31st in 2020 brought 35 moths of 14 species).  Still, there were one or two additions to the year-list over this period:

(26th)  Agonopterix nervosa
(27th)  Cypress Pug
(28th)  Feathered Gothic
(29th)  - nil -
(30th)  - nil -
(31st)  - nil -
(1st)    Acleris emargana 

Agonopterix nervosa, Westcott 26th August

Cypress Pug, Westcott 27th August

Feathered Gothic, Westcott 28th August

Although seemingly quite a common moth, Agonopterix nervosa was completely new for the site (micro no. 563 on the garden list).  Cypress Pug first appeared here in 2009 and has been an annual visitor since 2015 with numbers steadily increasing over the last couple of years (10 in 2019) so is obviously fairly well established now locally.  The appearance of Feathered Gothic reminds me that the similar-looking Gothic Naenia typica hasn't been seen in the garden since 2011.  In fact I haven't seen it anywhere in Bucks since 2016 and I don't think there have been any records for the county since that year so it seems to be a moth in trouble locally.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

Sugaring

As posted previously I tried sugaring quite a few years back without success. Over the National Moth Nights all that were attracted were quite large groups of woodlice, last night though an Old Lady visited. I know it's fairly common for most people on the blog but this the first one I've seen here. If this is all I get then it's been worth the effort.