Quiffs

A very small catch at the museum last night; mainly Green Carpets, but a couple of moths with impressive quiffs, 

a Mullein, which is new to me in the adult form, and this one which I'm not 100% sure about, if someone could confirm or deny?

- eta overhead view

(also NFY were Coxcomb and Pebble Prominents)

Dave Morris, Chalfont St Giles

A Gem!

In Denham, Bucks on Thursday night Robin Knill-Jones had a migrant male Gem along with Maiden's Blush & Brimstone Moth to his garden actinic trap, while the nearby 125wt MV brought in Green Carpet, Brindled Beauty, Muslin Moth, Early Grey & Angle Shades.

Gem, Denham 13th May

Westcott, Bucks

Even though I had a blank night last Saturday (I think that may have been a first for me in May!), this was a much better week with a definite improvement in diversity within the trap even if overall numbers are still desperately low.  On Wednesday night I finally passed 100 species on this year's garden list, although to put that in context the total had reached 160 by the same date in 2020 so there's still plenty of catching-up to be done.  Here are the week's highlights:

 
     (8th)  No moths.
     (9th)  17 moths of 7 species.  New for the year-list were the migrant Nomophila noctuella (2) along with Elachista canapennella (the most numerous species present with eight caught), Pale Tussock, Least Black Arches & Flame Shoulder.  The southerly winds that particular night brought in quite a few migrants to south-east England, including several Gem and Striped Hawk-moth, but nothing like that turned up here.  

     (10th)  8 moths of 5 species.  Nothing new for the year but another Herald was nice to see.

     (11th)  10 moths of 8 species.  New for the year-list were Ancylis badiana, Fox Moth (female), Poplar Kitten, Pale Prominent & Mullein.  My second Puss Moth of the season also put in a welcome appearance.

     (12th)  24 moths of 18 species.  New for the year-list were Parornix sp (retained for dissection), Small Phoenix, Brindled Pug (finally!), Currant Pug, Scorched Carpet, Waved Umber, Common Wave, Coxcomb Prominent, Swallow Prominent & Lesser Swallow Prominent.  A second Poplar Kitten appeared too, not a common moth here these days.

     (13th)  4 moths of 4 species (rain all night).  New for the year-list was Pebble Prominent.  Another Brindled Beauty came to light, taking this year's score to 16 which is the first time that species has ever got into double figures here in a single season.  

     (14th)  9 moths of 7 species.  New for the year-list were Scrobipalpa acuminatella & Pebble Hook-tip.  A Silver Y also appeared but that had been added to the year-list back in February.   

Nomophila noctuella, Westcott 9th May

Fox Moth, Westcott 11th May

Small Phoenix, Westcott 12th May

Poplar Kitten, Westcott 11th May

A few daytime sightings have helped move the garden year-list along now as well, including Incurvaria masculella seen on the 11th, Acrolepia autumnitella & Leucoptera laburnella on the 12th and Esperia sulphurella on the 14th.  The tiny Leucoptera (wing length just over 3mm) will go off to be checked because there are a couple of confusion species but it is the only white one I've ever had in the garden and it was found just a matter of feet away from our Laburnum.  

Leucoptera laburnella, Westcott 12th May

On the 12th I also managed to locate an active larval case of Coleophora lineolea on our copious garden supply of Hedge Woundwort.  

Case of Coleophora lineolea, Westcott 12th May

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks       

Light Feathered Rustic

Another good moth to Ched George's garden trap in Radnage, Bucks last night was this Light Feathered Rustic, alongside Oak-tree Pug (1), Brimstone Moth (3), Waved Umber (2), Lesser Swallow Prominent (1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (1), Hebrew Character (1) & Early Grey (1) and a Cockchafer.

Light Feathered Rustic, Radnage 12th May

Pammene suspectana

This is a message from Herefordshire. No records of this moth in the county up until 3 days ago, when former Bucks resident Aaron Woods lured one to the FUN lure in his orchard. It awaits a closer look.  This inspired me to put out 2 pheromone traps in the garden yesterday (12th May), one in my small orchard using the MOL lure and close to 2 large oak trees and one down the bottom of the garden next to a large Ash tree using the FUN lure.  Checks during the day proved fruitless and my last check before bringing them in around 4.15pm showed 3 moths in the orchard using the MOL lure and nothing down the garden with the FUN lure. The 3 adults looked just like Aaron's image posted on the Hereford & Worcester moth blog https://herefordandworcestermoths.blogspot.com/. One went in for closer examination which happened this morning and proved to be Pammene suspectana. If you go into the Useful Links part on this Upper Thames blog you will see the brand new West Midlands moth Atlas link available. We put it there because it can be a great help with checking images and phenology times for you and if you look up suspectana, there's 3 records for the 4 counties up until 3 days ago. We have another specimen from Hereford city too now awaiting confirmation (FUN lure). There's no Bucks records, but this now looks like another moth, like Pammene giganteana, that avoids moth traps and perhaps you can take a look in your garden or woods and see if it is there as well. FUN is supposed to be the lure (I think there is also a specific lure for it) but MOL  looks like it works extremely well. I plan to use these 2 lures regularly over the coming weeks to see what else turns up. Peter Hall

Pammene suspectana: Bringsty Common

 

Micro queries

 April was very disappointing.  May has started out better in terms of new species appearing, if still in very low numbers.  In the last week, the Notodontidae have put in an appearance: I've had Lesser Swallow Prominent, Swallow Prominent, Iron Prominent and Pebble Prominent appear, the last two of those being new for the garden list.

There have been three new species of micro-moth for the year, all of which have given me trouble with identification.

Tentatively, I labelled the first one as Agonopterix yeatiana due to the black shading near the base of the wings and to the small white dot beyond the large black blob in the middle of the forewing.  Then my doubts began to increase when I researched its distribution.  The Sterling & Parsons field guide says simply that it is "more frequent towards the coast", although the distribution chart does shade in most of southern England, including areas well away from the coast.  However, looking at records in inland counties neighbouring Bucks, it seems that records are very sparse indeed.  So now I'm wondering if it's A. arenella.  What do other people think? The moth is in my fridge, in case gen. det. is required.

Possible Agonopterix yeatiana.
Newton Longville, 7th May 2021

The second micro seems to be a Tineid.  Some of them have similar yellow or orangey colouration to the head, but I can't match the plain appearance of its forewing (c. 7mm long) against any images that I can find, including the species not illustrated in the field guide.

Micro 2.  Newton Longville, 7th May 2021

The third micro has a forewing length of about 4½ mm.  In some respects, it resembles Apodia bifractella, but the wing shape looks wrong and it is the wrong time of year.

Micro 3.  Newton Longville, 7th May 2021

Any help gratefully received!

Tim Arnold
Newton Longville, Bucks

Micro Query

My mercury vapour trap in Wheatley contained three Swallow Prominent this morning and one each of White Ermine, Muslin Moth, Powdered Quaker and Hebrew Character, as well as the micro in the attached photo.  Is this a Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana ?

Another Chamomile Shark

A quality catch for Ched George in his garden trap at Radnage, Bucks last night comprised Frosted Green (1), Brindled Pug (1), Lesser Swallow Prominent (1), Pale Prominent (1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (1), Chamomile Shark (1), Mullein (2), Hebrew Character (2) & Dotted Chestnut (1).  The Chamomile Shark was his seventh garden record after two in 1993, two in 1995 and two in 2002.

Chamomile Shark, Radnage 9th May

Late Small Brindled Beauty?

Last year I had this moth on 4th of March, this year on 9th of May well beyond it's normal time.  Are we to expect more like this on what has been a very unusual spring?

Steve Lockey, Garsington

A varied catch...

A varied catch last night, consisting of four caddis flies of two species, [Stenophylax permistus and Limnephilus sparsus (I think)], one small spider, one Sexton beetle, one woodlouse and one small snail! Oh, and a Hebrew Character. 

Things can only get better...

Phil T

Hurrah - Longwick comes alive!

Well finally the moths started to appear with 19 moths of a dozen species. The first Poplar Hawk of the year was hopefully the first of many. On Friday night and on Sunday night I trapped two, different I believe, Dark Swordgrass which I wasn't expecting. Finally I'm rusty on pugs at this time of year. Is the pug below a Dwarf Pug or are the costa markings not strong enough -  which would suggest Oak Tree?

Westcott, Bucks

After a promising start on the 1st, the remainder of the first week of May saw very little improvement over April in the garden here, with the following brought to the actinic light: 

     (1st)  Ypsolopha mucronella (1), Garden Carpet (1), Brimstone Moth (1), Brindled Beauty (2), Small Quaker (1), Common Quaker (1), Powdered Quaker (6), Hebrew Character (3).

     (2nd)  Brindled Beauty (1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (1), Hebrew Character (2), Dotted Chestnut (1), Nut-tree Tussock (1).

     (3rd)  Trap not run due to very high winds.

     (4th)  Hebrew Character (4).

     (5th)  Hebrew Character (1).

     (6th)  Hebrew Character (1).

     (7th)  Powdered Quaker (2), Hebrew Character (3), Early Grey (1).

Ypsolopha mucronella, Westcott 1st May

Garden Carpet, Westcott 1st May

Shuttle-shaped Dart, Westcott 2nd May

The three moths illustrated above were the only year-list additions from the trap, although during the daytime on the 7th I did find a Common Pug lurking inside our garden shed:

Common Pug, Westcott 7th May

While on the subject of Pugs, it is interesting to note that I've not yet seen either Brindled or Oak-tree in the garden.  Both still have an opportunity to appear as they often keep going here until late-May.  They've never yet missed a year but I suppose there's always a first time!

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Larva id Watlington Hill

 Not sure whether this is the right place to ask for help with id of this larva which I manage to see rather than tread on on the path up the Shirburn Hill area of Watlington Hill.  Wonder if anyone recognises this please? Help appreciated and apologies if this is the wrong forum to ask.

 

Phyllonorycter ulicicolella parasitoids

Last December, Will Langdon posted about finding the winter mines of Phyllonorycter scopariella and ulicicolella on broom and gorse respectively, and in a comment I asked if he might keep an eye open for parasitoids.  While the parasitoids of "typical" Phyllonorycter on deciduous trees are relatively well known, those on these hosts very much less so.  Will collected further P. ulicicolella from near Oxford last month and reared two tiny 1-1.5mm long wasps which he kindly sent me.  They turned out to be Cirrospilus viticola (Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae) which seems only to have been recorded definitely once before in the UK, from Surrey in the mid-19th century (there is one further record marked "unconfirmed" on the NBN database).  It is an ectoparasitoid that kills mid-late instar larvae and then pupates in the mine; on the continent it has been recorded from other Phyllonorycter and different miner genera.

Forgive the non-moth post but it does show it is worth saving parasitoids, especially if reared from unusual hosts.  Many thanks to Will for sending the specimens.

Cornelian Cherry

A bit late for the flowers, I'm afraid, but they look like this:

 They are supposed to grow cherry-like fruits later, but I've never seen those. 

Overwintering micros from Chorleywood.

 Last autumn I collected a number of different leaf-mines and set them up to overwinter. I brought them in about a month ago, so that the warmth could encourage them to emerge early. I have to say the returns have been pretty thin on the ground, with very few adults appearing. This is not a new phenomenon for me - the mortality rate amongst insects is very high. 

I've photographed three of the ones that did come out:

Phyllonorycter joannisi, from Norway Maple. 

Phyllonorycter cerasicolella from Wild Cherry.

Antispila treitschkiella from Cornelian Cherry.

The British Antispila species were re-catalogued in 2018; what was thought to be treitschkiella was not and was recognised as petryi, but the true treitschkiella was recognised as being host-specific to Cornelian Cherry. 

A Poor Week

 

Much like everywhere else, it's been a very bad week for moths here in Witney. I had one night (Tuesday), which looked reasonably good and so set up two traps in woodland close by. It started raining after 20 minutes and the result was 2 Brindled Pugs, a Nut Tree Tussock and a Lunar Marbled Brown. In the garden, it's been just two or three moths on the few nights I've bothered running a trap; Hebrew Character and Muslin Moth. Last night was slightly better with Spectacle, Early Grey, Lesser Swallow Prominant and the above worn individual which I'm struggling with rather. A bit suggestive of Blossom Underwing but just another Common Quaker....?

Sphingidae pupa ID?

 I wonder can you ID the species from the pupa? 

This one was found in the top layer of turf or just below the surface.

Isobel Huggins, Goring on Thames

Chamomile Shark

As others have already said, April hasn't been brilliant for moths. It was therefore quite a nice surprise to find a fresh Chamomile Shark on the outside of the trap on the night of the 27th April. Marc Botham, Didcot

Westcott, Bucks

Yet another week goes by with little to show for it, the average catch over the last seven nights here at Westcott being six moths of four species to the actinic trap.  While others may also have seen a very slight improvement in diversity over the past two or three nights thanks to cloud cover which hid that bright full moon, I think most of us will be very glad to see the back of this very cold and very dry April.  Not that the first half of May looks an awful lot better, but at least there 'should' be a gradual warming-up with no more overnight frosts!

An Angle Shades on the 26th was the first adult of that species to be recorded this year although it has already been counted on the garden list thanks to a larval sighting back in January.  However, Chinese Character, Brimstone Moth & Chocolate-tip (all 27th), Knot Grass (28th) and Early Tooth-striped & Puss Moth (29th) were new here for 2021.

Chinese Character, Westcott 27th April

Puss Moth, Westcott 29th April

Chocolate-tip, Westcott 27th April

Knot Grass, Westcott 28th April

Neither Early Tooth-striped nor Puss Moth are guaranteed annual visitors here.  The former was the first for three years, while the latter (a smart male) was actually the sixth year in a row that Puss Moth has made a garden appearance but before that it was rarely seen.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

First Garden Emperors

First time I have tried the Emperor moth pheromone lure in my garden. The first customer arrived within half an hour. Later on, in the early evening, with the lure now in the house with the door open, I had a second visitor this time inside the house. So that's a first for the garden list with not one but two moths, excellent result, especially as I was not convinced I would attract Emperor Moths to my urban setting.

                                                                                      

Emperor Moth, Aylesbury 22nd April

Jeremy Palmer Aylesbury, Bucks

Westcott, Bucks

Considering how bitterly cold it has been overnight it might seem rather foolhardy of me to have run the garden actinic trap at Westcott on all but two of the last 22 nights.  Four of the 20 attempts produced no moths at all while the others saw varying numbers but there was almost nothing of interest.  Just 16 different species have appeared in the trap since 1st April, all of them macros, of which Muslin Moth (18th) has been the only species new for the year.  The most prolific visitor so far this month has been Hebrew Character with 51 appearances, turning up on all but one of the nights when I had any moths at all.  Powdered Quaker (28) was next in line, while the others comprised March Moth (1), Shoulder Stripe (1), Streamer (1), Red-green Carpet (1), Early Thorn (3), Brindled Beauty (6), Red Chestnut (2), Blossom Underwing (3), Small Quaker (15), Clouded Drab (11), Common Quaker (25), Twin-spotted Quaker (2) & Early Grey (6).  Hardly earth-shattering!  Our local Brown Long-eared Bat population has been active on quite a few of the nights but I imagine they will have had very slim pickings indeed.  

Muslin Moth, Westcott 18th April

Luckily I've had one or two extras here during the daytime to move this year's garden tally along to 65 species.  They included six male Emperor Moths on the 17th which were assembled between 3pm and 4pm to eight caged females who had been outdoors since mid-morning.  There must have been a significant emergence locally that day because the same females were left outside on the 16th with no success at all.  On the 18th I found Phyllocnistis unipunctella and Aphomia sociella indoors, the former wandering around on the inside of an open kitchen window, while on the 20th I happened to be watching as Caloptilia rufipennella landed on the outside of my study window and I managed to pot it before it could escape.  The four British Phyllocnistis species over-winter as adults.  I get saligna (associated with willow) and unipunctella (black poplar) regularly in the garden, while xenia (white/grey poplar) lives about a mile away, but ramulicola (sallow) hasn't yet been found in Bucks.      

Phyllocnistis unipunctella, Westcott 18th April

Over the past week I've also been out and about during the daytime with varying numbers of captive-bred female Emperors and having the usual mixed results in attracting "wild" males, some successes and some failures during the 40 minutes I allow myself at each location.  I've had the MOL pheromone lure with me too and have added a few more sites for Pammene giganteana in oak woodland (almost always with a result in five to ten minutes) although I haven't yet had luck under single hedgerow oaks or even small groups of them.  Examples of successes include Round Wood near Barton Hartshorn (an under-recorded part of north-west Bucks) which produced both Emperor and giganteana on the 20th, while straying into VC23 😲 yesterday afternoon (22nd) I got both species again in Waterperry Wood, Bernwood Forest along with a Light Orange Underwing which was netted to confirm.  

Emperor Moth pair, Round Wood 20th April

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks   

Bernwood Forest, Bucks

With us set to keep winds from the north-eastern quadrant for the remainder of April, it is going to get very cold after dark whatever the daytime temperature so the unexpectedly mild forecast (relatively speaking) for last night looked as though it could provide my only opportunity this month for some successful away trapping.  The suggested temperature of 10C at midnight did prove to be correct for once although, as usual, the promised cloud cover to hide the moon failed to materialise.  Three traps were taken to Bernwood Forest, one actinic being run in Oakley Wood and the other two MVs in Shabbington Wood.  The combined total came to only 23 species of which Frosted Green (41) was the most abundant.  Proving that Pammene giganteana does come to light as well as pheromone lures, each of the MV lights brought in that species.  Of the others, the only ones which I hadn't yet seen this year were Dyseriocrania subpurpurella, Early Tooth-striped, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Great Prominent (six of them) and Lunar Marbled Brown, so not a particularly good return for the usual three-hour stint. 

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella, Bernwood 20th April

Lesser Swallow Prominent, Bernwood 20th April

Great Prominent, Bernwood 20th April

Lunar Marbled Brown, Bernwood 20th April

The actinic amongst birches in Oakley Wood was targeting Scarce Prominent, one of my favourites from that group and a moth that isn't all that common locally although Bernwood is a stronghold.  It only flies in April and the first half of May and doesn't come back with a second brood like many of its relatives.  Almost all of the 60+ individuals I've seen have been in April, many of them from the first half of the month, so I was rather disappointed not to record it last night.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks    

A Few NFY

 In spite of the cold nights of late, I left a light at work and added a handful of species to my year list, which I'm sure everyone else has already seen for the year. Semioscopis steinkellneriana, Yellow Horned, Early Thorn, Pale Pinion, Clouded Drab and Nut-tree Tussock. 

Also in my garden this afternoon, a single Adela reaumurella.

Dave Morris

Chalfont St Giles

Another Emperor

 My first Emperor moth ever to a pheromone lure in the garden.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Emperor

 As Dave predicted I had my first Emperor moth to its pheromone here in Longwick (Bucks) yesterday afternoon.