New moths for year

 Three welcome new moths for the year, last night: Shoulder-stripe, Yellow Horned and Blossom Underwing, possibly my favourite Orthosia.

Westcott, Bucks

A couple more micros were added to the 2022 garden list here on 22nd March, comprising Caloptilia populetorum and Epermenia chaerophyllella.  The latter is a regular here but the Caloptilia was completely new for the site (my third new garden species already this year!).  Despite the name its larvae actually feed on birches of which we have several here.

Caloptilia populetorum, Westcott 22nd March

Epermenia chaerophyllella, Westcott 22nd March

The only other addition has been this smart Streamer which turned up last night (25th), taking the garden list past 50 species which is about average for this point in the year.

Streamer, Westcott 25th March

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Getting in on the act

I put out my mercury light on my Robinson trap last night in my Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, garden, along with a smaller portable actinic trap, without much expectation of anything: just wanting to get my mothing year off to some sort of start. I'm glad I did, as my second ever Emperor Moth (and my first in the current garden) graced the Robinson trap; along with, in the actinic trap, the other moth pictured (one photo with flash, the other without) which, judging by other posts here, I suspect may have been a Lead-coloured Drab (my initial assumption was a rather poorly-marked Twin-spotted Quaker, but I think it was too small, and the markings aren't right). I'd be grateful for confirmation; if it is a Lead-coloured, I think it's my first.

Emperor Moth, 24/3/22

Possible Lead-coloured Drab, 24/3/22

Possible Lead-coloured Drab, 24/3/22

Steve Goddard

Herald

I was very pleased to find this Herald in the garden actinic trap from last night. The last time I recorded a Herald was back in 2017.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

More woodland trapping

On Tuesday night I took two MV traps to Finemere Wood for the usual three hours from dusk and got 767 moths of 23 species with nothing unexpected.  493 Small Quakers were counted so they're still going strong.  Last night it was the turn of Bernwood Forest, again with two traps, and there the Small Quaker total exceeded four digits with 1,023 counted.  30 species turned up, including signs of new emergences with Early Tooth-striped (1), Purple Thorn (1), Brindled Beauty (1) & Nut-tree Tussock (4) putting in welcome appearances.  The Purple Thorn and Brindled Beauty were my earliest ever records.

Early Tooth-striped, Bernwood Forest 23rd March

Purple Thorn, Bernwood Forest 23rd March

Brindled Beauty, Bernwood Forest 23rd March

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Acleris sp.

I caught the two below last night, so presumably they are both the same species. The paler one looks rather like A. schalleriana, though that seems pretty unlikely as we are not on chalk here, but on clay, so I guess it is more likely to be a variant of A. ferrugana/notana. 

I have retained the paler one if needed for dissection.

Acleris kochiella?

 This one is new to me, so I'm just looking for confirmation that it is A kochiella.

Many thanks

David

Radnage, Bucks

Ched George's trap at Radnage produced a White-marked last night, his 17th garden record although the first since 2015.  The rest of the catch comprised Diurnea fagella (1), Early Thorn (2), Oak Beauty (1), Dotted Border (2), Small Quaker (87), Common Quaker (49), Clouded Drab (11), Twin-spotted Quaker (9), Hebrew Character (63), Satellite (1), Chestnut (3) & Early Grey (6).

White-marked, Radnage 22nd March

Luring

Following Dave's advice I have been putting the FUN lure out in the garden for the past few days and finally hit the jackpot!

I also ran the EMP lure in local woodland this afternoon at  4:00 pm and got a response within ten minutes.

I then moved to Foxcote to see whether there were any Little Gulls there, which there were, but as I watched an Emperor Moth flew in and through the hide, so obviously I had a trace of pheromone on my clothing, but it must only have been a trace. What an impressive sense of smell!

And another Lead-coloured!

Finally caught up with what I assume is Lead-coloured Drab in my Stoke Goldington garden. This moth preferred the actinic front door light to the MV trap! A better marked example than Phil's, significantly smaller than the Clouded specimens.

As an aside, if running two traps with different light sources on the same night, when entering records into iRecord, is it best to fill out two separate moth group forms, one for each source? Also, do you know if anything is actually done with the data corresponding the moths attracted to different kinds of light sources?

Lead-coloured Drab?

 

I believe this is Lead-coloured Drab, but I'm not really sure because it seems to lack any of the markings noted in the field guide--no pale outlined kidney mark and no pale outer line with dark marks. It is definitely smaller than the several Clouded Drabs that appeared alongside it, but I wondered whether it might just be a worn greyish Small Quaker... 

Here's hoping anyway, as that will make two new Orthosias for the garden in the last couple of days with a Blossom Underwing the previous night.

Westcott, Bucks

What a lovely Spring day it was today, with the temperature reaching 18C here this afternoon.  While pottering about in the garden I decided to put out the EMP lure quite late on, at 4.15pm.  Much to my surprise a male Emperor Moth turned up ten minutes later and after a further ten minutes a second one appeared as if to prove this wasn't just a fluke - they're out very early this year!

Emperor Moth, Westcott 22nd March

I removed winter covers from various pieces of garden furniture this afternoon and underneath one on a bench close to last night's trap were half a dozen Orthosias which I'd missed, including my first Blossom Underwing of the year.  Good job I found that one because I only get one or two a year here at the most!  Another daytime discovery today was Acrolepia autumnitella flying around inside the shed.

Blossom Underwing, Westcott 22nd March

Acrolepia autumnitella, Westcott 22nd March

Other recent additions to this year's garden list have been Diurnea fagella (15th), Ypsolopha mucronella (17th), Yellow Horned (17th), Agonopterix arenella (20th) and Powdered Quaker (21st).  Nothing unexpected there, you might think, but I was over the moon to get Yellow Horned because that's a first for the garden - the second new species this year already!  A record image of it, taken in poor light, appears below.

Yellow Horned, Westcott 17th March

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Drabs

 

I identified this as Lead-coloured Drab. Based on round wing-tip, overall colour, feathered antennae and sub-terminal line wedges...? Trapped at actinic light in West Oxon.

Late to the party

 

This is my contribution to the Pammene giganteana-to-a-pheromone-lure story: I note several people have already reported this moth coming to MOL and FUN pheromones. This one turned up at a SKI lure in my back garden in Chorleywood, at around 3.00 yesterday afternoon. I managed to frighten away 2 more at about 4.00 and either the same two returned or two others were trapped later. The lure was hung in dappled shade, but it was a bright sunny day. I presume that normally this is a nocturnal animal. In which case, is it possible that it is the females that, in normal circumstances, dictate the night flying by only 'calling' at night? Or is that an inference too far? 

I did, at the same time, also hang out a FUN lure, perhaps 25/30 feet away, which had no success. 

Queries from last July

 Hi there,

These two turned up last July and were put into the 'too difficult' folder!

I've rejected Willow Beauty and, I think, Mottled Beauty. So I'm now thinking about Engrailed, Small Engrailed and Square Spot. But the moths arrived in mid-July 2021, which doesn't seem to fit with Square-spot or Small Engrailed. HELP!!

David

MOL pheromone lure again

I've not tried loading videos here before so not sure if this will work.  I imagine the file size may be too large for Blogger, but let's see... 

This is a short excerpt of mobile phone footage taken of the MOL lure in action at the Oakley Wood car-park in Bernwood Forest on Friday morning.  15 examples of Pammene giganteana counted within five minutes of putting out the lure, but there were probably quite a few more than that.  

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Unusual Twin-spotted Quaker

I have a large Sallow aka Goat Willow (Salix caprea) in my garden.  It is currently blooming and last night I had 52 moths of seven species.  

One moth confused me for a while. It was quite plain and much larger than the many Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi). I initially thought it was a pale form of Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta).  

On closer inspection it clearly had antennae with projections which leads me to believe this is a Twin-spotted Quaker (Anorthoa munda) without obvious spots, which I beleive is f. immaculata.  I have not seen this before. 

A couple of photos  (with and without flash) to compare with the normal form of Twin-spotted Quaker, the feint spots in the photo not at all obvious in life.

Neil Fletcher
Walter's Ash, VC24

A Berkshire million!

I've just realised that the combined Berkshire moth data recently tipped over the million mark, which calls for a small celebration! Thanks to everyone who has ever sent in a Berkshire moth record. If you haven't yet sent in your records, you know what to do 😄🙏

Talking of records, if you use the iRecord website to add your moth records, we recommend that you do so via the specific moth recording form. And there is now a very similar form available via the National Moth Recording Scheme, which also feeds through to iRecord, so that is another route you can use if you prefer. If you do register with NMRS and also use iRecord, make sure you register with the same email address on both sites, so that your records all get linked together. Please don't add records to NMRS and then add to iRecord as well, that will duplicate the records!

 

 

Martin Harvey

Berkshire Moth Group

Micro query - acleris?

 I'd appreciate id help with this spotty micro please - could it be Acleris ferrugana/notana despite being pale?  Thank you.

Diurnea fagella?

 Hi,

Is this just a very dark form of D fagella?

Best wishes

David

Scrobipalpa costella

I had this micro moth attracted to actinic light in my garden the night before last. I am pretty sure it is Scrobipalpa costella, a moth I have recorded before but not this early in the year. Previous records have been in May, June, September and October. I guess it is one of those moths that can turn up at pretty much any time of the year.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

iRecord Training

Rachael Conway of Butterfly Conservation has circulated the information below via the County Moth Recorders and this FREE course may be of interest to some of you:

Dear County Recorder

The next programme of Supporting Science iRecord training opens on Friday 29th April 2022.

Our exciting partnership with the Field Studies Council aims to attract new people into the butterfly and moth recording network and develop the data processing skills required to turn records into research.  The Supporting Science project has funded 120 free places and our first round of recruitment was targeted at our partners and projects who work with diverse people and communities.

'Discovering iRecord:  Butterflies and Moths' will introduce the basics of biological recording, such as grid references, data flow and verification using moth or butterfly sightings and other taxa.

The course is perfect for people new to iRecord, or those in need of a refresher to hone existing iRecord skills.  

 -   4-week, self-led, online course for adults, with a weekly time commitment of 3-5 hours.

 -   Access to study content, activities and tutor-graded assignments through the FSC virtual learning platform.

 -   Access to weekly live virtual classroom sessions at the end of each week with the course tutor through

     Zoom (recorded for those that are unable to attend the live sessions).

We would like to invite County Recorders to take part, either by participating in the course yourself or by sharing with those in your network who would benefit from this entry level course, it is an ideal opportunity to train potential verification assistants to help with your role.

For further course information and to book please visit here.

For queries please message or email Rachael here.

Please book early as places are limited

Many thanks,

Best wishes,

Rachael    

Beautiful Plume and Oak-tree Pug?

 Hi - looking for confirmation of these. This tiny Plume moth is new to me, but the wing pattern and abdomen look right (I think!) for Beautiful Plume. And it's a bit early for Oak-tree Pug, but this doesn't look like Brindled to me??

Many thanks

David

Pammene giganteana in Cookham

Following on from Dave's post about Pammene giganteana, I retrieved the FUN and MOL lures from my freezer. I tried both yesterday without luck, but today I tried the MOL lure again and a single Pammene giganteana arrived in the early afternoon. So, a new moth for my garden list as well.

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Acleris cristana?

Am I right in thinking this is Acleris cristana? Not sure whether the dark patch in the middle is a raised scale tuft, or just a dark patch, but the overall shape looks better for this species rather than A. hastiana. Came to light last night in oak woodland.

 

Oak Nycteoline?

 I had originally put this one down as Acleris hastiana but having just seen David's post from a couple of days ago I am now thinking Oak Nycteoline? 

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

Pammene giganteana

Today, for the third time in a week, I put the MOL pheromone lure (for Grapholita molesta) out in a trap in the garden at mid-day in the hope of getting Pammene giganteana which is attracted to the same lure - it also comes to the FUN and SKI lures.  Although the conditions were perfect I wasn't really expecting a result because there's only one tiny oak sapling inside the garden and only one fairly young tree within sight of the house and you have to travel a good mile in any direction to find mature oaks.  However - surprise, surprise - the target species actually turned up within the hour!  Moth species number 1,043 for the garden.  

Pammene giganteana, Westcott 14th March

Pammene giganteana, Westcott 14th March

The distribution of Pammene giganteana locally is not well known, probably because of its early flight period (March and April, sometimes into May) and it appears to be a bit reluctant to come to light.  The availability of the pheromone lures has improved the situation immeasurably and last spring I was able to double my own records for the species in a matter of days, up to about 30 now, simply by taking a lure and trap to any area of oak woodland and invariably the moth would turn up within minutes.  If you have one of these lures, please get them out now while there's very little chance of any other species but giganteana turning up!   

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Three more I need help with!

 IDs requested, please if possible.I'm thinking the middle one may be A. ferrugana/notana?

Best wishes, David

Diurnea fagella?

 Hi there,

Had about 6 of these in the trap last night near Cholesbury Common (wood edge). Please confirm I've got it right? An extraordinary night - 220 moths including 130 Small Quakers! 15 species in total, including the first Yellow-horned and Twin-spot Quakers of the year.

Best wishes, David