Red twin-spot carpet

 I would be grateful for confirmation or correction of ID as Red twin-spot carpet. Both images of same specimen. 

Alan Diver

Tackley

Finemere Wood, Bucks

68 moths of 35 species between two MV lights at Finemere for the usual three hours from dusk last night certainly didn't break any records, but surprisingly there were two moths completely new for the already very extensive site list (circa 800 species) as well as one that I personally haven't recorded there previously.  The two site additions are shown below:

Spuleria flavicaput, Finemere Wood 21st May

Fox Moth female, Finemere Wood 21st May

As a hawthorn-feeder you'd expect Spuleria flavicaput to be quite widespread and the dozen or so Bucks sightings are certainly from right across the county (all to light at night), but the moth seems to be rarely recorded perhaps because it is active more during the daytime.  Fox Moth seems to be fairly widespread across the Vale of Aylesbury (it is seen regularly in Bernwood Forest and has turned up annually in my garden since 2017), but it is a moth associated more with heathland and chalk downland.

Amongst the other moths noted were a Light Brocade (a species I've never seen at Finemere although there is at least one previous site record) and a melanic Pale Tussock.

Pale Tussock f. concolor, Finemere Wood 21st May

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks       

That last flushed micro . . .

 '. . . .as Dave Wilton suggested, I looked around gorse on our local Commons. Several micros were flying around the bushes - here's one of them. I'm hoping this is a good enough photo to confirm Cydia ulicetana, or that its location on gorse puts it beyond doubt.

Best wishes, David

A Macro that I really not sure about.

Could this be a Dusky Brocade?

 I am stumped on this boldly coloured Micro

Closest I got was Agapeta zoegana but seems too much orange ?

Fern and Oblique Striped

I had two new species today: what I think was a Fern in the moth trap in West Oxon, and an Oblique Striped at Hackpen Hill. Confirmation (or otherwise) would be appreciated.

David Hastings

Oblique Striped

Fern

Mullein

This year a couple of plants of Common Mullein Verbascum thapsus have appeared from nowhere in a disturbed area of our front lawn and I've managed to avoid cutting them with the mower.  They're still quite small but a quick look at them in this afternoon's sunshine produced at least 24 very early instar larvae (each less than 10mm) of the moth Mullein Cucullia verbasci munching away on their leaves.  The moth itself appears in the garden trap most years but any larvae that I've seen here previously have always been on Buddleia.

Common Mullein Verbascum thapsus, Westcott 21st May

Mullein larva, Westcott 21st May

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Another flushed micro

 Hi there,

Found this on Cholesbury Common yesterday (day-flying) - I still have the specimen. The short prominent longditudinal streaks near the tornus don't quite look like anything in the guide, but I'm thinking either Cydia fagiglandana or Notocelia trimaculana - which probably means that it's something completely different!!

HELP!!! David

Beautiful carpet?

 I think Beautiful carpet with dark marking on forewing extending more than usual.

Alan Diver

Tackley

 One of the smaller black arches but which one please?

Alan Diver

Tackley

Pheromone success

I tried three of the tortrix pheromone lures out in the garden yesterday afternoon from about 4pm onwards.  I'd barely hung up the trap containing the MOL lure (for Grapholita molesta) when it brought in the moth below, which must have been waiting somewhere very close by!  It appears to be either Pammene albuginana or Pammene suspectana but I'm not clever enough to tell them apart visually so it'll need dissection to be sure of the ID.  Either one would be new for the garden (suspectana has yet to be recorded in Bucks).

Pammene sp., Westcott 18th May

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks    

Flushed micro

 I disturbed this small (c7mm) micro in the chalk grassland at the top of Lodge Hill, Bucks yesterday (18th). Help appreciated in the ID.

Dave Ferguson

 Clouded drab?

Alan Diver

Tackley

Depressaria ultimella?

 In Stoke Goldington last night, 8mm wing length, I think Depressaria ultimella? The food-plant, Fool's Water-cress grows abundantly in my garden stream. It would be my first garden record, but unfortunately it escaped whilst I was measuring the wing length, so can't be chopped!

Dark Chestnut?

 Dark Chestnut or Red Chestnut please? Recorded 20th March.

Alan Diver

19/5/23

Possible Ancylis achatana??

 Hi there,

Guidance on this one too, please from last night's Robinson trap?

Many thanks, David

Scrobipalpa acuminatella??

 These are hard, aren't they - and maybe need dissection? Can anyone ID this from these photos?

Many thanks, David

Westcott, Bucks

As expected, new species keep turning up in the garden, but overall numbers of moths in the traps still seem to be well down on where they should be by mid-May.  Amongst the new arrivals here have been the following:

(1st)  Pammene rhediella, Seraphim

(4th)  Monopis weaverella, Pebble Prominent, Lesser Swallow Prominent

(5th)  Parornix sp., Scalloped Hazel

(6th)  Elachista rufocinerea, Green Carpet, Waved Umber

(7th)  Cnephasia sp., Poplar Hawk-moth, Iron Prominent, Flame Shoulder

(8th)  Elachista canapennella, Cochylichroa atricapitana, Syndemis musculana, Pebble Hook-tip, Frosted

          Green, Lime Hawk-moth, White-spotted Pug, Mottled Pug, Pale Prominent, Silver Y

(9th)  Common Pug, Poplar Kitten

(10th)  Scrobipalpa acuminatella

(11th)  Adela reaumurella, Esperia sulphurella, Depressaria radiella, Pyrausta purpuralis, Maiden's Blush,

           Broken-barred Carpet, Pale Tussock, Orange Footman, Spectacle

(12th)  Shuttle-shaped Dart

(13th)  Lime-speck Pug, Lesser Treble-bar, White Ermine, Vine's Rustic, Clouded-bordered Brindle

(14th)  Evergestis forficalis, Purple Bar, Knot Grass

(15th)  Coronet

Maiden's Blush, Westcott 11th May

Broken-barred Carpet, Westcott 11th May

Poplar Kitten, Westcott 9th May

White Ermine, Westcott 13th May

Coronet, Westcott 15th May

Clouded-bordered Brindle, Westcott 13th May

Bat activity around the garden has been quite high and I'm sure to have lost a few moths that way, but most of the evidence so far (ie sets of wings on the lawn) has been from Brimstone Moths, of which I seem to be getting quite a few in the traps each night.  It is also Cockchafer time of year but they're not usually a nuisance here (there has been only one in the traps so far, on the 14th).  Compare that to my visit to Yoesden Bank back on the 7th where I had to contend with more than 70 of them blundering around! 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks   

  

Lesser Swallow Prominent?

 Could this be a Lesser Swallow Prominent?

Micro ID

 

Struggling to identify this micro. Any suggestions would be welcomed ..... Thanks.

Little brown micro

I was having difficulty with this nondescript little moth with upwardly curving palps. The closest I could get is Acompsia cinerella, but that flies a bit later in the year?

Other than that, still appalling mothing here in Stoke Goldington. The highest catch so far in May has been 8 individuals of 6 species over two traps!

Yponomeuta cagnagella

Very early webs of Yponomeuta cagnagella have now appeared on one of the spindle bushes in our garden at Westcott.  Five webs like this were counted today, the yellowish larvae being about 5mm in length.

Early web of Yponomeuta cagnagella, Westcott 10th May

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks   

Some micros at last

On 7th May I made a first trapping visit to Yoesden Bank at Radnage, Bucks which is one of half a dozen places at which I have permission to survey regularly this year.  Ideally I would have liked to get started there in April in order to tick off some of the early Orthosia species, but the weather really hasn't been suitable for sitting on an exposed hillside in the Chilterns.  Despite the temperature remaining in double digits on Sunday it was a depressed catch even for early May with only 30 species recorded between three lights (two MV Robinsons and a 15w Heath trap).  The target of Light Feathered Rustic failed to show - it isn't known from the site although theoretically should be present - but there was some welcome activity at last from our smaller moths.  Best of the bunch was Falseuncaria ruficiliana, four of which came to light.  This is a reasonably widespread tortrix on good chalk grassland sites across the Chilterns but hasn't previously been recorded at Yoesden.  Further tortricids seen included Syndemis musculana, a Cnephasia species (probably communana but awaiting examination), Cochylichroa atricapitana & Rhopobota stagnana (which looks to be another first for the site), while other micros included Nematopogon swammerdamella, Elachista argentella, Scrobipalpa acuminatella & Pyrausta aurata.  

Falseuncaria ruficiliana, Yoesden Bank 7th May

Falseuncaria ruficiliana, Yoesden Bank 7th May

Syndemis musculana, Yoesden Bank 7th May

Cochylichroa atricapitana, Yoesden Bank 7th May

Rhopobota stagnana, Yoesden Bank 7th May

There was little of note amongst the macros, the most abundant of which were Green Carpet, Brimstone Moth & Nut-tree Tussock.

Back home in the garden at Westcott, since 1st May I've settled into the routine of running two nightly traps (one 125w MV and one twin-30wt actinic) and results have slowly been improving.  Even with rain throughout, last night proved to be one of the best yet with 27 species recorded, of which Elachista canapennella, Syndemis musculana, Cochylichroa atricapitana, Pebble Hook-tip, Frosted Green, White-spotted Pug, Mottled Pug, Lime Hawk-moth, Pale Prominent & Silver Y were new for the year-list.  Apart from Hebrew Character I thought I'd seen the last of the Orthosias back in April but last night saw visits from Common Quaker, Clouded Drab & Powdered Quaker to prove that there's still life in them yet!   

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks   

Early Silver Y

 Looking at Bucks Silver Y dates on I record, this moth in my Penn garden on 04/5/23 is perhaps one of the earliest? 

Esperia sulphurella?

This tiny beauty was on the window!

Esperia sulphurella?

Westcott, Bucks

A small tortricoid moth landed on the outside of an upstairs bedroom window yesterday morning and my immediate thought was Pammene rhediella which I see occasionally here around our garden hawthorn.  Unfortunately I only got an underside view and the moth flew as soon as the window was opened.  However, this afternoon one was netted in the garden and its identity confirmed.

Pammene rhediella, Westcott 1st May

The second half of April was quite poor for new species in the garden, not helped by an absence of a few nights while we were in northern Scotland.  By the end of the month the garden list had grown to 84 species, the new additions comprising Caloptilia rufipennella, Chinese Character & Nut-tree Tussock (all 16th), Brimstone Moth (18th), Purple Thorn & Least Black Arches (both 22nd), Pseudoswammerdamia combinella, Agonopterix arenella & Scorched Carpet (all 28th), Incurvaria masculella, Alucita hexadactyla, Aphomia sociella, Oak-tree Pug & Common Wave (all 29th) and Red Twin-spot Carpet (30th).  Looking back over the past five years, one (2021) had a lower count with 72 species by 30th April but the others were all higher with counts above 100, the highest being 109 in 2022.  While things might seem to have been rather slow of late this isn't particularly unusual and warmer nights expected during May should bring out many more species. 

Scorched Carpet, Westcott 28th April

Common Wave, Westcott 29th April

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks     

Pinion-spotted Pug

 

A Pinion-spotted Pug trapped last night at North Leigh, Oxon. 

Also, the micro moth below which I'm pretty sure is Ypsolopha mucronella .....

Not entirely sure...

Like others, I've found things very slow here in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, due to the inclement weather conditions. Notwithstanding, I did get a lifer ten days ago (only just got round to posting it on here): upon first seeing it, I assumed a Frosted Green (for no better reason than that there was a greenish tinge to it), but I'm now inclined to think a Yellow Horned.

Possible Yellow Horned, 18/4/23

The individual below, from the same night, has me entirely stumped. It reminds me of several autumn species, but I can't make it match anything I'd expect at this time of year. Any suggestions - and confirmation of the lifer above - would be very welcome.

Unknown, 18/4/23

Steve Goddard