Cydalima perspectalis and some late flyers

Is anyone else getting big numbers of the Box Tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis?  From just one in 2016, the first I had seen, and ten in 2017, I have had 74 here so far this year, including 20 last night.

Also a Least Carpet and perhaps more surprisingly, a very late-flying Single-dotted Wave, both in excellent condition.

Richard Ellis
Chorleywood

Dotted Chestnut

Nothing spectacular here, but I did get a Dotted Chestnut. Only had one before.  Also 4 Merveille du jour, I've only had singletons before.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Identification of moths from Iver

I am confused by this one!

Cnephasia sp?

Not a clue...

Any ideas more than welcome

Barnaby Briggs, Iver

A bit of wind doesn't stop them flying!

More species came to the garden actinic in last night's gale-force winds than did on the previous rather calmer night, including six micro species and some geometers which must have found the turbulence quite hard going.  The trick is to site the light somewhere very sheltered and, of course, the very unseasonal overnight minimum of 18C here helped too!  Running the trap in those southerlies paid off in that I got a smart Palpita vitrealis, only the second record for the garden of this ghostly little migrant.

Palpita vitrealis, Westcott 12th October

The rest of the catch comprised Acleris variegana (1), Acleris rhombana (1), Acleris emargana (1), Epiphyas postvittana (1), Hypsopygia costalis (1), Common Marbled Carpet (2), November Moth agg. (5), Feathered Thorn (1), Turnip Moth (3), Dark Sword-grass (1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (2), Large Yellow Underwing (11), Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (1), Square-spot Rustic (3), Black Rustic (15), Grey Shoulder-knot (1), Green-brindled Crescent (9), Merveille du Jour (2), Dark Chestnut (1), Brick (3), Red-line Quaker (1), Beaded Chestnut (23), Lunar Underwing (16), Barred Sallow (2), Sallow (3), Dusky-lemon Sallow (1), Angle Shades (1) & Straw Dot (1). 

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks 

Oak Rustic?

I caught this moth on Wednesday night and wondered if it is an Oak Rustic? If it is then it will be the second one I have caught. Last years was on the 11th November.

Oak Rustic?

Many thanks

Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon, South Oxon

Didcot on sea

Another predominantly coastal species in the Didcot garden trap last night - Feathered Ranunculus. While there are inland colonies/records of this species I expect this is another wanderer blown up from the south coast in the winds. Otherwise, despite the extremely mild weather last night the garden trap was pretty much empty, although there was yet another Box Moth.

Marc Botham, Didcot

Feathered Ranunculus, Didcot, 10/10/2018

Westcott, Bucks

There were lots of moths here last night, 263 individuals of 40 species, but a couple of tired-looking Silver Ys which were probably home-grown anyway were the only possible signs of migrant activity (even though two examples of Dark Sword-grass did turn up on the 9th).  Apart from late-brood examples of Treble Brown Spot, Brimstone Moth, Oak Nycteoline & Beautiful Hook-tip, all of last night's species were either hangers-on from the summer like Shuttle-shaped Dart, Large Yellow Underwing and Setaceous Hebrew Character or else typical autumnal moths.  The one exception was a smart fresh Gold Spot which I'd suggest might be a third brood.  Gold Spot has had a fantastic year in the garden.  I rarely see the first brood but this year had two of them, one on 10th June and the other on 13th June.  The second brood produced no less than 88 examples here between 17th July and 22nd August and then none appeared until last night's specimen which is my latest ever and would appear to be the first October record for Bucks.

Gold Spot, Westcott 10th October

Silver Y, Westcott 10th October

Although both seem to have passed their peak now, last night's 70 examples of Lunar Underwing takes their garden count for the year well past 1,000 (already higher than in 2016 and 2017) while Black Rustic has reached 319 which is its best ever result here.  On a much smaller scale, another five examples of Merveille du Jour last night moves their garden count up to 16 which is already more than I've ever had here before.  Although it is early days yet to start doing comparisons, a lot of species do seem to have benefitted from the warmer summer temperatures. 

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks   

Marvel of the Museum

Taking advantage of the warm weather, I left a light at COAM last night.

In line with the title, I had my first and probably only Merveille du Jour of the year, plus other new for year Green-brindled Crescent, Brick, Feathered Thorn, November Moth, Ypsolopha sequella and Tachystola acroxantha.

Dave Morris
Chalfont St Giles

Streak

Just back from hols - unfortunately armed with the Mediterranean bug from hell - and so set the moth trap in the garden to cheer me up, which it duly did partly thanks to my first garden record of Yellow-line Quaker, but largely due to this beautifully marked specimen of The Streak - only the second parish record for Sonning.

Confirmations please

I've been trying to sort out my Red-line and Yellow-line Quakers via the basal black dots.

I think the first is a typical Red-line, the second, a typical yellow line. Not sure about the third one

Here I think I have a moribund Large rather than Bulrush Wainscot.

Finally, can this be ID'd as Caloptilia rufipennella? Plain brown with black and white legs.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Apologies for a non-moth post

I was out checking for moths around the outside lights when I spotted this centipede on the wall above our compost heaps. I think it might be Scutigera coleoptrata but, as I've never seen one before, I would appreciate some help.

From what I've found out it can nip, or is that an exaggeration?

Thanks,
Nigel

Yum

Nothing new or surprising at the moment, but aren't they nice?  Good recruiting sergeants for our hobby too.

Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Return from southern Italy, and a micro query

I have recently returned from a walking holiday in Southern Puglia, where as well as plenty of butterflies there were more Hummingbird Hawk-moths than I could count along the roadside verges. The garden trap therefore had it's first outing on Friday evening for nearly a fortnight.
The Square-spot Rustics seem to have disappeared while I have been away, but Large Yellow Underwings are still around (15) and the top scorers were unsuprisingly Lunar Underwings (27).
New sightings for the year were Green-brindled Cresent (1), Barred Sallow (2), Pink-barred Sallow (1), Blair's Shoulder-knot (1), Deep-brown Dart (5) and Black Rustic (4).

There were just a few micros, and I wondered if the one below is good for Acleris schalleriana? Or does it need closer checking?

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Brown Plume?

Inside my house today - a brown plume? But seems very late?

Many thanks,
Andrew Callender
Garsington

Catching up on ID's!

I'm finally trying to catch up on all my moth records for the summer and have quite a few question marks in my scribbled notes! I will try my best to be better organised next year, but it has been a fantasist summer seeing all the different species that have appeared in my trap. I'm still amazed every time I open the trap up!

I would be very grateful for some help with the following :

Common Carpet? 19/7/18

Ear Moth? 19/7/18

Obscure Wainscot? 23/7/18

Olive? 1/8/18

Beaded Chestnut? 5/10/18

I did also take my trap on holiday...my family think I'm mad! But I was curious to see what different moths I could catch, so it came along for a week in East Devon and a week on The Gower. I know its not strictly Upper Thames but I would love some help with the ID's

Sharp-angled Peacock? 19/8/18 East Devon

Archer's Dart? 15/9/18 Gower

L-album Wainscot? 15/9/18 Gower

Many thanks in advance

Lorna Woolhouse, Checkendon, South Oxon

Elm Mines

Having found an active mine of Stigmella ulmivora (green larva) but little else on our garden's English Elm Ulmus procera back at the end of August, I had another look today and was pleased to locate those of the other two nepticulids which feed on it, Stigmella lemniscella (yellow larva) and Stigmella viscerella (green larva).  The gut-shaped mines of viscerella are easy to identify even when vacated, but it helps to have the larva present for the other two because the mines and frass pattern can be rather similar and you need to decide which side of the leaf the larva has exited (the cut-outs are not always that easy to see, in my experience anyway).
 

Mine of Stigmella ulmivora, Westcott 27th August

Mines of Stigmella lemniscella, Westcott 6th October

Mine of Stigmella viscerella, Westcott 6th October

The other regular corridor miner on our elm is Bucculatrix albedinella, of which I had an adult in the trap back on 29th July.  Two months later I managed to locate half a dozen vacated mines, all on the same leaf:   

Mines of Bucculatrix albedinella, Westcott 29th September

Lyonetia clerkella is also supposed to mine English Elm but that's about the only food-plant in the garden that I've never found it on!  Of the other elm-feeders, a single active blister mine of Phyllonorycter schreberella was found today but they seem to be in short supply this year and I've not yet found any of Phyllonorycter tristrigella.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks 

Big Numbers Again

Last night's collection to the actinic trap here at Westcott comprised 331 moths of 39 species and as expected the majority of that total was accounted for by Lunar Underwing (151), Beaded Chestnut (42) and Black Rustic (41).  I did get two species new for the year in singletons of Pale November Moth (genitalia checked, a poorly-marked and slightly damaged male) and Figure of Eight, but unfortunately the remainder of the catch contained no surprises:  Blastobasis lacticolella (2), Acleris rhombana (1), Eudonia pallida (1), Eudonia angustea (1), Hypsopygia costalis (1), Emmelina monodactyla (1), Red-green Carpet (3), Common Marbled Carpet (1), Willow Beauty (1), Light Emerald (1), Turnip Moth (1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (1), Large Yellow Underwing (25), Lesser Yellow Underwing (6), Setaceous Hebrew Character (3), Square-spot Rustic (8), Common Wainscot (1), Deep-brown Dart (2), Pale Pinion (1), Blair's Shoulder-knot (1), Green-brindled Crescent (2), Merveille du Jour (1), Brindled Green (1), Dark Chestnut (1), Brick (11), Red-line Quaker (3), Yellow-line Quaker (1), Barred Sallow (2), Pink-barred Sallow (2), Sallow (4), Dusky-lemon Sallow (1), Angle Shades (1), Rosy Rustic (1) & Mottled Rustic (1).  No migrants here and the weather for the next couple of nights doesn't look too promising for them either, although things are set to improve as next week progresses.

Pale November Moth, Westcott 5th October

Restricted to weekend visits there for "elf 'an safety" reasons due to ongoing forestry work, I took a couple of traps to Bernwood Forest last night for the usual three hours.  One of them performed quite well, bringing in 128 moths of 35 species of which Merveille du Jour (22) was the most numerous, but the other only managed 38 moths of 19 species although they did include another three Merveille du Jours.  I thought it would be a good night for them when I noticed a newly-emerged specimen still inflating its wings as I chained my generator to the same oak trunk!  The combined species total for the two traps was 40, of which those that didn't appear in the garden at Westcott were Ypsolopha sylvella, Carcina quercana, Acleris ferrugana/notana, Acleris emargana, Endotricha flammealis, Acrobasis consociella, Riband Wave, Spruce Carpet, Grey Pine Carpet, Feathered Thorn, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Grey Shoulder-knot, Satellite, Chestnut, Copper Underwing, Small Wainscot, Straw Dot & Snout.  No real surprises there, with Endotricha flammealis, Acrobasis consociella & Riband Wave all known to have occasional second broods.  However, I wonder about Small Wainscot this year because it initially appeared rather early.  I saw 19 individuals at various sites between 2nd July and 18th August then none until one appeared in the garden on 26th September and now three more at Bernwood last night, perhaps suggesting a second brood.

Ypsolopha sylvella, Bernwood 5th October

Grey Shoulder-knot, Bernwood 5th October

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
  

Clifden nonpareil & Spruce Carpet?

My second Clifden nonpareil of the year, the first one was at the end of August so it's doubtful it's the same one. A bit tatty and a lot less flighty than the ones I've had before.

After reading the description of the differences between the Grey Pine and Spruce Carpet in two books I'm still not clear on how they line up with the illustrations - but this looks the dead spit of the illustration in Waring & Townsend (the other book was Conifer Moths of the British Isles). So if I have it wrong, or even if I've got it right I'd like to know how the determination was made if possible.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Vestal and others

Nice to get my first Vestal of the year last night.

Along with what I assume is a fairly late Blastobasis adustella but without the chevron and a greenish tinge.

Also from a few days ago this beetle with a very distinct V mark.

Large Yellow Underwings seemed to have had a resurgence in the last two nights and Lunar Underwings seem to be increasing in number each time I put the trap out. A Small Blood-vein also appeared on Thursday night.

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris. Oxon.

Autumnal Rustic

I had this moth in my trap last night in Beenham Berks. I believe that it is an Autumnal Rustic, but as it's not one that I have had before (in 14 years of trapping) I thought that I would seek confirmation.

The book says common but perhaps less so now and this far south?

Many Thanks