Catoptria pinella

Catoptria pinella

Alan Diver

Tackley.

Lesser cream wave?

Lesser cream wave?

Alan Diver

Tackley

Shark or is it Camomile shark

Just cannot make my mind up

The size suggest Shark as its 26mm but I am not confident

Iain 

Sibford Ferris

Loosley Row, Bucks

Two new species for the garden were attracted to our house lights last night, Scalloped Hook-tip and Cydalima perspectalis. We have a number of Box plants so will have to see what effect the latter has.

Nigel

Surprising where you can attract moths too

I have only been  moth-ing  2 and a bit months.

This is my garden and moth trap! battery operated

So far since 25 May I have had over 105 species
Best ones so far

Best numbers have been recently with over 150 moths

Who would suspect you could attracts such beautiful moths as these

I am based in Sibford Ferris

Iain

A few migrants about?

A similar mix in the trap here in Longwick last night for the most part with least carpet dominating. However Pammene Aurita showed up in some numbers and I also saw my first Kent Black Arches of the year. A garden first was oncocera semirubella - why its taken such a time to get to me I'm not sure.

There seemed to be a few migrants, although i appreciate some can now be local! I had a single Diamond Back ( as yesterday) a nice male European Corn Borer and a Small Mottled Willow (the second for this location).

Tree-lichen beauties and some confirmations

I've been hoping to get a Tree-Lichen Beauty - my Townsend says it arrived in Oxfordshire in 2015. Last night I got two individuals.

Re the confirmations I assume they are Sallow Kitten (rather than Poplar) and Buff Footman.

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford

Pempelia genistella?

Still sorting through all the moths from 25 July.  Amongst them was this one,  FW 13-14 mm, which I can only think is a Pempelia genistella.  I still have the moth if it warrants closer examination:

Richard Ellis
Chorleywood

Two Commons

On Wednesday night Martin Albertini and I ran four lights once again on Littleworth Common, Bucks.  Between us we had quite a reasonable species count and a few moths typical of heathland habitat did turn up this time, including Aristotelia ericinella, Ancylis uncella, Agriphila inquinatella, Pempelia genistella, Birch Mocha, Narrow-winged Pug, True Lover's Knot, Suspected & Rosy Minor.  It was also good to see Monochroa cytisella, Oncocera semirubella, Gold Swift, Least Carpet, Gypsy Moth, Kent Black Arches & Tree-lichen Beauty (just singletons of Gold Swift and Gypsy but the others in some numbers).

Aristotelia ericinella, Littleworth Common 24th July

Last night we ran the same four traps on nearby Stoke Common, Bucks which is a much more sizeable area of heather heathland, in fact the largest in VC24.  Most of the same habitat-specialist species turned up, but the main reason for this visit was to try and get records for Small Chocolate-tip at this, its only known site in Bucks, and thankfully it duly showed.  This should by now be the moth's second generation of 2019 but we find it impossible to get records of the first brood so perhaps it is a bit like Ruby Tiger in that early individuals are not particularly attracted to light.  Substantial numbers of Pempelia genistella turned up (40+), including one which was an abnormally dark specimen and after dissection turned out to be Pempelia palumbella.  Other nice species included a Grass Emerald (still green, not faded to grey!), Lesser-spotted Pinion, Small Rufous and several Beautiful Yellow Underwings.   

Pempelia genistella, Stoke Common 25th July

Pempelia palumbella, Stoke Common 25th July

Grass Emerald, Stoke Common 25th July

Small Chocolate-tip, Stoke Common 25th July

Beautiful Yellow Underwing, Stoke Common 25th July

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

Satin Lutestring and other Macro questions

A number of macros from last night for identification, confirmation or correction as appropriate.

1, Satin Lutestring?

2. Least Carpet ?

3. Looks a bit like a Crescent Dart but seems unlikely.

4. Maybe just another Common Rustic agg.

5. Pug of some sort.

Any help appreciated. Thinking I may have ignored a Small Chocolate-tip without even taking a photo last week I am trying to be more careful although last night was challenging with so many moths and Large Yellow Underwings running around and disturbing everything. At least the wasps ate quite a few to reduce the numbers a bit!

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.

A couple more photos of the putative Dark crimson Underwing

It is certainly flighty ( I rescued it from the ceiling once!). I hope these shots are helpful.

Jersey Tiger

Somewhat surprised to see this clinging to the outside of the trap this morning - a first for me!

Lesser Cream Wave? and Ear Moth

Lots of wasps this morning.

I think I have a Lesser Cream Wave but I'd appreciate a confirmation.

Also an Ear Moth that will have to go down as agg. but it looks like only the Ear Moth itself will be around here.

For recording purposes should it beAmphipoea agg. or Amphipoea sp.?

Mark Griffiths, Garsinton, Oxford

Rescue moth

Found this Mother of pearl floating on pond this morning.

Gently eased hand under it and lifted it out and placed it on bramble leaf to dry out.

It immediately climbed back on my hand.

Alan Diver

Tackley.

Another dark Crimson Underwing ? - Longwick

Haven't had chance to open the trap yet but this was sitting on the outside. It looks good to me but having not seen one before I thought I should check?

More garden stuff

A last minute decision to leave the light on in my garden last night was rewarded with several NFY species including Green Silver-lines, Tree-lichen Beauty, Pebble Hook-tip, Woodworm Pug, Lesser-spotted Pinion and Ypsolopha scabrella.

Plus some micros for id if poss, please!

Dave Morris
Seer Green

Barred Rivulet?

Just started fighting my way through a trap-full of active moths from last night but not at all sure about this little one.  My inclination is towards Barred Rivulet but I haven't seen this species before so would appreciate comments:

Richard Ellis
Chorleywood

Clouded Border aberration or something quite different

This settled on the lintel of my garage a couple of days ago in the afternoon.   The wing markings look similar to Clouded Border but are continuous.   Unlike Clouded Border however the body is pure white.   Can anyone offer a view?

is this a Triple Spotted Clay or just a Double Square-spot

Some literature suggest separation is done by seeing if the closed wing covers some of the dark ‘squares’ on opposite wing. The width of the closed wings being narrower that on the Double Square Spot so the wings are pulled tighter across body and therefore obscure some of the markings on opposite wing. Or do you have to look at hind wing to confirm

Micros for confirmation/identification

A couple of nights ago in my garden, two micros took a while to potentially identify in the books:  the first seems a good fit for Endothenia ustulana - which is described as very local (not sure what that means). There are no woods nearby although I do have the host plant Bugle (Ajuga reptans) growing in the garden. I see that it can be confused with E. pullana (this has a different host plant and the crossbands appear much lighter).

The other is a Plume that I have not seen before, and the best fit seems to be Mugwort Plume (especially the dark oblique streaks at the cleft) - can anyone confirm?

John Thacker 

Harwell, Oxon