May 19th 2020

An excellent mid-week trap produced three new species for the garden list, two of which were lifers:

[563] Bucculatrix bechsteinella

[564] Clouded-bordered Brindle

[565] Alder Moth

This Bucculatrix had me scratching my head but after catching both ulmella and frangutella in previous years i could be confident it wasn't either of those. B.bechsteinella is a species I wasn't familiar with at all but it matches well to several online photos. It is a relatively widespread species that mines on hawthorn.

Bucculatrix bechsteinella

Alder Moth is distinctive noctuid that isn't uncommon in various spots in the Country but not so much in Cambridgeshire. I haven't caught up with it anywhere so I was really glad to catch this one.

Alder Moth Acronicta alni

Another widespread noctuid is Clouded-bordered Brindle. Again it is somewhat scarce in this part of  Cambs, however I have recorded it elsewhere a few times. 

Clouded-bordered Brindle Apamea crenata

There were plenty of other highlights including two Cydia conicolana making it three in total  this week. I recorded this species for the first time last year so perhaps it will be regular from now on.

Cydia conicolana

My second Lime Hawkmoth for the garden was definitely appreciated:

Lime Hawkmoth Mimas tiliae

Somewhat less inspiring is the pyralid Homoeosoma sinuella:

Homoesoma sinuella

There were two Buttoned Snout in the trap, which must be the first time I've had more than one at a time:

Buttoned Snout Hypena rostralis

May 17th 2020

The third week of May featured repeated warm nights and some excellent returns from trap nights. On the 17th I recorded a new species for me:

[562] Tischeria ekebladella

This tiny leaf mining species, Tischeria ekebladella, nearly escaped my clutches as I very nearly dismissed this as Coptotriche marginea. It is a common species but it doesn't seem to come to light particularly regularly. 

Tischeria ekebladella

Treble-bar and Shark were just second garden records:

Treble-bar Aplocera plagiata

Shark Cucullia umbratica

Orange Footman is a little more regular but is still one of the scarcer footman species but often the first to appear in a year:

Orange Footman Eilema sororcula

The highlight though was an incredible twelve Coleophora amethystinella. This species was first recorded in the County in 2018 and I trapped a couple last year. So far this year I had one early in the month and located two along Church Lane during the daytime, however 12 in one trap was remarkable and represents what must be part of a dramatic population expansion across the region. Their diagnostic orange/red eyes and 'eyelashes' are easily visible even without photographing them.

Coleophora amethystinella

Two other good micros included two similar tortricids that are great to see side by side:

Aethes smeathmanniana

Cochylimorpha straminea

8th May 2020

I'm now catching up with the results more recent trapping nights although it will likely take a while as May was busy with some warm nights producing decent hauls of moths. The first really good night was the 8th where the number of species took over a single page of my notebook for the first time this year. 

I seem to be having a run of Elachista species in the trap this Spring and several gave me headaches in both April and May. After plenty of deliberation I am happy that this one is E. apicipunctella, one of a handful of species with whiteish heads. The extra white marking beyond towards the end of the forewing adds further evidence to the identification. 

[561] Elachista apicipunctella

Elachista alpicipunctella

Otherwise, a Pale Pinion is I think on a garden second:

Pale Pinion Lithophane socia

Seraphim has continued its upward trend here with several recorded this year. This was a particularly well marked individual:

Seraphim Lobophora halterata

April 2020 part 2

The latter half of April didn't see a notable increase in numbers or diversity in the trap but being at home did allow me to pick up a superb day flying micro moth Incurvaria mascuelella during an afternoon. A few other species were new, all of which were either drab or a pug!

[557] Incurvaria masculella
[558] Agonopterix scopariella
[559] Scrobipalpa acuminatella
[560] Oak-tree Pug

Incurvaria masculella

This Agonopterix scopariella is similar to the subpropinquella that I recorded earlier in the month but possesses the extra white dots:

Agonopterix scopariella

Equally uninspiring is Scrobipalpa acuminatella. I had suspected this species once or twice previously and it is pretty tricky to identify due to its lack of any real features but I'm happy with this one:

Scrobipalpa acuminatella

I've seen Oak-tree Pug elsewhere but this is the first record from here - I had scrubbed off a previous record of a non-photographed individual. In fact there were three of them in the trap on one date in the middle of the month.

Oak-tree Pug Eupithecia dodoneata

One of the most interesting observations was a Ruby Tiger emerging from a cocoon in the garden, really stunning to see:

While Light Brown Apple Moths are also definitely breeding in the garden!

Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana

April 2020 part1

April seems like a lifetime ago and what happened in March? I didn't get a trap out at all in March, I must have been......busy. Garden mothing has been important to me for many years now but this year its value has increased incredibly due to the changing world landscape. I didn't set foot outside of Cottenham for the entire month of April, so every cold or clear night was greeted with great disappointment! 

Here's a quick summary of garden moths recorded in the first half of the month where I managed a single new macro to the garden:

[556] Lead-coloured Drab

Lead-coloured Drab Orthosia populeti

I have scoured Clouded Drabs for many years trying to pick out Lead-coloured Drab to no avail. It was definitely one of those where i thought i was either overlooking it or its just wasn't occurring here. However, I was please to pick this out quite swiftly. 

For the third year running I scored with the Emperor Moth lure:

Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia

Some other good early spring moths involved three Brindled Beauty (just two previous records here I think) and a fantastic Mullein:

Brindled Beauty Lycia hirtaria

Mullein Cucullia verbasci

Less stunning but with only a handful of records here is Agonopterix subpropinquella:

Agnonopterix subpropinquella

My earliest ever Chinese Character was welcome alongside some other expected species:

Chinese Character Cilix glaucata

Early Grey Xylocampa areola

Streamer Anticlea derivata

New Years Day 2020

Somewhat unusually the new year started off with a moth - a Winter Moth that came to a window. A very common species that I hadn't seen before. This almost entirely due to my lack of trapping effort in winter months and its drab appearance doesn't exactly make it an object of desire!

[555] Winter Moth

Winter Moth Operophtera brumata

2019 Review

Although the mothing year tailed off drastically in the autumn, late spring and summer periods were excellent with lots of great moths recorded. Some key stats:

Number of Species Recorded: 417
Lifers: 39
New for Cottenham: 46
New for for the garden: 67
New moths for VC29: 2
High Street List at end of 2019: 554
Cottenham List: 615

The total of 417 falls just short of 2018s record of 422 but its clear it was one of my best years trapping. The two potential new records for VC29 referred to two micros: Povolnya leucapennella recorded in late June and Pempelia genistella in late July. The latter moth was part of a small movement of the species with the first records for Norfolk recorded at the same time.

Personal highlights were the unexpected: recording long awaited Black Arches and Magpie  in the same trap in July, a tremendous Lobster Moth on the garden fence in June and my second record in Cottenham of the rare migrant Small Marbled. The latter was particularly gratifying after I recorded one at the old house but failing to get a photo of it. Finally the brilliant pyralid Oncocera semirubella was one of the best looking species I have recorded. 

The full list of new for the garden moths from 2019, in reverse order of appearance, is as follows (with lifers in bold):

Elachista canapennella

Pyrausta purpuralis

Celypha rosaceana

Small Mottled Willow (Spodoptera exigua)

Six-striped Rustic (Xestia sexstrigata)

Batrachedra praeangusta

Rusty Dot Pearl (Udea ferrugalis)

Triangle Plume (Platyptilia gonodactyla)

Peacock Moth (Macaria notata)

Bulrush Wainscot (Nonagria typhae)

Aspilapteryx tringipennella

Evergestis pallidata

Rhodophaea formosa

Caloptilia stigmatella

Mompha epilobiella

Epiblema foenella

Acrobasis repandana

White-line Dart (Euxoa tritici)

Acompsia cinerella

Phtheochroa inopiana

Dichrorampha vancouverana

Oncocera semirubella

Pempelia genistella

Plum Fruit Moth (Grapholita funebrana)

Swammerdamia caesiella

Acleris notana . ferrugana

Eudemis profundana

Pyrausta despicata

The Magpie (Abraxas grossulariata)

Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)

Brachmia blandella

Small Scallop (Idaea emarginata)

Bryotropha terrella

Syncopacma larseniella / sangiella

Box Tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis)

Clover Case-bearer (Coleophora alcyonipennella)

Agapeta zoegana

Acleris logiana

Eucosma metzneriana

Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae)

Caloptilia semifascia

Cnephasia longana

Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella)

Small Marbled (Eublemma parva)

Povolnya leucapennella

Crescent Plume (Marasmarcha lunaedactyla)

Striped Wainscot (Mythimna pudorina)

Dingy Shears (Parastichtis ypsillon)

Morophaga choragella

Calybites phasianipennella

Aroga velocella

Lozotaenia forsterana

Platytes cerussella

Lobster Moth (Stauropus fagi)

The Shark (Cucullia umbratica)

Scarce Silver Lines (Bena bicolorana)

Wormwood Pug (Eupithecia absinthiata)

Teleiopsis diffinis

Holly Tortrix (Rhopobota naevana)

Bucculatrix albedinella

Cydia conicolana

Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata)

Poplar Kitten (Furcula bifida)

Coleophora amethystinella

Lathronympha strigana

Acleris cristana

Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda)

So for 2020...all I want is a Garden Tiger, that isn't too much to ask surely?

Autumn 2019

Autumn 2019 was so poor for mothing it has taken me over 6 months to write anything about it. There were a few moths early in the period though including one new for the garden:

[554] Elachista canapennella

Elachista canapennella

Elachista are always tricky and I caught three individuals. One though was a nicely marked female E.canapennella. The two others I suspect were males of the same species. This species is fairly common and mines on grasses - which gives you an idea of its diminutive size. It has a second generation in late summer / early autumn. 

Other wise the best moths were a second Pyrausta purpuralis, with a better photo grabbed this time:

Pyrausta purpuralis

Large Thorn is always a great moth to see:

Large Thorn Ennomos autumnaria

Centre-barred Sallow Atethmia centrago