7th August 2020 - hot stuff

What a night. Sometimes, all things align and moths come in abundance with several surprises all at once and this was one of those occasions. It was a roasting night and an incredible six were new for the garden:

[607] Bucculatrix thoracella
[608] Phyllonorycter quercifoliella
[609] Ash Bud Moth
[610] Cochylidia implicitana
[611] Dusky Thorn
[612] Gypsy Moth

Gypsy Moth has turned up a handful of times locally recently but it was still great to see this charismatic species. It was formerly common in East Anglia but became extinct at around 1900:

Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar

Just as rare, if not more so in VC29 is Oak Processionary. I recorded two individuals in 2018 which I think may have been the joint first for the vice county. I had predicted that they would turn up here this year as several were reported outside of their usual haunts. Again, there were two in the trap:

Oak Processionary Thaumetopoea processionea

Dusky Thorn is a widespread species I have trapped readily elsewhere. For some reason its not regular round here and they've taken quite a few years to find their way to my garden trap:

Dusky Thorn Ennomos fuscantaria

On to the micros, Cochylidia implicitana was a good one to find:

Cochylidia implicitana

After recording the species that was split from it, Prays ruficeps a couple of times, I was happy to catch up with two Prays fraxinella (Ash-bud Moth): 

Ash-bud Moth Prays fraxinella

A worn Bucculatrix thoracella is another one of this tricky group that I can add to the list:

Bucculatrix thoracella

Talking of tricky groups, 2020 has been the year of the Phyllonorycter here and there was another new one. P. quercifoliella has a diagnostic lengthy longitudinal streak:

Phylloncorycter quercifoliella

There was another P. comparella too:

Phyllonorycter comparella

Also, there was a final Phyllonorycter that couldn't be identified to species. It resembles the hostis / spincolella group I think. 

Phyllonorycter sp.