2020 Review

2020, what a year. Terrible in so many ways but mothing provided some respite during the lockdowns and beyond. I was restricted to home working from early March onwards and with commuting time removed from my week days, the trap went on at regular intervals.

The weather, in the main, was good too. All this combined to make my most successful garden mothing year to date. I recorded some superb species that I had barely thought possible to find here and the total number of species was mind blowing. I can't see me being able to get close to this again, although the restrictions put on movement in 2020 look like continuing deep into 2021, so we'll see

The key numbers:

Number of Species Recorded: 488
Lifers: 44
New for Cottenham: 54
New for for the garden: 69
New moths for VC29: 1*
High Street List at end of 2020: 623
Cottenham List: 684

8The total of 487 species by far beats the previous record of 422 in 2018 and is the third year in a row I have recorded over 400 species. The new moth for VC29 refers to Scythris limbella which I trapped in late July - this might be better termed the first modern day record for the vice county though to be honest as there appears to be a record from early last century. I trapped a second (or the same) individual 10 days later. 

One of the most interesting aspects of the year was the appearance of several species of tricky Phyllonorycter leaf mining moths. I had recorded precisely zero species from this genus in the garden previously apart from the related and abundant Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner. Amazingly the garden now has 5 species from this genus on the list while there were a handful of others that couldn't be identified to species level. All this interest led me to the uncharted waters of looking at leaf mines to try and work out sources of the adult moths. 

Personal highlights of the year were the two Catolcala species - the amazing Clifden Nonpareil which turned up twice while a Dark Crimson Underwing occurred in early September. In fact both species were present on that morning in September, so making it one of my best trap nights ever. Dark Crimson Underwing hadn't been recorded in the VC at all before 2020 and there were a handful of records before mine.

I've enjoyed luring clearwing moths in to the garden for several years now but after failing to get a Hornet Moth over several years of effort, I thought I had reached the end for potential new species. That changed with a bang in 2020 with the advent of a new lure for Lunar Hornet Moth. After a couple of failed attempts, a superb moth came in. Not stopping there I recorded 3 Raspberry Clearwings in July, another new species to me and one thought didn't in this part of the County. I was very happy to be wrong about that! So will 2021 finally bring that Hornet Moth or will Sallow Clearwing be possible over this way?

Further micro moth highlights in 2020, included two rare plume species: Dingy White in July and Breckland in September. The pyralid Matilella fusca I trapped in May was a county second while I also recorded another Sciota adelphella - the third for the county and all of them have been here!

Noctuid highlights included my first Alder Moth in May and an excellent Marbled Clover in July. Geometers included a fine Blotched Emerald in June that escaped without being photographed. Hopefully I'll get another chance at that one so to put the frustration to bed. 

The full list of new for the garden moths from 2020, in reverse order of appearance, is as follows (with lifers in bold):

The Sprawler

The Chestnut

Mottled Umber

Spilonota laricana

Breckland Plume

Deep-brown Dart

Dark Crimson Underwing

Bordered Beauty

Toadflax Pug

Clifden Nonpareil

Dichrorampha acuminatana

Bucculatrix thoracella

Phyllonorycter quercifoliella

Prays fraxinella

Cochylidia implicitana

Dusky Thorn

Gypsy Moth

Phyllocnistis unipunctella

Scythris limbella

Clavigesta purdeyi

Dingy White Plume

Lesser-spotted Pinion

Phyllonorycter harrisella

Phylloncnistis xenia

Cochylis dubitana

Raspberry Clearwing

Nettle-tap

Marbled Clover

Gynnidomorpha alismana

Gypsonoma minutana

Phyllonorycter comparella

Caloptilia rufipennella

Epagoge grotiana

Notocelia roborana

Lunar Hornet Moth

Endothenia marginana

Epinotia abbreviana

Brown Scallop

Ethmia dodecea

Dotted Fan-foot

Aethes dilucidana

Brown Oak Totrix

Clay Triple-lines

Phyllonorycter leucographella

Blotched Emerald

Paraswammerdamia albicapitella

Coleophora mayrella

Cydia nigricana

Sandy Carpet

Matilella fusca

The Spinach

Pale Oak Beauty

Phyllonrycter viminiella

Ethmia quadrillella

Stigmella salicis

Glyphipterix simplicella

Brachmia inornatella

Pseudococcyx turionella

Alder Moth

Bucculatrix bechsteinella

Clouded-bordered Brindle

Tischeria ekebladella

Elachista apicipunctella

Scrobipalpa acuminatella

Agonopterix scopariella

Oak-tree Pug

Incurvaria masculella

Lead-coloured Drab

Winter Moth

Cottenham leaf mines

Instigated by the need for detective work needed to work out the origin of several species recorded in the garden trap this year I've started paying more attention to leaf mines around the village. This is something I had no prior interest in...but its incredibly rewarding. With the help of the fantastic http://www.leafmines.co.uk/ resource I've managed to locate  eleven species in a small area including many that I didn't know were present locally. I'm sure there is much more to find. 

The species that got me going on leaf mines this year was Phyllonorycter comparella. It didn't take too long to find some mines on a nearby Grey Poplar which could well be the source of my garden records this year:

Phyllonorycter comparella on Grey Poplar

Also on the same Grey Poplar was the very distinctive mines of Phyllocnistis xenia; a species I also recorded in the garden trap for the first time this year:

Phyllocnistis xenia on Grey Poplar

In late spring mines of the rare Phyllonorycter pastorella were readily found on willow:

Phyllonorycter pastorella on willow

Found in many places in the village were the mines of Stigmella aceris on Field Maple:

Stigmella aceris on Field Maple

A stand of young Hornbeam supported two species, neither of which I have (knowingly) trapped. These included Stigmella microtherella:

Stigmella microtherella on Hornbeam

While Phyllonorycter esperella were very common:

Phyllonorycter esperella on Hornbeam

I've struggled to identify many mines on Oak - there are many species to choose from, but I worked out two new species for me:

Phyllonorycter messaniella on Oak

Stigmella basiguttella on Oak

Somewhat easier to work out is the widespread Stigmella aurella on Bramble:

Stigmella aurella on Bramble

Another Stigmella species was perpygmaeella which mines Hawthorn - I only found one mine of this:

Stigmella perpygmaeella on Hawthorn

While on Alder were some Stigmella stettinensis:

Stigmella stettinensis on Alder

Some of the best leaf mines I found were actually away from Cottenham while surveying a beech woodland in Norfolk this autumn. Some of the 'green island' mines on Stigmella tityrella are stunning:

winter moths November / December 2020

The weather allowed the trap to go out a few times in mid November this year. The options for new moths for the year were few after a productive October but I was glad to trap my second December Moth here, a a tremendous species:

December Moth Poecilocampa populi

Also a second garden record was a Acleris cristana, with the previous one occurring in March 2019:

Acleris cristana

Several Mottled Umber of different variations turned up making it by far my most productive year for this species. They were also seen with some regularity on several house walls on the school run:

Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria

Similarly Winter Moths were found mostly  attracted to house lights from late November into December:

Winter Moth Operophtera brumata

A final new moth for the year was a Satellite:

Satellite Eupsilia transversa

Late October 2020

The second half of the month involved a couple decent mild nights which produced two new moths for the garden.

Sprawler is a late autumn species of broad-leaved woodland so I had thought it would be difficult to catch one here:

Sprawler Asteroscopus sphinx

Chestnut on the other hand is a common and widespread species that can occur throughout the winter into early spring. It was a strange gap in the garden list and finally, two individuals turned up this month:

Chestnut Conistra vacinii

An Acleris sparsana was just the second for the garden:

Acleris sparsana

Three more Merveille du Jour turned up including two together on the 16th. A total of four this year is my best ever return. 

Merveille du Jour Griposia aprilina

Some other great moths from the tail end of the autumn:

Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria

Mallow Larentia clavaria

Red-green Carpet Chloroclysta siterata

This might be it now for the year; there are just a handful of realistic possibilities that will be addition to the year list before the years end.

[622] Sprawler

[623] Chestnut

Early October 2020

October was overall pretty good with most of the classic species turning up and a handful of new ones for the garden. An early Mottled Umber on the 6th was the first new species for the garden and just the third I have recorded in Cottenham:

Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria

Merveille du Jour is always a much anticipated October moth:

Merveille du Jour Griposia aprilina

Some other species that were new for the year in the first half of the month:

Rhomboid Tortrix Acleris rhombana

Large Wainscot Rhizedra lutosa

Red-line Quaker Agrochola lota

Yellow-line Quaker Agrochola macilenta

Sallow Cirrhia icteritia

[621] Mottled Umber

22nd September 2020

A couple of quiet catches recently haven't produced anything unexpected so a return of three new moths for the garden was a pleasant surprise. This was just reward for braving the early morning downpours that necessitated a move of the trap to the car port.

The best moth was a Breckland Plume, a nationally scarce b species that is rarely recorded in the County; although there is has been at least one previous record this year. As it name suggests it is resident in the Brecks in addition to parts of coastal Norfolk and Suffolk.

Breckland Plume Oxyptilus distans

One of the key features is the lack of dusky fringe markings on the final forewing lobe, which distinguishes it from the similar but even rarer O. laetus:

A late Spilonota tortrix caught my attention in being slim and with a suffusion of grey scale markings. These are all good features of S. laricana (Larch-bud Moth). This species was previously thought to be a variation within S. ocellana  (Bud Moth) which commonly occurs here in mid-summer. 

Spilonota laricana

The final new moth for the garden involved two Deep-brown Dart. This species turned up twice at Corbett Street prior to 2015. 

Deep-brown Dart Aporophyla lutulenta

[618] Breckland Plume

[619] Spilonota laricana

[620] Deep-brown Dart

4th September 2020 - Catocala craziness

 Finding my second Clifden Nonpareil on the gate by the trap at 2230 was exciting enough but by morning a second Catocala species had arrived.  Yet again it wasn't the expected Red Underwing but a fantastic Dark Crimson Underwing. It was remarkable to catch these two species together, especially as neither had seemed remotely possible here in Cambridgeshire until this year. 

The Clifden is definitely a different individual than the one caught here in late August and since then several more have been seen in the County.

Dark Crimson Underwing Catocala sponsa

Clifden Nonpareil Catocala fraxini

[617] Dark Crimson Underwing

26th August 2020

For a supposedly common moth, the stunning Bordered Beauty doesn't turn up here very often. In fact this is the first for the garden and only the second I've seen in the village; the previous being in 2013.

Bordered Beauty Epione repandaria

Signs of autumn continue with the years first Barred and Centre-barred Sallows. Here's the latter:

Centre-barred Sallow Atethmia centrago

While Dioryctria abietella was new for the year:

Dioryctria abietella

Box-tree Moths are becoming more regular now and my first melanic version turned up:

Box-tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis 

A fairly late Lobesia abscisana was of some interest as was a smart Vapourer:

Lobesia abscisana

Vapourer Orgyia antiqua

[616] Bordered Beauty