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

Late August 2019

Small Mottled Willow is a near annual migrant to Cambridgeshire, so I was glad to catch up with one here:

Small Mottled Willow Spodoptera exigua

There were also three plain tortrix species in the trap on the 25th - I very nearly passed them off as worn Cnephasia but potted two of them all the same. Photos show they are Celypha rosaceana, a new moth for me although only one individual had any traces of pink that give it its name(and even then you have to squint a little):

Celypha rosaceana

Fortunately I caught another one on the 27th which was much smarter and considerably more gratifying:

Celypha roseaceana

A third new moth for the garden turned out to be a somewhat fortunate addition. I absentmindedly took a few photos of moths at the bottom of the trap which i reviewed a few days later. One of which was clearly Pyrausta purpuralis not the regular P. aurata. Making it even more jammy was that the photo had it opening its wings showing the diagnostic markings on the hind wing:

Pyrausta purpuralis

[551] Celypha rosaceana
[552] Pyrausta purpuralis
[553] Small Mottled Willow

Other good moths included my second Cypress Pug:

Cypress Pug Eupithecia phoeniceata

Plus third records of Rhomboid Tortrix and Tawny-barred Angle:

Rhomboid Tortrix Acleris rhombana

Tawny-barred Angle Macaria liturata

While a new for year Oak Nycteoline was one of the best looking versions of this variable species that I have caught:

Oak Nycteoline Nycteola revayana

Mid August 2019

A couple of trapping nights recently haven't been very productive and they are somewhat of a comedown from the highs in July. Abundant species (Setaceous Hebrew Character, Yellow underwings, Common Wainscot etc) have remained, well, abundant but the more interesting moths have been hard to come by.

One new moth has come about though, a long awaited species that brings up the 550 for the garden:

[550] Six-striped Rustic

Six-striped Rustic Xestia sexstrigata

There was the second garden record of Aproaerema anthyllidella and the first one I've photographed properly:

Aproaerema anthyllidella

Also a garden 2nd was a Grapholita compositella, I had assumed that the individual recorded last year was a one off. Looks like there could be a small population of this locally rare moth nearby.

Grapholita compositella

A couple of underappreciated species that I haven't deemed exciting enough to post photos of before are the following:

Cabbage Moth Mamaestra brassicae

Brown House Moth Hoffannophila pseudospretella

3rd August 2019

The move in to August coincided with a distinct drop in diversity with 'only' 78 species recorded. As is the way recently though, there were some excellent moths.

The most interesting was a Peacock moth species, There are two similar species and I hadn't seen either before. Due to the extensive grey band across the forewing I thought this was Sharp-angled Peacock Macaria alternata. Looking at it some more though, other features didn't seem to fit. Noticeably the large and obvious 'paw' print on the forewing and the complete dark line on the hindwing fringe (above and below) strongly suggested Peacock Moth M. notata. It does seem that that no single feature is diagnostic and a suite of features combined is the best way to determine the identity. Both species are rare in VC29 but on balance, I am content that it is Peacock Moth.

Add caption

Peacock Moth Macaria notata

The second new moth for me was a crisply marked plume moth, the Triangle Plume:

Triangle Plume Platyptilia gonodactyla

New for the garden were two species I had recorded just once at Corbett Street:

Bulrush Wainscot Nonagria typhae

Batrachedra praeangustea

I had recorded the migrant Rusty-dot Pearl a few times at Corbett Street but this is the first one here:

Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis

[545] Batrachedra praeangustea
[546] Triangle Plume
[547] Rusty-dot Pearl
[548] Peacock Moth
[549] Bulrush Wainscot

Notts Moths - August 2019

I was up in the East Midlands for a few days and had the trap out a couple of times. There wasn't a huge difference in what I catch in Cambs but there were a few things of interest:

Dusky Thorn Ennomos fuscantaria

Gold Spot Plusia festucae

Phyllonorycter harrisella

Flame Carpet Xanthorhoe designata

The rarest moth was actually my new friend the Box-tree. There were three individuals over the two nights which is as many as have been recorded in the whole of Notts up to 2018. I'm sure there have been more in 2019 that haven't made it on to the system; it definitely seems to have advanced its march into the Midlands.

Box-tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis

29th July 2019

The new micros keep coming, with the best being a smart Evergestis pallidata:

Evergestis pallidata

Yet another new pyralid:

Rhodophaea formosa

I thought I had recorded Asilapteryx tringipennella before but it looks like it was at Corbett Street only:

Asilapteryx tringipennella

There was also a worn but still smart carbonaria form of Peppered Moth, not one I get annually:

Peppered Moth Biston betularia f. carbonaria

[542] Asilapteryx tringipennella
[543] Evergestis pallidata
[544] Rhodophaea formosa