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

19th August 2020

 A belated new moth the garden was a Toadflax Pug, a  species that was annual in my old garden:

Toadflax Pug Eupithecia linariata

Dewick's Plusia was formerly extremely rare but is now turning up much more regularly. This one was just the second for the garden though: 

Dewick's Plusia Macdunnoughia confusa

A handful of other species were new for the year including the migrant Rush Veneer:

Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella

While Small Square-spot has turned up in the last three years now:

Small Square-spot Diarsia rubi

This Prays ruficeps is just the third record I believe:

Prays ruficeps

[615] Toadflax Pug

14th August 2020 - feeling blue

A remarkably poor catch became completely irrelevant when under the last egg box was this monster, an awesome Clifden Nonpareil. Although in recent years they have been turning up in several places it is still a rare treat to catch one. I was taken aback by its size and it caused me to improvise after not being immediately able to find a pot it fitted comfortably in. 

[614] Clifden Nonpareil

This is the view that I was presented with when turning the egg box over:

It was also a very popular moth with the youngsters:

The only other moth of note was a smart Purple Bar which was new for the year:

Notts Moths 2020

My now annual later summer trip back to Nottinghamshire produced a couple of new moths to me in the form of Apotomis capreana and a worn but still distinctive Chrysoclista linneella (Lime Cosmet):

Apotomis capreana

Chrysoclista linneella

Gold Spots were abundant this year:

Gold Spot Plusia festucae

While Barred Hook-tip is a species I've only seen in Norfolk previously:

Barred Hook-tip Watsonalla cultraria

Honeysuckle Moth seems to occur in most of my traps outside of the County but never in my garden:

Honeysuckle Moth Ypsolopha dentella

9th August 2020

After the heights of the 7th it was no surprise that the following session couldn't quite match it. However, what seems to be VC29s (and my) third Sciota adelphella was great to see, especially as it stayed to be photographed unlike last months individual. Its been a fascinating run of records of this rare species here - it can only be concluded to be resident locally which is some distance from the known nearest colonies in Suffolk. 

Sciota adelphella

There was a new moth too - a tricky Dichrorampha tortricid. It's small size and location of the costal fold are good for D.acuminatana rather than similar species such as simpliciana:

[613] Dichrorampha acuminatana

There have been several moths recntly occurring in numbers not seen previously. This includes Pyrausta purpuralis, which was NFG only last year:

The warm nights have been notable for plenty of by-catch with beetles being overwhelming at times. Two of the more interesting ones were these monsters:

Great Diving Beetle Dytiscus marginalis

Lesser Stag Beetle Dorcus paralellapipidus