Like any self-respecting 2nd year student at University, I spend a large proportion of my free time outdoors looking for moths. So far this winter however, all my notable discoveries have been made from the comfort of our cold, slightly mouldy student house in St. Johns:
A Dotted Border was a very welcome find, attracted to the light of the kitchen window on the early date of 12th January, whilst Mompha bradleyi, Mompha subbistrigella, Psychoides filicivora and Acleris schalleriana have all been recently extracted from various bedrooms by my housemates and taken straight to me.
I think I'm teaching them well!
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| Dotted Border |
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| Mompha bradleyi |
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| Psychoides filicivora |
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| Acleris schalleriana |
I've also managed to bug the University into buying their first moth trap, and got the Environmental and Conservation Society quite enthused on the idea of regular moth trapping on campus - if anyone is interested in coming along and helping out, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.
Happy mothing!
Bill
Welcome to the Blog Bill. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI think your P.casta is Psychoides filicivora. If you have any Hearts Tongue fern in the garden (They like it wet so a mouldy student house might be ideal habitat!) you can probably find the larvae spun up in the spores on the underside of the fronds.
Hi Oliver, a moment of madness - you are completely right and that it is P. filicivora (presumed to have emerged from a potted Hart's-tongue Fern). I did mean to type that species, but for some reason I was thinking of P. casta at the time... honest! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out.
Bill