Pale Brindled Beauty

An early Pale Brindled Beauty felt like one of next years moths. Fiftyfive moths of fifteen species arrived in the mild overnight conditions in my Worcs garden.Three Diamond-back moths and a SilverY made up the migrants.

Bringsty Common

It's that time of year again when I'm busy identifying all the tiddly brown jobs collected during trapping sessions. A couple of days ago I was amazed to discover I had Platytes alpinella (July 4th from the garden), which is a county first.  No record in Worcesterhsire and a single fairly recent record for Shropshire.  However it seems a long way from its usual haunts, which is coastal and mostly in the South Eastern area.  I don't often upload dissections, but thought I would in this instance.  The image is now also uploaded onto the Moth Dissection website: https://mothdissection.co.uk/species.php?Tx=Platytes_alpinella Peter Hall

E moth

The latest version of Butterfly Conservation's occasional "E-moth" newsletter is available here, including details of the annual conference for recorders which will be held in Birmingham during January.

Dark Nights

Two migrant Dark Sword-grass, and an unusual second brood Dark Arches came to light over this weekend at Norchard, Worcs, amongst ten other species.

If it's November it must be December

I ran 2 traps in the garden last night here on Bringsty Commnon as the temperatures held up nicely. 17 species in total,  15 macro and 2 micro.  No migrants at all (as per usual here).  Of interest was a single Heart & Dart and no less than 72 December moths. Full list:

December 72
Merveille du Jour 12
Feathered Thorn 9
Brick 5
Yellow-line Quaker 5
Red-green Carpet 3
Winter 2
November 2 (gen checked)
Red-line Quaker 2
Pale November 1 (gen checked)
Spruce Carpet 1
Heart & Dart 1
Mottled Umber 1
Common Marbled Carpet 1
Black Rustic 1
Epiphyas postvittana 1
Acleris sparsana 1

Bringsty Common: December moth

Bringsty Common: Heart & Dart

What is the collectoive noun for a group of December moths?  These gathered together after I tapped out the eggboxes.

Cypress carpets

As it seemed to be a milder night, I put my 40w actinic heath trap out last night in Worcester hoping to get more than the two LBAM's that I got last Friday for WGMS and also hoping for a Red green carpet as not seen one this year. I ended up with 8 moths a record for the me trapping in the winter. I had my first Black rustic of the year to my garden, a Turnip, LBAM's x 4 and two Cypress carpets which are completely new to me. Having looked in the books and the VC37 macro list I have, they seem quite rare for the area, not sure if this is still the case. Emailed CMR just in case. I've attached photos of both moths and have kept them for now.

Bringsty Common November 3rd 2018

I took advantage of the mild night and ran a single trap in the garden in an area sheltered from the stiff breeze.  Apart from plenty of German wasps and a hornet I was rewarded with a total of 14 species.  Sprawler (1), December (2) means that my list for the year is almost completed.  Still plenty of "Novemnals" about with 6 November and 2 Pale November arriving (plus a couple of females) and their octavals were inspected of course.  Commonest moth was Feathered Thorn as to be expected really (7).  Still getting Merveille du Jour (3). Most unusual moth was a second brood Shoulder-striped Wainscot. Sadly no micros. Peter Hall

Continuing northward range extension

A late posting of an L-album Wainscot that came to light near Pershore on the evening of 8th October - apparently a first for the County. I believe there have been two or three records in Gloucestershire in the last year or two, so perhaps an expected new arrival. A record shot included though not a co-operative individual as far as photography was concerned !

Palpita vitrealis

I was pleased to record this Palpita vitrealis this morning in the garden at Norchard, Worcs. It is my first home record of this species. Two Silver Y were the only other obvious migrant species. Some double brood moths

included, Blood-vein, Treble Brown Spot, Willow Beauty, Acrobasis consociella, and Lozotaeniodes formosana.

Blue is the Colour

A nice surprise this morning sitting by my trap in Dorstone.  The last ime I saw one of these was back in 1952 in Ham Street in Kent.  Ray Birchenough

Dorstone: Clifden Nonpareil (Blue Underwing)

 

Bringsty Common update

I've had 2 Riband Wave come to the garden trap this week.  Mike's record as well. Seems a bit unusual.  Last night I had what looks like a Common Footman also come to light, but I'll double check that one. The November group are just emerging, with 1 last night, and I'll look at its octavals a bit later today (update: a November moth) and a 3 hour trapping session last night at Wigmore Rolls was far more productive for this group, with well over 50 coming to the 2 lights...but not a lot else. 20 species of macro last night here at Bringsty and 9 micro species which is probably as good as you could hope for at this time of year. Nicest moth (well before a hornet munched it) was a Figure of 8. Compare that to Wigmore with just 10 species of macro and 1 micro.  Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Riband Wave

Wigmore Rolls: Figure of 8

Riband Wave

This unusual form of Riband Wave came to actinic light last night, here at Norchard, Worcs.
Black Rustic has had a good year here peaking at 71 on the 18th of September, and remaining in high numbers since.
A bit premature there, as I have just counted 123 Black Rustic from last night the 5th of October from one Robinson trap.
The first Yellow-line Quakers arrived, and some late moths included, Bordered Pug, Mother of Pearl, Carcina quercana, Heart and Dart, and Mottled Rustic.

Another Late One

Ran the garden trap here on Bringsty Common last night for the first time in 10 days. 23 species with micros topping the frequency table with Acleris variegana commonest with 14 individuals followed by Eudonia angustea with 11.  Best macro was Lunar Underwing with 9.  However,  included in the mix was a Short Cloaked moth and trawling through the Hereford database it seems the previous latest record was August 15th in 1991.  Having access also to the Bucks database I see they have recorded occasional very late records, even one in October, but not very often.  Not sure if it is an attempted second brood, or a confused individual perhaps. Peter Hall

Wigmore Rolls Monday September 17th

With garden catches running at around 40 to 45 species per night at the moment, and Monday forecast to be mild,  I met up with Rob Hemming and trapped at Wigmore Rolls, a nice Forestry Commission site just up from Leominster.  Hornet management kept me busy, but unfortunately the moths did not and it was very slow going for the 3 hours the traps were run.  However, lots of singeltons pushed the tally for my 2 Robinsons up to around 35 species. A very tatty Cydia splendana  along with a Dingy Footman and a Marbled White-spot. 3 fresh Dusky Thorn. Also arrived was a Small Wainscot and a  Brick. Plenty of Red-green Carpet and Common Marbled Carpet. Pandemis cinnamomeana topped the micros.  The biggest surprise was a Satin Lutestring, which is yet another species that may be starting to second brood? Most records for this moth are late May to mid-July.  Peter Hall

Wigmore Rolls: Satin Lutestring

 

Re Puss Moth or Sallow Kitten

Aaron, I would say you are correct with Sallow Kitten. I have reared both species from eggs and looking at my photographs above, although the colour and appearance of both species changes significantly during development, the spiracles of the Puss Moth larva always seem to be clearly visible on a clean background - far less so in the case of the Sallow Kitten.

Patrick Clement

Puss/Kitten Caterpillar

I found this caterpillar on a Violet Willow in my garden today but can't decide if it a young Puss Moth or one of the Kitten Moths. I'm leaning towards Sallow Kitten but not at all sure.

 

Ectoedemia sp.

I was wondering if it is possible to identify this Ectoedemia species from the photograph. It came to mv light overnight at Norchard ,Worcs?
A busy garden moth scheme Robinson trap on Friday night, recorded 210 moths of 44 species here, with no migrants.

Bringsty Common September 2nd

It was still 18 degrees here at midnight and I ran two traps in the garden.  34 macros and 19 micro species with Large Yellow Underwing making up for lost time - 86 counted.  But of most interest was a second generation Lilac Beauty.  No signs of any migrants whatsoever. Autumn species restricted to a single Frosted Orange and 3 Feathered Gothic. Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Lilac Beauty

 

Migrant

This morning at Burlish Top, Stourport, I flushed a 'white' moth around the bracken. Without a net, I tracked it around for a few minutes until I could get a reasonable view of it settled. It turned out to be Palpita vitrealis, a rare migrant this far inland. It eventually disappeared and could not be refound. What is the status of this moth in the county?

Bringsty Common update

Not a lot of excitement this way of late.  The late Summer lull is in full swing now and my trap is beginning to heave with the usual suspects for late Summer.  Last night Large Yellow Underwings reached a count of 75, just pipped by Square-spot Rustic at 78. And with the Forest Shieldbugs disturbing the moths on the egg trays it looked a bit frantic in the trap at times.  No signs here of any migrant activity.  the few Silver Y's all look past their best and even Plutella xylostella (Diamond-back) have stopped appearing.  I am getting "waves" of Acentria ephemerellas (Water Veneer) appearing around the trap with a best count just 2 shy of 100.  But it is erratic, last night just 3 counted, the night before it was 53, with most fluttering apparently helplessly in the grass, always on one side of the trap, even when there's no apparent wind.  Pale Eggar has been arriving - 2 so far and last night the first Frosted Orange. Still getting a few Centre-barred Sallow.  I'll have to check the records, but Poplar Hawk has been almost ever present this year with the 2 broods overlapping.  1 last night.  It is the best second brood Heart and Dart season I can ever remember with 47 recorded on the 17th. As for species counts, they are slowly falling away (with moth numbers increasing).  Last night 29 macros and 13 micros, on the 21st 31 macro species and 13 micros, the 20th 34 macro species and 19 micros.  It cools down now, so the traps will get a rest.

On the 18th I went out ot Moreton Wood near Ullingswick (Herefordshire) which is a wood sitting on a limestone outcrop.  Here I did get one migrant - a Dark Sword Grass - and other than plenty of Pretty Chalk Carpet and a few Fern, the list was as you would exepct anywhere. Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Frosted Orange 22/8/2018

 

Bringsty Common: Pale Eggar 20/8/2018

Convolvulus Hawk-moth

This Convolvulus Hawk-moth stood out among the other moths in the trap this morning. I also recorded my first site record of Small Ranunculus here at Norchard, Worcestershire.

Scythris limbella

On looking through the micros that came into the trap last weekend at Abberton, delighted to find a Scythris limbella.

Apparently this is the 5th Worcestershire record and the first since one at Stoke Prior in 2004 - the three earlier records dating back to the 1870's !

Webb's at Bodenham

Last night the garden produced a county first with the arrival of a Webb's Wainscot.  It obligingly identified itself in the book.  Robin Hemming

Bodenham: Webb's Wainscot

 

Bringsty Common

I think it's been of no surprise to people to see the "late Summer lull" kick in early this year. Numbers have been dropping rapidly out and about and also in the garden.  Last night I was down to 2 individual Footman moths.  Poplar Hawk must be in their second generation by now, but they've been arriving at the garden trap almost inunterupted since late Spring.  5 last night. Elephant Hawk seem to have finally stopped arriving about a week ago.  I had a couple of Six-striped Rustic 10 days ago but none since.  Last night the first Rosy Rustic arrived.  I also had my first Nomophila noctuella of the year, so maybe migrants might start arriving in more numbers.  Trapping 2 nights ago in the Chilterns also saw a Dark Sword-grass.  I've not had the interesing influx that Ian M talks about here, but species like Large Yellow Underwing have suffered badly from the drought.  Only now have Flame Shoulder started appearing. Hardly seen Small Square-spot all year.  I'm still getting the odd Angle-striped Sallow coming to the garden, so that's done really well as have Gold Spot and I think that is reflected elsewhere too with this last species.  A single trap last night in the garden produced 43 macro species and 14 micro species with Dotted Clay, Olive and previously mentioned species of most note.  Numbers of Acentria ephemerella flapping helplessly around the ttrap late evening have been impressive with 88 counted 2 nights ago. Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Rush Veneer

Bringsty Common: Angle-striped Sallow

 

Heatwave wanderers

July has been the month which keeps on giving. The first half of the month had very good numbers yet the second half saw a noticable decrease. Species wise I trapped 166 sp of macros which is the second best total since 2007. A feature of the hot weather has been the unexpected wanderers-all new for the garden: Small Seraphim, Silky Wainscot, Beautiful Yellow Underwing, Twin spotted Wainscot, Brown veined Wainscot and Cream bordered Green Pea. What will drop in next?

Evesham

During the nights of the 21st and 22nd of July an increase in nighttime temperatures to 15 and 18 degrees respectively resulted in an overall increase in moth numbers. This is my first year of trapping but the night of the 22nd resulted in record breaking numbers to my urban garden 20W heath trap.

Overall 238 moths were caught totally 82 species highlights included gold spot, 2 oak eggar, tissue, july highflyer, magpie, single-dotted wave and a rather worn sitochroa palealis.

Autumn Approaches

Running the trap on the 14th here on Bringsty Common I caught 2 Canary-shouldered Thorn and 1 Dusky Thorn.  I think that's the earliest record for Dusky Thorn for vc-36? It will be Square-spot Rustic next up...Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Canary-shouldered Thorn

Bringsty Common: Dusky Thorn

Mansell Gamage 03/06/18

Going back through my records I should have asked your view on this one. I think it's a White-spotted Pug. Would you agree? Thanks in advance.

Mansell Gamage 04/07/18

A challenging trapping in my Skinner trap. Some 100 moths, quite a few new to me and which have taken some time to identify. The trap included Black Arches and Fern both of which are new to me.

Black Arches

Fern

Could I have confirmation for the following three please.

Scarce Silver Y?

Is this Orthotaenia undulana?

Not sure what this is??

Old Country Farm

The WBRC 'Finding Rare Species in the Malverns' public event mentioned in an earlier post was very successful with a good number of visitors either running traps or 'spectating' on the Monday evening with some returning with some new faces for the ID session on the Tuesday morning.
6 traps of various types were set up around the site which was mostly old established orchard.
Being on the extreme western edge of VC37 Worcestershire it is an area that is relatively under recorded.

Another warm night with a little breeze meant traps were busy but not overwhelmingly so. The species list will be well over 100 for the night.

Highlights for me were The Olive, Waved Black and Slender Brindle, but probably the most notable species found was the micro Dichomeris alacella. Classified as nationally scarce B, in VC37 we have had only 3 prior records, the first in 2011. All these were singletons. I saw at least 5 individuals over the evening, so it is fairly safe to say that there is a nice colony of these moths at the site. The old orchard would be perfect habitat for the lichen feeding larvae. It is a moth that appears to be on the rise, since it has been recorded more frequently in recent years including some records from the Herefordshire side of the border.

73.213 BF2312
The Olive Ipimorpha subtusa

35.025 BF851 Dichomeris alacella   

Oliver Wadsworth.

Cinnabar

Not the most exciting moth ever, but I am delighted to finally see larvae on my clumps of Ragwort in the garden here on Bringsty Common.  I do get occasioanl visits by adults at the trap. Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Cinnabar larva

 

Grapholita

I swept this micro from a Apple tree in an orchard at Wofferwood Common today. I am fairly sure it is a Grapholita sp. and it seems to match with pictures & descriptions of G. lobarzewskii but I would appreciate any other opinions on it. It is 7mm long. 

Chrysoclista linneella

A photo from Alan Prior who recorded Chrysoclista linneella for the second time in his Hall Green garden last Sunday night. Once would be nice methinks!
Patrick Clement

Bringsty Common July 9th

Quite a good night last night for moths in the end, although when I last looked at the 2 traps running around midnight, it was fairly quiet.  129 species recorded.  Another Angle-striped Sallow and a couple of Waved Black.  Still getting numbers of Triple-spotted Clay.  The stars of the show were 4 Garden Tiger.  Only ever had singletons here in the past, so this was a pleasant surprise - and all from one trap.  Peter Hall

Bringsty Common: Garden Tigers

 

Tiddesley Wood 6/7/2018

A last minute trip to Tiddesley Wood last Friday night was predictably busy. The temperature got no lower than 18c and the traps were quite hard work to be near with so many small flies and caddis, not to mention the hordes of moths.
Myself and Jason Wayne ran three Skinner traps and recorded at least 176 species by 2am when we left the site.

Highlights were:

7 Pine Hawk moths - presumably now resident here. They have been recorded in singles from Defford in recent years, only a couple of miles away.

Waved Black

Ethmia dodecea - recorded of and on at Abberton, but still a rare moth in the county.

Endotricha flammealis - Spreading, but still seldom recorded.

Ethmia dodecea

Bordered Beauty Epione repandaria

Oliver Wadsworth.