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Sightings Archive Index
TOTAL MOTH SPECIES RECORDED IN 2005
566
This is an archive of the UTB moth sightings
for January to December 2005.
Photographs have been removed to save space on the website.
First reported sighting of each species is indicated by lavender text.
Saturday
31st December 2005
Dave Wilton sent in his final moths for 2005: “Here are
two more trap reports from Westcott to complete the year's sightings: 21st December brought in Winter Moth (2)
and Mottled Umber (2, pictured below). I half expected to find a
December Moth in there as well as I'd discovered one in the garage and released
it into the garden that evening, but it didn't come back. On 31st December all I got was Winter Moth (1)
and Chestnut (1).”
30/12/05 – David Redhead reported the following interesting
discovery: “Most
years a pre-Christmas retrieval visit is required to our loft. I usually take
the opportunity to have a search for hibernating butterflies as on my first
visit, some twenty years ago, I discovered about a dozen Peacocks and half a
dozen Small Tortoiseshells. Over the two decades the numbers have gradually
dwindled and this year, on Friday 23rd December, the lowest count to date was
achieved with just one of each species. However, I did manage to add a new
species - a hibernating Herald moth. By precariously balancing a torch I
was able to produce enough illumination to allow my camera to focus and obtain
the attached photograph (see below):”
29/12/05 - Dave Maunder recorded a few late moths in Aylesbury over
the last four weeks or so:-
Sprawler (17-11), December moth (12-12), Winter moth (16),
Mottled Umber (4), and Emmelina monodactyla (5).
Tuesday
27th December 2005
[Apologies
for the delay in posting the following, due to computer problems:]
Dave Wilton reports that another trapping session
at Westcott on 14th December achieved double-figures, the mild night bringing
in: December
Moth (4), Winter Moth (8), Acleris rhombana (1) and
Exapate congelatella (1). “Of the two
tortrices, the second is new to the UTB list. I tried trapping again on the
15th but the wind was much stronger and all I managed to get was December Moth
(3) and Winter Moth (3).”
On 10th December Dave Wilton reported the following: “I'm still putting the trap
out at Westcott occasionally and on 3rd December it brought in single
examples of Winter Moth and Satellite, as shown in the picture
below.
Also, on 6th December my wife found a largish micro in the bathroom
(length of each wing about 15mm) which has now been confirmed as Depressaria chaerophylli. There are apparently
few Bucks records of this species and I note that it is also new to the UTB
list for 2005.”
Tuesday
15th November 2005
Alastair Driver sent in the following unusual addition to the 2005 UTB moth list on
13th November: “This is pretty pathetic I know, but
a moth is a moth! Yesterday my wife urged me to take a look at what appeared to
be eating a carpet in a dark closet in the house and I discovered the cases and
then an adult of what turned out to be the Case-bearing
Clothes Moth (Tinea pellionella). The
adult was only about 1/4 inch long, so I needed a lens to identify it! Got to
be the smallest moth I've ever seen! I guess they all count though, no matter
how obscure!"
Dave Maunder recorded the following moths in Aylesbury during the
last couple of weeks: “The few moths I've seen comprise Feathered Thorn (4),
Light-brown Apple moth (2), and Emmelina monodactyla (2). The
next few days don't seem at all good for moths or butterflies, with very low
temperatures forecast!”
Tony Towner ran his garden trap in Tilehurst on 12th
November between
17:20 and 23:30 and managed one specimen - Mottled Umber.
On 11th November Keith Mitchell had a couple of moths
attracted to his house lights in Stoke Goldington:
Red-green Carpet on 8th November (garden first) and December Moth on 11th November (his first this year).
Dave Wilton put the trap out at Westcott again on
10th November: “I managed just five moths, but at least I got a new
species this time: December Moth (2),
Feathered Thorn (1) & Sprawler (2). I've sent along pictures
of the Feathered Thorn (quite a dusky male) and December Moth (see below).
Also, while surveying for Brown Hairstreak butterfly eggs at Lapland Farm
meadow on 11th November, I
found two Blue-bordered Carpet eggs and a half-grown Oak Eggar caterpillar
(photo below).”
Monday
7th November 2005
Dave Wilton ran his moth trap again at Westcott
last night, 6th: “ It was the first rain/gale-free night here for
nearly a week. It managed a grand total of five moths: Satellite (1),
Sprawler (3) and Yellow-line Quaker (1). I usually find that about a
quarter of any night's catch is to be found outside the trap, either on the
lawn, on other vegetation or on the fence, which is why I always get up just
before dawn to ensure that the birds don't get a free breakfast. However, the
percentage was rather different last night because only the Satellite actually
entered the trap! As I won't have completed my first year of trapping until
next March I'll continue to put the trap out on suitable occasions through the
winter just to see what might be about locally. The garden has produced more
than 280 species in just under nine months so the goal for me will be 300 next
year!”
Thursday
3rd November 2005
On 2nd
November Keith Mitchell sent the following October moth summary from Stoke Goldington: “October has been a bit hectic, but highlighted by a Juniper Carpet on 26th (a
good record – see photo below). Other moths included Barred Sallow,
Beaded Chestnut, Black Rustic, Blair's Shoulder-knot, Brown-spot Pinion,
Centre-barred Sallow, Dark Chestnut, The Engrailed, Feathered Thorn, Garden
Rose Tortrix, Green-brindled Crescent, Grey Pine Carpet, Large Ranunculus,
Large Wainscot, The Mallow, Mouse, Pale Mottled Willow, a pristine Red-line
Quaker (photo below), Rosy Rustic, Sallow, Satellite, Sprawler,
Spruce Carpet, Turnip Moth, Vine's Rustic and Yellow-line Quaker.”
2nd November - Dave Maunder has seen a few more moths in
Aylesbury during the last week:-
Green-brindled Crescent (1), Large Wainscot (1), Grey Shoulder-knot
(2), November moth (1), and Emmelina monodactyla (1).
30th October at Westcott was Dave
Wilton’s final garden trapping session for October and it brought in 14
species: ”Three of them were new to my garden list: Winter Moth, Grey
Shoulder-knot and the pyralid Eudonia angustea. The full list of species was: Winter
Moth, Feathered Thorn, Figure of Eight, Sprawler, Grey Shoulder-knot, Blair's
Shoulder-knot, Green-brindled Crescent, Red-line Quaker, Yellow-line Quaker,
Beaded Chestnut and micros Acleris sparsana, Udea ferrugalis/Rusty Dot Pearl,
Eudonia angustea, Emmelina monodactyla. All three of the grey macro moths
which are currently flying came to the trap and I managed to get a photograph
of them together, see below.”
Monday
31st October 2005
Tony Towner sent the following on 28th October: “Here are my sightings for my garden
trap at Tilehurst on 14/10/05:
Shuttle-Shaped
Dart (2), Blair's Shoulder-knot (2), Lesser Yellow Underwing (1), Garden Carpet
(1), Black Rustic (1), Merveille du Jour (1).
Recently returned from holiday, Peter Hall sent
in the following two moth trap reports from his garden in Ballinger Common:
18/10/05 - Spruce Carpet; Feathered Thorn; Figure of Eight; Setaceous
Hebrew Character; Black Rustic; Blair's Shoulder-knot; Chestnut; Acleris
variegana (Garden Rose Tortrix)
26/10/05 - Spruce Carpet; Feathered Thorn; Figure of Eight; Setaceous Hebrew
Character; Blair's Shoulder-knot; Chestnut; Red-green Carpet; Common Marbled
Carpet; November Moth; Pale November;
Sprawler; Grey Shoulder-knot; Merveille du Jour; Satellite; Yellow-line quaker;
Beaded Chestnut; Angle Shades; Silver Y and micros: Blastobasis lacticolella; Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown
Apple); Acleris hastiana; Orthopygia glaucinalis; Amblyptilia acanthadactyla.
Friday
28th October 2005
Dave Wilton finished identifying last night's
collection, 26th October, from his garden trap in Westcott and found
the Sprawler was the only one new to the UTB list. The warm night brought
an interesting collection of 54 moths to the trap. The 20 species comprised Red-green
Carpet (4), Common Marbled Carpet (4), November Moth agg (3), Feathered Thorn
(8), Figure of Eight (1), Large Yellow Underwing (1), Sprawler
(1), Black Rustic (2), Green-brindled Crescent (4), Merveille du Jour (1), Dark
Chestnut (1), Red-line Quaker (4), Yellow-line Quaker (5), Beaded Chestnut (4),
Lunar Underwing (4), Sallow (1), Dark Arches (2), Snout (1), Hypsopygia
costalis/Gold Triangle (2), Udea ferrugalis/Rusty Dot Pearl (2). “The
Sprawler and Rusty Dot Pearl were new to my garden list, while the two fresh
Gold Triangles suggest that this is another pyralid moth which now has a second
brood.”
Dave had also put the trap out the previous night
(25th) but the strong wind kept the catch down to 21 moths of 10
species. However, they included Satellite (1), Blair's Shoulder-knot (3) and
Endrosis sarcitrella/White-shouldered House Moth (1) which he didn't get
again on the 26th.
Ched George had his first autumn Satellite last night the 26th October: Not new to the list due to the hibernators last spring, but his first for this brood.
26/10/05 – Moths seen in Aylesbury
by Dave Maunder since 11th October
were:-
Vapourer moths (2 - 1 on 12th, 1 on 16th - late 2nd brood specimens,
perhaps?); Hummingbird hawk moth (1 - on Buddleia, Quarrendon, seen by a
friend, Nigel Garbutt); Large Yellow Underwing (1), Angle Shades (1),
Grey shoulder-knot (1), November moths (4), Garden Carpet (1),
Green-brindled Crescent (1), Light Brown Apple moths (4), Satellite
(1) and Ruby Tiger larva (1), Dot moth larva (1 - 4th
instar), and Large Yellow Underwing larva (1).
In spite of it starting to rain on Tuesday evening (20th)
almost as soon as he turned the trap on and staying that way until the early
hours of Wednesday, David Redhead still managed to catch 11 macro-moths - 5 November Moths, 3 Large
Wainscots, 1 Red-green Carpet, 1 Barred Sallow and 1 Feathered
Thorn - the last two were firsts for David’s 2005 garden list.
Wednesday
19th October 2005
Dave Wilton ran his overnight moth trap on 17th
October: “It’s a while since I had so few moths in the trap! At Westcott
on the 17th I got just 27 (of 17 species), the low temperature and moonlight
having conspired against me. The full list comprised: Red-green Carpet (3),
Common Marbled Carpet (1), November Moth agg. (4), Feathered Thorn (1), Figure
of Eight (1), Black Rustic (1), Blair's Shoulder-knot (1), Green-brindled
Crescent (4), Satellite (1), Red-line Quaker (2), Yellow-line Quaker (2),
Beaded Chestnut (1), Lunar Underwing (1), Barred Sallow (1), Dusky-lemon Sallow
(1), Acleris sparsana (1) and Acleris rhombana
(1). The Figure of Eight and Acleris rhombana (Rhomboid Tortrix) were new
to my garden this year and the latter appears to be new to the UTB list as
well.”
16th October - David Redhead’s overnight garden moth
trap produced 19 macro-moths from 8 species, in spite of the rain: 6 Large Wainscot, 5 November Moth (confirmed by Martin Townsend),
2 Green-brindled Crescent, 2 Yellow-line Quaker (garden first)
and singletons of Chestnut, Common Marbled Carpet, Large Yellow Underwing and
Red-green Carpet.
Ched George’s trap on the night of the 14th produced 12 species including a Figure of
Eight and a Merveille du Jour.
Also, on 11th October. 1 Orange Sallow and a Deep
Brown Dart.
Sunday
16th October 2005
Jan Haseler had a Dotted Chestnut turn up in her
Tilehurst trap on Monday 10th October. “All the 21 records in
the Berkshire moth database are of spring specimens. I have had to go back
nearly 60 years to find an autumn record of Dotted Chestnut. Brian
Baker saw 2 at sugar in October and November 1948 at Ambarrow Hill (which
appears to be near Sandhurst).”
Derek Brown sent the following report on 15th
October: “I've been continuing the moth trapping this year and have
now got up to 133 macro species and about 20 identified micros for the garden,
including Merveille du Jour which turned up in my trap last night. One
new entry for the list - having just obtained Goater's Pyralid guide I realise
that I had Evergestis pallidata earlier
this year, on 30th July.”
15th October - Dave Wilton says he’s
still managing a good variety of species in Westcott, although overall numbers
are now starting to fall significantly: “A November Moth agg.
trapped here on 3rd October is still awaiting confirmation of exact species but
I hope to have this sorted within a few days.
On 11th October I managed
117 moths of 24 species: Common Marbled Carpet (1), November Moth agg.
(2), Feathered Thorn (1), Large Yellow Underwing (15), Lesser Yellow
Underwing (1), Setaceous Hebrew Character (8), Square-spot Rustic (2), Black
Rustic (14), Blair's Shoulder-knot (6), Green-brindled Crescent (1), Brindled
Green (1), Dark Chestnut (2), Red-line Quaker (4), Beaded Chestnut (18), Lunar
Underwing (22), Barred Sallow (2), Sallow (7), Rosy Rustic (1), Large Wainscot
(1), Uncertain (1), Burnished Brass (1), Silver Y (1), Acleris variegana (1)
& Acleris sparsana (2).
On 14th October the trap
brought in 66 moths of 23 species, of which Blood-vein (2), Red-green Carpet
(1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (1), Yellow-line Quaker (1), Orange Sallow (1),
Dusky-lemon Sallow (2), Pale Mottled Willow (1) & Orthopygia glaucinalis
(2) were additional to the previous session. None of the species from
either date is new to the UTB list. However, the pyralid Orthopygia glaucinalis
is interesting, being such a late sighting of a species which normally flies in
July and August, and suggests the possibility of a second brood.
In the garden today, 15th October, I found Silver
Y along with micros Choreutis pariana (Apple
Leaf Skeletonizer) (new to the UTB list, on the final bloom of one
of my buddleias) & Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla (four disturbed from
vegetation while mowing the lawn).”
Friday
14th October 2005
11t October - Dave Maunder sent his weekly report of moths seen
over the last week around Aylesbury:
Large Ranunculus (4), Silver-y (2), Emmelina monodactyla (4), Grey
Shoulder-knot (4), Large Yellow Underwing (1), Lesser Yellow Underwing (1),
Lunar Underwing (4), Sallow Moth (1), Angle Shades (1) and Ruby Tiger larva on
nettles.
9th October - Alastair Driver reports catching Udea ferrugalis (Rusty
Dot Pearl), another
new addition to the UTB 2005 Species List.
Ben Carpenter recorded a new moth for the UTB
2005 Species List on 7th October - an Autumnal
Rustic, found at Wytham.
Sunday
9th October 2005
Alastair Driver had a decent trapping session in his garden at Sonning overnight on 7th October: “16 species caught. No new parish records, but 2 new for the garden - Brindled Green and Deep-brown Dart. Other firsts for the year for me were Feathered Thorn, Beaded Chestnut and Blair's Shoulder Knot.”
Saturday
8th October 2005
Dave Wilton put the trap out again last night, 7th
October, as it was another warm night: “It brought in a total of 275 moths with 24 species
trapped. Six that I didn’t get last time were: Blood-vein (1), Red-green
Carpet (1), Green-brindled Crescent (3, new to my garden list), Satellite
(3), Dark Arches (1) and Uncertain (1), so October is still
providing plenty of variety.”
Eddie Napper reports as follows: “With the
continuing mild weather I ran the 30w actinic trap again in my Wokingham garden
overnight on the 6th October. Highlight
this time was a Merveille du Jour.”
Moths in Jan Haseler’s Tilehurst garden on 6th
October included: 2 Acleris sparsana;
Deep-brown Dart (new for the garden); a second generation Swallow-tailed
Moth and a new generation Chestnut.
Dave Wilton says his Robinson trap continues to hoover up the local insect population at night: “On 3rd October I managed a remarkable total of 406 moths of 27 species, of which Merveille du Jour and Yellow-line Quaker were new to my garden for this year. The full list was as follows:
Common Marbled Carpet (3), Spruce Carpet (1), Large
Yellow Underwing (6), Lesser Yellow Underwing (1), Setaceous Hebrew Character
(12), Square-spot Rustic (4), Common Wainscot (2), Deep-brown Dart (7), Black
Rustic (10), Pale Pinion (1), Blair's Shoulder-knot (10), Merveille du Jour (1), Brindled Green (1), Brick
(1), Red-line Quaker (2), Yellow-line Quaker (1),
Beaded Chestnut (39), Lunar Underwing (277), Barred Sallow (3), Pink-barred
Sallow (3), Sallow (8), Dusky-lemon Sallow (7), Angle Shades (2), Rosy Rustic
(1), Frosted Orange (1) & Pale Mottled Willow (1).”
David Redhead ran a garden moth trap overnight on 5th
October:
"Not too bad a catch for time of year with 28 macro-moths from 15 species
- Large Yellow Underwing (7), Snout (5), Lunar Underwing (3),
Black Rustic (2) and singletons of Blair's Shoulder-knot, Broad-bordered
Yellow Underwing, Common Marbled Carpet, Frosted Orange, Green-brindled
Crescent, Large Wainscot, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Pale Mottled Willow,
Red-green Carpet, Rosy Rustic and Sallow."
Running his trusty 30w actinic trap overnight on
the 5th October Eddie Napper recorded 20 moths of 12 species
including this Figure of Eight (see
below) - a new one for his garden and the UTB 2005 Species List.
5th October - Dave Maunder’s list of moth sightings
around Aylesbury last week included:-
Large Yellow Underwing (2), Lunar Underwing (8), Grey
Shoulder-knot (3), Large Ranunculus (3), Beaded Chestnut (1, at Ethrope), Garden Carpet (1),
Willow Beauty (1- a late one on 3rd Oct.), and a Dot Moth
larva.
Sunday
2nd October 2005
David Redhead ran a garden moth trap last night, 1st
October: “Owing
to the low overnight temperature it gave a small but varied catch with 17
macro-moths from 9 species. These included a first for my garden, a Green-brindled Crescent. Other species were - Lunar
Underwing 4, Large Wainscot 3, Large Yellow Underwing 3, Beaded Chestnut 2,
Common Marbled Carpet 1, Red-green Carpet 1, Snout 1.”
Dave Wilton also ran a trap at Westcott last
night, 1st October: “It managed a ‘paltry’ 162 moths of
17 species (113 were Lunar Underwings). I managed one new addition for
my garden, a single Red-green Carpet, but nothing else of note. I'm
surprised the trap held as many moths as it did because we were close to having
a frost here.”
30/09/05 - Eddie Napper sent the following email: “Looking
at the website I noticed that no one had reported this yet this year: running a
30w actinic overnight on 29/09/05, despite the rain, new for the garden were 2 Pine Carpets - see picture below.”
28/09/05 - Dave Maunder sent in his list of moth
sightings from around the Aylesbury area during September. He
recorded the following 36 species by looking at the moths attracted to house
and street lights, Other moths were found on fence posts, building walls,
buddleias and even in a bus shelter!
Angle Shades; Brimstone Moth;
Burnished Brass; Centre-Barred Sallow; Common Rustic; Common Wainscot; Dusky
Thorn; Emmelina Monodactyla; Feathered Gothic; Flounced Rustic; Frosted
Orange; Garden Carpet; Grey Shoulder Knot; Hummingbird Hawk Moth
(on Buddleia); Large Ranunculus; Large Yellow Underwing; Light-Brown Apple Moth;
Lesser Yellow Underwing; Lunar Underwing (in a bus
shelter); Many Plume Moth; Marbled Beauty; Orange Swift; Pale Mottled
Willow; Red Underwing; Setaceous
Hebrew Characters; Silver-Y; Small Dusty Wave; Snout Moth; Square-Spot Rustic;
Svensson’s Copper Underwing; The Rustic; Treble Lines; Turnip Moth; Vapourer
Moth; Willow Beauty; Yellow Shell
Dave also recorded Buff-Tip larvae (35+) at 3rd
instar on 3-9-05 and a fully grown Vapourer Moth larva on 5-9-05.
Dave Wilton ran his overnight moth trap again at
Westcott on 27th September: “Despite the cold it
brought in 323 moths of 27 species, including Brindled Green (2) and Red-line Quaker (1) which were new to my list.
I also got my first Satellite of the winter along with a fresh Snout whose
size and appearance was more like a first-brood specimen (picture below).”
Monday
26th September 2005
David Redhead’s overnight moth trap on 24th September
produced 51 macro-moths from 20 species which included two firsts for his garden - Blair's
Shoulder-knot (2) and Beaded Chestnut (1). Other species recorded were:
Large
Yellow Underwing (16), Common Marbled Carpet (5), Snout (4), Black Rustic (3),
Angle Shades (2), Copper Underwing (2), Lunar Underwing (2), Red-green Carpet
(2), Rosy Rustic (2), Sallow (2) and singletons of Blood-vein, Broad-bordered Yellow
Underwing, Large Wainscot, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Red Underwing, Straw Dot,
Turnip Moth & Vine's Rustic. The Blood-vein is presumably third brood
which is said to occur occasionally in the south of England.
It was about 12C in Dave Wilton’s garden in
Westcott when he ran his overnight trap on 24th: “the
warmest we've had it for a while. My collection of 667 moths (including 389
Lunar Underwings!) comprised 32 species although only two were new to my garden
list: Brick (confirmed by Martin
Albertini) and Barred Sallow. All were noctuids apart from Common
Marbled Carpet (1), Brimstone Moth (1), Canary-shouldered Thorn (1)
and Garden Rose Tortrix (3). Watching the Robinson in action is often
very much like my day job, with moths descending from on high - if they can
dodge the bat patrol - and taking up a holding pattern while waiting to enter
the trap. On some nights it seems to be far busier than Heathrow, all without
the need for an air traffic controller!”
Dave also passed on the following news: “On
Saturday 24th I found this 4mm caterpillar (see photo below) in
a leaf mine on a Horse Chestnut tree beside the A41 on the western outskirts of
Aylesbury this morning. It’s a potential
pest which is spreading rapidly throughout our area. Further details can be
found at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr/INFD-68JJRC
. I understand that some have now been found in Milton Keynes.”
Sunday
25th September 2005
Dave Wilton ran his moth trap again at Westcott on 22nd September and it brought in a healthy 575 moths of 30 species although only one was new to the UTB list.
“The full list comprised: Common Marbled Carpet (3), Brimstone Moth (1), Canary-shouldered Thorn (1), Dusky Thorn (3), Dark Sword-grass (1), Large Yellow Underwing (38), Lesser Yellow Underwing (3), Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (1), Setaceous Hebrew Character (38), Square-spot Rustic (56), Common Wainscot (14), Deep-brown Dart (23), Black Rustic (31), Blair's Shoulder-knot (1), Beaded Chestnut (19), Lunar Underwing (292), Pink-barred Sallow (6), Sallow (9), Dusky-lemon Sallow (4), Angle Shades (4), Flounced Rustic (3), Rosy Rustic (2), Frosted Orange (2), Uncertain (1), Vine's Rustic (11), Pale Mottled Willow (2), Burnished Brass (3), Silver Y (1), micros Garden Rose Tortrix/Acleris variegana (1), Acleris forsskaleana (1), hordes of crane flies and the usual assortment of caddis flies, lacewings, beetles and a solitary wasp. The Dark Sword-grass, my third of the year, was a particularly fresh-looking example so might be the offspring of a migrant from earlier in the year.
My two previous trappings brought in much lower quantities of moths, probably due to the low overnight temperatures and full moon. I had just 84 moths of 14 species on 17th September (Turnip Moth being the only addition to the above list) and then 248 moths of 21 species on 19th September (Dark Arches and Snout being additional).”
21st September - The following are some sightings from
Dave Maunder, Aylesbury, for 28th, 29th and 30th
August. Dave doesn’t run a moth trap but instead he very successfully records
day-flying moths and moths attracted to his house lights and street lights,
recording over 50 species in August alone:
28/08/05 -
Orange Swifts (6); Willow Beauty; Flounced Rustic; Large Yellow Underwing; Red
Underwing; Emmelina Monodactyla; Pyrausta Purpuralis (10+); Snout; Vapourer
Moth
29/08/05
- Vapourer Moth; Square-Spot Rustic; Marbled Beauty (3); Flame Shoulder; Shaded
Broad-Bar; Hummingbird Hawk Moth
30/08/05 -
Orange Swift; Willow Beauty; Square-Spot Rustic; Marbled Beauty; Willow Beauty
(3); Dusky Thorn; Brimstone (3); Large Yellow Underwing; Orange Swift (2).
Also, on 12/08/05, Dave recorded Eudonia
Truncicolella, which is a new addition to the UTB 2005 Species List.
23rd September - Peter Hall sent the results
of his last two overnight moth traps from his Ballinger Common garden:
20/09/05 Angle Shades; Barred Sallow; Black
Rustic; Brimstone Moth; Brindled Green; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Common
Marbled Carpet; Copper Underwing; Dark Sword-grass; Deep-brown Dart; Dusky
Thorn; Frosted Orange; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser Yellow Underwing; Lunar
Underwing; Rosy Rustic; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Silver Y; Smoky Wainscot;
Snout; Square-spot Rustic; Turnip. Micros:
Blastobasis adustella; Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple); Acleris
variegana (Garden Rose Tortrix); Acleris hastiana.
29/08/05 Brimstone Moth; Brindled Green;
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Centre-barred Sallow; Common Marbled Carpet;
Common Rustic; Common Wainscot; Copper Underwing; Dark Arches; Double-striped
Pug; Dusky Thorn; Feathered Gothic; Flame Carpet; Flame Shoulder; Flounced
Rustic; Green Carpet; Iron Prominent; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser
Broad-border; Lime-speck Pug; Maiden's Blush; Purple Bar; Riband Wave; Rosy
Rustic; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Shuttle-shaped Dart; Silver Y; Small
Square-spot; Square-spot Rustic; Straw Dot; Vine's Rustic; Willow Beauty. Micros: Ypsolopha dentella (Honeysuckle); Ypsolopha
sequella; Blastobasis adustella; Pandemis corylana (Chequered Fruit-tree
Tortrix); Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple); Acleris laterana; Acleris
variegana (Garden Rose Tortrix); Celypha lacunana; Cydia pomonella (Codling);
Agriphila tristella; Agriphila geniculea; Evergestis forficalis (Garden
Pebble); Euzophera pinguis.
Wednesday
21st September 2005
This news received from Alastair Driver on 19th September: “Just back from an adventurous 3 weeks in tropical Queensland (boy would I like to do some moth-trapping there!) - hence the absence of any reports from me lately. I had an excellent night's trapping at Ali's Pond LNR in Sonning, last night (18th), with hundreds of macro-moths of 27 species caught. New for my parish records were Bulrush Wainscot (photo below) and The Sallow, and new for my year list were Orange Sallow, Rosy Rustic, Copper Underwing, Lunar Underwing, Barred Sallow, Square-spot Rustic and Black Rustic. I also attach a photo of the three Sallow species together (see below).”
Two more moth traps in David Redhead’s garden in Oxon produced the
following:
18th September – “On a cold moonlit night just 5 macro-moths and no micros - 2 Common
Marbled Carpet, 2 Large Yellow Underwing and 1 Sallow. Also a
Lunar Underwing on the front door. At least the last two were new to my
2005 garden list.”
and:
19th September – “An overcast and warmer night gave a typical catch for my garden in
mid-September = 75 macro-moths from 24 species plus several micros. A Mallow
and a Meal Moth (micro) were new for my all time garden list and a Black
Rustic and Large Wainscot were new for 2005. The other macros were: Large
Yellow Underwing (23), Snout (16), Lunar Underwing (10), Common Marbled Carpet
(5), Lesser Yellow Underwing (2), Angle Shades (1), Brimstone Moth (1),
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (1), Burnished Brass (1), Copper Underwing (1),
Frosted Orange (1), Green Carpet (1), Light Emerald (1), Red Underwing
(1), Rosy Rustic (1), Setaceous Hebrew Character (1), Silver Y (1), Square-spot
Rustic (1), Svensson's Copper Underwing (1), Turnip Moth (1) & Willow
Beauty (1).”
Jan
Haseler sent in the following recent sightings from Tilehurst:
07/09/05 - Eudonia
pallida
18/09/05 - Large
Ranunculus and Eudonia angustea (this one was on a bedroom ceiling,
the others were at MV light).
Keith Mitchell’s garden trap in Stoke Goldington produced the
following moths on 17th and 18th September, 2 new ones for Keith’s garden and
the UTB 2005 List:
Angle Shades;
Beaded Chestnut (7) (first seen on 13th); Black Rustic (5); Brown-spot Pinion
(2); Burnished Brass; Canary-shouldered Thorn (see photo at top of page); Common Marbled Carpet; Common
Wainscot (19); Dark Arches; Emmelina monodactyla; Engrailed; Eudonia angustea (2); Frosted Orange
(2); Large Yellow Underwing (63); Lesser Yellow Underwing; Lunar Underwing
(50); Mallow; Rosy Rustic (3); Setaceous Hebrew Character (4); Small
Square-spot; Small Wainscot;
Square-spot Rustic (10); Turnip; Vine's Rustic.
Saturday
17th September 2005
Dave Wilton put the trap out again at Westcott overnight on 14th September, in the vain hope of getting a migrant hawk moth: ”The only long-distance travellers that came my way were a pair of Silver Ys. However, I still managed six new species for my garden: Beaded Chestnut (1), Deep-brown Dart (3), Dusky-lemon Sallow (2), Mallow (1), Pink-barred Sallow (1) and Spruce Carpet (1). Other species recorded were:
Pale Eggar (1), Common Marbled Carpet (7), Green
Carpet (1), Brimstone Moth (4), Dusky Thorn (6), Turnip Moth (3), Large Yellow
Underwing (102), Lesser Yellow Underwing (1), Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
(4), Setaceous Hebrew Character (97), Square-spot Rustic (192), Common Wainscot
(91), Black Rustic (18), Centre-barred Sallow (2), Lunar Underwing (50), Sallow
(1), Copper Underwing (1), Svensson's Copper Underwing (1), Angle Shades (10),
Rosy Rustic (3), Frosted Orange (5), Uncertain (1, fresh), Vine's Rustic (9),
Pale Mottled Willow (3), Burnished Brass (1), Silver Y (2), Straw Dot (2),
Snout (3) and micros Garden Pebble/Evergestis forficalis (1), Garden Rose
Tortrix/Acleris variegana (2), Large Fruit-tree Tortrix/Archips podana (1),
Celypha lacunana (1).”
Tuesday
13th September 2005
Dave Wilton’s garden moth trap at Westcott on 12th September produced the following: “538 moths of 29 species but four of them were new to the garden: Large Wainscot, Lunar Underwing, Orange Sallow and Sallow. A lone Dark Sword-grass was the only migrant on this occasion.”
Keith Mitchell ran moth traps in his garden on 8th and 9th
September with the following results:
“8th September produced Emmelina
monodactyla, Red Underwing and Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, which
were not recorded earlier in the week, and also the first Lunar Underwing
of the year. On 9th September,
my garden trap produced the following moths which were garden firsts: Brown-spot Pinion (see photo below), Carnation
Tortrix and Large Fruit-tree Tortrix. Supporting cast were Lime-speck
Pug, Dark Arches, Pyrausta aurata, Lesser broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and
Dusky Thorn (3); all new for the week.” Keith also reports that Vestal
and Convolvulus Hawk-moth have
both been caught in Willen (Milton Keynes) by George
Higgs in the last few days, so it’s worth looking out for these and
other migrants.
The night of 7th September brought in another
good haul at Dave Wilton’s garden in Westcott with just short of 700 moths. “However,
half of that total were Square-spot Rustics so I'll be glad when they're
over! New for my garden list were Black Rustic, Delicate,
Pale Eggar, Red Underwing and Rosy Rustic. Photos of the Delicate
(nice to get an immigrant like this) and Black Rustic appear below.”
Wednesday
7th September 2005
7/9 - Keith Mitchell sent
in the following report from Stoke Goldington: “These are records from my garden trap from 4th and
6th of September. 37 spp of which I think Brindled
Green, Pale Eggar and Black Rustic are new for the year.”
Angle Shades (2); Black Rustic (2);
Bright-line Brown Eye; Brimstone Moth (6); Brindled
Green; Burnished
Brass (6); Centre-barred Sallow (34); Common Carpet; Common Marbled Carpet;
Common Wainscot (45); Copper Underwing (3); Feathered Gothic (2); Flame
Shoulder (5); Flounced Rustic (26); Garden Carpet ; Green Carpet (5); Heart and
Dart (1); Large Yellow Underwing (141); Lesser Yellow Underwing (5); Light
Brown Apple Moth; Mouse Moth (5); The Nutmeg (2); Pale
Eggar; Pale Mottled Willow; Rosy Rustic; Setaceous Hebrew Character
(16); Shuttle-shaped Dart (2); Silver 'Y'; Six-striped Rustic (2); Small
Square-spot (3); Smoky Wainscot (2); Snout (2); Spectacle; Square-spot Rustic
(104); Straw Dot (7); Vine's Rustic (31); Willow Beauty; Yellow Shell (2).
David Redhead’s garden moth trap for 3rd/4th
September produced the following: ”127 Large Yellow Underwings made last night's moth
trap threaten to be a record in numbers for my garden in 2005. Did not quite make
it with 202 macro-moths from 24 species (record 220/52 on 27th June). A first
for my garden list Centre-barred Sallow (4). Other species caught: Frosted
Orange 1, Double-striped Pug 1, Square-spot Rustic 15, Setaceous Hebrew
Character 12, Dusky Thorn 5, Green Carpet 5, Common Wainscot 4, Flame Shoulder
4, Burnished Brass 2, Flounced Rustic 2, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
2, Shuttle-shaped Dart 2, Six-striped Rustic 2, Snout 3, Vine's Rustic 2,
Common Carpet 1, Poplar Hawkmoth 1 (fresh), Rosy Rustic 1, Silver-Y 1, Small
Square-spot 1, Willow Beauty 1 (and lots of wasps!).
Plus some random moth sightings:-
- Lesser Treble-bar & Pyrausta
ostrinalis at Pyrton Hill on
29th August and Watlington Hill on 4th
September.
- Peach Blossom caterpillar (see photo below) seen feeding on bramble by Whitecross Green Wood car park on 3rd September.
- Shaded Broad-bar still about with one seen at Watlington Hill on 4th September.
-
Couple of Snout put up from vegetation alongside River Thames whilst
early morning dog walking on 5th September.”
Dave Wilton got the trap out again on Thursday night (1st September) because it was so warm: “Due to work I missed the first couple of hours of darkness, which may have accounted for the reduction in geometrid species caught, but I was still overwhelmed with 700+ moths! Two thirds of this total came from just four species: Common Wainscot (50), Setaceous Hebrew Character (85), Large Yellow Underwing (97) and Square-spot Rustic (a massive catch of 333). I managed three further additions to my garden list and these were Svensson's Copper Underwing, Frosted Orange (also new to the UTB list) and Euzophera pinguis. Both Copper Underwing species were trapped and potted, giving me the opportunity to compare their facial palps under a magnifying glass. This seems to be a much easier way of telling them apart rather than trying to view the undersides of their hindwings. Nine Centre-barred Sallows came to the trap this time, providing some relief from all the ‘brown jobs’!”
Thursday
1st September 2005
Tim Watts recorded a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in his garden in Whitchurch on 25th, 26th and 31/8/05. He also saw a Red Underwing in flight during the daytime in Whitchurch on 26/8/05.
Dave Wilton sent some more moth trap records from his garden in
Westcott:
18th August (49 species/506 moths): “New for my garden list were Pebble
Hook-tip, Maiden’s Blush, Square-spot Rustic, Mouse Moth and micros Pyrausta
aurata, Agapeta hamana and Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla. Noteworthy
amongst the remainder were second-brood Purple Bar, Common Marbled Carpet,
Lime-speck Pug, Double-striped Pug (wish they were all as clearly marked as
this fresh example was!), Poplar Hawkmoth and Burnished Brass.”
23rd August (30 species/274 moths): “Just the one new addition and that
was Vine’s Rustic. Two fresh Poplar Hawkmoths were also trapped.”
28th August (40 species/355 moths): “New this time were Centre-barred Sallow, Vapourer (a close look
at one at last – beats following them around the hedgerows while looking for
Brown Hairstreak!), Garden Dart and Feathered Gothic.
In case anyone is interested, the full list this time comprised Orange Swift
(2), Blood-vein (1), Garden Carpet (1), Common Carpet (1), Purple Bar (1),
Green Carpet (2), Lesser Treble-bar (2), Magpie (1), Brimstone Moth (4),
Canary-shouldered Thorn (2), Dusky Thorn (4), Common Wave (1), Pebble Prominent
(1), Vapourer (1), Garden Dart (2), Flame Shoulder (38), Large Yellow Underwing
(91), Lesser Yellow Underwing (3), Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (2),
Small Square-spot (9), Setaceous Hebrew Character (41), Six-striped Rustic (5),
Square-spot Rustic (48), Bright-line Brown-eye (2, both fresh), Feathered
Gothic (2), Common Wainscot (25), Centre-barred Sallow (2), Dark/Grey Dagger
(1, fresh), Marbled Beauty (1), Straw Underwing (1), Angle Shades (2), Dark
Arches (6, two of them fresh), Common/Lesser Common Rustic (4), Flounced Rustic
(7), Uncertain/Rustic (5), Vine’s Rustic (21), Burnished Brass (10), Spectacle
(1), Straw Dot (2) and Mother of Pearl/Pleuroptya ruralis (2).”
Peter Hall had a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in his Ballinger Common
garden on 25th August.
28th
August 2005
David Redhead ran his garden moth trap again on 27th
August: “111 Large
Yellow Underwings made this my second most numerous moth trap of the year
with 197 macro-moths from 31 species. A couple of firsts for my 2005 garden
list - Angle Shades and a rather worn Maiden's Blush (see
photo below). Other species caught were:
Flame
Shoulder 7, Setaceous
Hebrew Character 7, Six-striped Rustic 7, Swallow Prominent 7,
Brimstone 6, Green Carpet 5, Shuttle-shaped Dart 4, Square-spot
Rustic 4, Burnished Brass 3, Common Wainscot 3, Copper
Underwing 3, Flounced Rustic 3, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow
Underwing 3, Snout 3, Vine's Rustic 3, Willow Beauty 3,
Bright-line Brown-eye 2 and singletons of Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing,
Common Carpet, Crescent, Dark/Grey Dagger, Poplar Hawkmoth, Red Twin-spot
Carpet, Rosy Rustic, Small Square-spot, Spectacle, Straw Dot & Svensson's
Copper Underwing. Nothing new for the UTB 2005 list I am afraid.”
24th August
2005
[For those of you who have noticed that the moth
species count has actually dropped by 1 today, please note that about 30 micros
have recently been renamed. Blastobasis
adustella, trapped by Peter Hall on 11th
August was formerly Blastobasis lignea
and is therefore not a new addition to the list.]
David Redhead says numbers in his garden moth
trap in Oxon are now in decline with the last three (11th, 16th
& 22nd August) averaging just 87 macro-moths from 25 species: “I still
had four additions to my 2005 list - Square-spot Rustic & Orange
Swift (11th) and Copper Underwing & Six-striped
Rustic (16th). The Crescent continues to be a regular visitor
with my 2005 total now eleven - only one was trapped in 2004. I thought Poplar
Hawk Moths had finished as none appeared on the 4th & 9th
but 11th = 1, 16th = 2, 22nd = 5. Is this the
occasional partial second brood the books refer to - four of those caught on
the 22nd looked fresh and a couple seemed on the small side, the
fifth was extremely tatty and must have been a remnant first brood.”
22nd August
2005
Jon Holt had a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in his garden near the Calvert site on 21/8/05.
Jan Haseler recorded the unusual Cherry-bark Moth, Enarmonia formosana. “This
turned up in the trap in my Tilehurst garden on Sat
20th Aug. It is the first VC22 record since 1982, when one was
recorded in Earley, Reading.”
On 21st August Derek Brown reported: “Last
night’s mothing produced a nice Black Arches as the only new sighting
19/8 – Peter
Hall recorded the following moths in his overnight trap at Ballinger Common on
11/08/05:
Orange Swift; Oak
Hook-tip; Chinese Character; Single-dotted Wave; Riband Wave; Red Twin-spot
Carpet; Lime-speck Pug; Brimstone Moth; August Thorn; Dusky Thorn; Peppered;
Willow Beauty; Elephant Hawk; Iron Prominent; Pebble Prominent; Lesser Swallow
Prominent; Swallow Prominent; Chocolate-tip; Black Arches; Scarce Footman;
Common Footman; Ruby Tiger; Shuttle-shaped Dart; Flame Shoulder; Large Yellow
Underwing; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Lesser Broad-border; Least Yellow
Underwing; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Six-striped Rustic; Square-spot Rustic;
Smoky Wainscot; Straw Underwing; Dun-bar; Dark Arches; Common Rustic; Flounced
Rustic; Rustic; Nut-tree Tussock; Silver Y; Straw Dot. Micros were: Plutella xylostella; Blastobasis
adustella (this moth has been
renamed from Blastobasis lignea);
Mompha propinquella; Pandemis heparana; Acleris
variegana; Cydia splendana; Agriphila straminella; Agriphila tristella; Agriphila geniculea; Pleuroptya ruralis;
Trachycera advenella; Amblyptilia acanthadactyla.
Also, at West
Wycombe Hill: Shaded Broad-bar;
Cinnabar and Silver Y.
Tom Stevenson found the following two moths in his Benson garden on
August 18th, 2005: Evergestis forficalis (Garden Pebble) and Yellow
Shell (see photos below).
Tim Watts found the following when he saw a brilliant flash of red/white/black in the wing mirror whilst reversing his car into a parking spot: “2 Red Underwing resting 1' apart on my alley wall in daylight 18/08/05 in Whitchurch. One was noticeably larger than the other - male/female?”
18th August
2005
Dave
Wilton’s last three trapping sessions in his garden at Westcott produced the
following:
3rd
August (322 moths/42 species); Magpie,
Shark, Straw Underwing and micros Garden Rose Tortrix/Acleris variegana,
Eudonia mercurella all new to this year's garden list.
5th
August (180 moths/35 species); Bordered
Beauty, Dusky Sallow and micro Garden Pebble/Evergestis forficalis were
all new additions.
14th
August (167 moths/32 species); Orange
Swift and Six-striped Rustic were new to his list.
“The number of moths caught
has dropped off significantly over the past couple of weeks but at least it
doesn't take me quite so long to identify the contents of the trap!”
An
additional moth species from the list sent in by Ben Carpenter on 12th
August has now been confirmed by Martin Townsend as Marbled Green. It was trapped on 26th July at Wytham Station. Martin
said this species turns up in small numbers around Oxford and is quite common
in parts of west Oxfordshire and over into Gloucestershire.
Jan Haseler recorded the following moths in her
Tilehurst garden recently:
10/8 - Argyresthia
goedartella
15/8 - Cochylimorpha
straminea; Square-spot Rustic
Kevin Stevens sent the following rather unusual moth sighting: “I thought you might be interested in
seeing this picture, taken on the 10th May, of
a Lime Hawk Moth hitching a lift on a 7B bus in New Road in the centre
of Oxford!”
15th August
2005
Paul Bowyer led a moth trap evening for the Wycombe Wildlife Group
at Deeds Grove in High Wycombe on Friday 12th August. The following species were
identified:- Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing,
Lesser Yellow Underwing, Yellow Shell, Mother of Pearl, Brimstone, Silver Y,
Riband Wave, Common Carpet, Ruby Tiger, Lime Speck Pug, Currant Pug, Willow
Beauty, Setaceous Hebrew Character, The Flame, Green Carpet, Straw Underwing.
Tony Towner sent these records for his garden trap at Tilehurst on
11/08/05:
Setaceous
Hebrew Character (2); Willow Beauty (1); Shuttled Shaped Dart (3); Mother of
Pearl (1); Common Rustic (1); Pyrausta Aurata (1); Dark
Barred Twin Spot Carpet (1); Lesser Yellow Underwing (1); Least Yellow
Underwing (1); Lesser Broad Bordered Underwing (9). Also seen was an Orange Swift in the hall on 08/08/05.
12/8/05 Ben Carpenter sent in the following
records from his regular moth trap at Wytham Station:
May –
August 05: The Lychnis; Spectacle; Hebrew Character;
Bright-line brown-eye; Small blood-vein; Beautiful Hook-tip; Cinnabar; Garden
Tiger; Poplar hawk-moth; Blood-vein; Chinese character; Setaceous hebrew
character; Brimstone; Barred Yellow; Drinker; Buff-tip; Scorched Wing; Pale
Tussock; Pale Prominent; Broom Moth (18/05/05); Bordered Beauty (01/08/05).
Also, at Wytham Upper
Seeds & Thames Path: Pyrausta purpuralis on 08/08/2005, Treble-bar and Common Heath on 12/08/2005.
On Thursday 11th August Paul Bowyer had a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in his garden at Flackwell Heath.
Welcome
to new contributor to the website, John Harrison who is Assistant Warden at the
RSPB Otmoor Reserve: “I've just
started moth trapping on the reserve so may be able to post a few things once I
get up and running. Last night, 9th August, I had: Poplar
Hawkmoth, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Pale Prominent, Pebble Prominent, Magpie
Moth, Lime Speck Pug, Dusky Thorn, Canary-Shouldered Thorn, Ruby Tiger, Orange
Swift, Common Emerald, Shaded Broad Bar, Willow Beauty, Sallow Kitten, Yellow
Tail, Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing, Large Yellow Underwing, The
Crescent, Rosy Rustic.”
Also seen at the Otmoor Reserve on Sunday 7th
during the Brown Hairstreak Butterfly Field Trip was another new moth for the UTB 2005 List: Calamotropha paludella, a pyralid which feeds
on reedmace.
David
Redhead managed a moth trap Monday 8th August, in his garden in
Oxon: “On a coolish night
exactly 100 macro-moths and 30 species - a few new species for my 2005 list and
a new one for the UTB list - Rosy Rustic.
For third time in a row had a Crescent - I think I am the only reporter
of this so far and have attached a photo - its habitat is marshy ground which I
have near me.”
Monday 8th
August 2005
Dave Wilton recorded the following moths at
Whitecross Green Wood on 6th August during the
Brown Hairstreak Field Trip: Latticed Heath (1),
Shaded Broad-bar (2) and Silver Y (2).
Peter Hall ran an overnight trap on 1st
August in his garden in Ballinger Common. The following moth species were
caught
Leopard; Oak Hook-tip; Chinese Character; Maiden's Blush;
Blood-vein; Small Fan-footed Wave; Single-dotted Wave; Riband Wave; Flame
Carpet; Red Twin-spot Carpet; Shaded Broad-bar; Common Carpet; Yellow Shell;
Small Phoenix; Small Rivulet; White-spotted Pug; Bordered Pug; Brimstone Moth;
August Thorn; Dusky Thorn; Early Thorn; Purple Thorn; Scalloped Oak; Peppered;
Willow Beauty; Engrailed; Clouded Silver; Pine Hawk; Poplar Hawk; Elephant
Hawk; Pebble Prominent; Lesser Swallow Prominent; Swallow Prominent; Coxcomb
Prominent; Yellow-tail; Black Arches; Dingy Footman; Scarce Footman; Common
Footman; Ruby Tiger; Heart & Dart; Dark Sword-grass; Shuttle-shaped Dart;
Flame Shoulder; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser Yellow Underwing; Broad-bordered
Yellow Underwing; Lesser Broad-border; Dotted Clay;
Six-striped Rustic; Bright-line Brown-eye;
Brown-line Bright-eye; Clay; Smoky Wainscot; Knot Grass; Marbled Beauty; Mouse
Moth; Straw Underwing; Dun-bar; Dark Arches; Cloaked Minor; Common Rustic;
Uncertain; Rustic; Pale Mottled Willow; Nut-tree Tussock; Silver Y; Spectacle;
Straw Dot; Snout. Micros: Ypsolopha dentella; Carcina quercana; Blastobasis
lignea; Blastobasis decolorella; Aethes smeathmanniana; Pandemis corylana; Acleris forsskaleana; Acleris variegana; Celypha striana; Rhopobota naevana; Cydia splendana; Cydia
pomonella; Alucita hexadactyla; Agriphila straminella; Agriphila tristella;
Catoptria falsella; Phlyctaenia coronata; Udea prunalis; Nomophila noctuella; Pleuroptya ruralis;
Hypsopygia costalis; Endotricha flammealis; Trachycera advenella; Phycita
roborella; Euzophera pinguis.
8th August - Ben Carpenter sent
in this list of moth seen at Wytham Woods this year:
Burnet Companion, 31/05/05; Mother
Shipton, 08/06/05; Common Marbled Carpet, 02/04/05; Coxcomb Prominent,
30/06/05; The Spectacle, 30/06/05; Scorched Carpet, 04/07/05; Light Emerald,
06/07/05; Brown-line Bright Eye, 07/07/05; Scarlet Tiger, 08/07/05;
Broad-barred White, 13/07/05; Silver-Y, 13/07/05; Brown Silver-line, 15/05/05;
The Engrailed, 13/07/05; Shaded Broad-bar, 22/07/05; Six-Spot Burnet Moth,
22/07/05; Dusky Sallow, 22/07/05; Mouse Moth, 01/08/05; Spruce Carpet, 02/05/05; Common Heath, 31/05/05; Willow
Beauty, 20/06/05
Friday 5th
August 2005
Ben Carpenter looked around the lights at Wolfson
College, Oxford, on 4th August and found a few new moths for his
site list and one for the UTB year list: Orange Swift. Other moths recorded were: Yellow Shell,
Brimstone, Ruby Tiger, Common Carpet, Straw Underwing, July Highflyer and
Euzophera pinguis.
5th August - The following moth sightings by David Redhead were seen whilst on the trail of Chalkhill Blue butterflies on the chalk grasslands – Cistus Forester (singleton) at Swyncombe Downs on Wednesday and Chalk Carpet (numerous – see photo below) at Hartslock on Thursday.
Wednesday 3rd
August 2005
Welcome to new contributor to the website, Ben Carpenter from Oxford,
who has sent in his list of sightings for this year to date, including the
unusual Ruddy Carpet (see photo below):
Agriphilla
tristella; Barred Yellow; Beautiful China-mark, Parapoynx stagnata;
Beautiful Hook-tip; Bee Moth, Aphomia sociella; Blood-vein;
Bright-line Brown-eye; Brimstone Moth; Buff Arches; Buff
Ermine; Cabbage Moth; Chocolate Tip Moth; Cloaked Minor; Clouded
Border; Common Carpet; Common Emerald; Common Footman; Common
Marbled Carpet; Common Swift; Common Wave; Common White
Wave; Cream Wave; Dark Arches; Dingy Footman; Double-striped
Pug; Endotricha flammealis; Figure of Eighty; Garden
Carpet; Garden Pebble, Evergestis forficalis; Green Pug; Heart
and Dart; Knot Grass; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser
Broad-boarded Yellow Underwing; Lesser Yellow Underwing; Lesser/Common
Rustic sp; Light Arches; Light Emerald; Lime-Speck Pug;
Oligia sp; Pale Prominent; Pale Tussock; Plume sp; Red
Twin-spot Carpet; Red Underwing; Riband Wave; Rosy Minor;
Ruddy Carpet (15/07/05);
Rustic Shoulder-knot; Sallow Kitten; Scarce Footman; Scarlet
Tiger; Scoparia ambigualis; Silver-Y; Single-dotted Wave;
Small Blood-vein; Small Emerald; Small Fan-Foot; Small
Fan-footed Wave; Small Magpie, Eurrhypara hortulata; Small Scallop (14/07/05); Small
Square-spot; Smoky Wainscot; Spring Usher; Svennson's
Copper Underwing; Swallow-Tailed Moth; The Drinker; The
Engrailed; The Fan-Foot; The Herald; The Snout; The
Spectacle; The Streamer; The Uncertain; The Vapourer; Treble
Brown Spot; Twenty-plume Moth; Udea lutealis
(02/08/05); Valerian Pug; White Ermine; White
Satin Moth; Willow Beauty; Wormwood Pug; Yellow Shell; Yellow-Tail.
Tuesday 2nd August 2005
David Redhead’s overnight garden moth trap on 31st July
produced 194 macro-moths from 41 different species. “As it was over a fortnight since
my last one it produced quite a few firsts for 2005 and even some additions to
my overall garden list (now 231 macro-moth species). Additions to my garden
list were Cabbage Moth (1), Oak hook-tip (1), Maple Pug (2) & Small Rivulet (1).
New for 2005 were Canary-shouldered Thorn (1), Clay (1), Crescent (1), Dagger (Grey or Dark) (1),
Dusky Thorn (3), Flame Shoulder (4), Least Yellow Underwing (3),
Ruby Tiger (1) & Svensson's Copper
Underwing (1). The most numerous was Large Yellow Underwing (34)
although the extremely flighty micro, Mother of Pearl, with an estimated 60
took true first place.”
Peter Hall’s latest catch from his garden in Ballinger
Common on 28/07/05:
Scalloped Hook-tip; Chinese Character; Small Fan-footed Wave;
Small Dusty Wave; Single-dotted Wave; Riband Wave; Shaded Broad-bar; Green
Carpet; July Highflyer; August Thorn; Early
Thorn; Purple Thorn; Scalloped Oak; Peppered; Willow Beauty; Engrailed; Common
White Wave; Light Emerald; Pine Hawk; Poplar Hawk; Elephant Hawk; Iron
Prominent; Black Arches; Dingy Footman; Scarce Footman; Common Footman; Ruby
Tiger; Heart & Dart; Shuttle-shaped Dart; Flame Shoulder; Large Yellow
Underwing; Lesser Yellow Underwing; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Lesser
Broad-border; Least Yellow Underwing; Bright-line Brown-eye; Brown-line
Bright-eye; Smoky Wainscot; Straw Underwing; Dun-bar; Slender
Brindle; Cloaked Minor; Common Rustic; Small Dotted Buff; Rustic;
Nut-tree Tussock; Spectacle; Snout and the
following micros: Ypsolopha dentella (Honeysuckle); Batia unitella;
Hofmannophila pseudospretella (Brown House); Blastobasis lignea; Blastobasis
decolorella; Agapeta hamana; Pandemis heparana (Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix); Acleris laterana; Cydia splendana; Chrysoteuchia
culmella; Crambus pascuella; Agriphila straminella; Agriphila tristella;
Eurrhypara hortulata (Small Magpie); Phlyctaenia coronata; Udea prunalis;
Pleuroptya ruralis (Mother of Pearl); Hypsopygia costalis (Gold Triangle);
Orthopygia glaucinalis; Endotricha flammealis; Trachycera advenella; Myelois
circumvoluta (Thistle Ermine).
Saturday 30th July 2005
The following 78 moth species have been trapped in Keith Mitchell’s
garden in Stoke Goldington since the 7th July. Leopard Moth; Agapeta hamana;
Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple Moth); Acleris
forsskaleana; Eurrhypara hortulata (Small Magpie); Pleuroptya
ruralis (Mother of Pearl); Aphomia
sociella (Bee Moth); Trachycera advenella; Myelois circumvoluta (Thistle Ermine); The Lackey; The Drinker; Scalloped
Hook-tip; Chinese Character; Small Emerald; Small Blood-vein; Dwarf Cream Wave;
Single-dotted Wave; Riband Wave; Barred Straw; Small Waved Umber; Lime-speck
Pug; White-spotted Pug; Green Pug; Purple Thorn; Scalloped Oak; Swallow-tailed
Moth; Peppered Moth; Willow Beauty; Mottled Beauty; Engrailed; Common White
Wave; Privet Hawk Moth; Poplar Hawk-moth; Elephant Hawk-moth; Buff-tip;
Yellow-tail; White Satin; Scarce Footman; Buff Footman; Common Footman; Ruby Tiger;
Heart and Dart; Flame; Flame Shoulder; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser Yellow
Underwing; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow
Underwing; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Double Square-spot; Dot Moth;
Bright-line Brown-eye; The Campion; The Clay; Smoky Wainscot; Common Wainscot;
Shoulder-striped Wainscot; Sycamore; The Miller; Knot Grass; Marbled Beauty; Straw Underwing (8 on 22nd, 4 on 29th);
Lunar-spotted Pinion (9th and 22nd); Dark Arches; Light Arches; Large
Nutmeg; Cloaked Minor (2 on 29th); Common Rustic; Dusky Sallow;
Uncertain; Rustic; Mottled Rustic; Burnished Brass; Silver 'Y'; The Spectacle;
Straw Dot; Snout; Small Fan-foot.
Keith
Mitchell, Stoke
Goldington, sent in this excellent
sighting on 26th July: “Trapped on 2nd June in my
garden this micro moth looks very much like Pempelia
Formosa (see photo below). I believe it would
be a good record.”
[Keith has subsequently received confirmation from David Manning of the
identification of this micro: “My copy of Goater is
annotated ‘check Sciota adelphella’ - see the paper in Ent Record 107 page 147, and plate D p.
133. This look-alike species has discal dot and a similar adjacent dot
separated. P. formosa usually has these two dots merged together. One of your images
indicating the merged dots, which suggests P. Formosa.’]
Dave Wilton’s garden trap at Westcott had another
reasonable catch overnight on 26th July (414 moths of 66 species) despite
having to turn it off at 2am when it started to pour with rain: “There
were six new species for me, comprising Small Dusty Wave (a tiny
specimen awaiting confirmation, wing length barely 8mm), Canary-shouldered Thorn, Pine Hawk moth, Gypsy Moth, Least
Yellow Underwing, Smoky Wainscot and Small China-mark/Cataclysta
lemnata. Being a notifiable pest, DEFRA have been informed about the Gypsy
Moth.”
Thursday 28th
July 2005
David Redhead recorded the first Red Underwing sighting for UTB on 27th July: “There was one sitting on the glass panel of our front door this morning - first seen at 6.30 a.m.”
26th July - Dave Maunder provided some more moth records
seen in Aylesbury over the last two weeks:-
Old lady moths (2)- 15th+19th; Buff ermine (1), Ghost swifts (2-female),
Smoky wainscots (12), Six-spot burnets(6), Swallow-tailed moth (1), Chinese
character (1), Dark arches (5), Light arches (1), Lg. yellow u/wings (3),
Spectacle moth (1), Marbled beauties (4), Grey dagger (1 – confirmed), Early
thorn (1), Scalloped oak (1), Bright-line brown-eye (1), Willow beauty (2),
Yellow shell (1), Yellow tail (2), Magpie moths (2), Riband waves (7),
Single-dotted waves (2), Small fan-footed waves (3), Small dusty wave (1).
25/07/05 - Tony Towner sent in these sightings for his garden trap
at Tilehurst on 18/06/05:
Scorched Wing (1), Peppered Moth (1), Common
Marbled Carpet (1), Elephant Hawkmoth (1), Brimstone Moth (1), Figure of Eighty
(1), Dark Arches (1), Small Emerald (1), Miller (1), Barred Yellow (1), Poplar
Grey (1).
and also Tony’s National Moth Night records for his garden
trap on 09/07/05:
Brimstone Moth (1), Common Emerald (1), Common
Wave (1), Dark Arches (2), Dot Moth (1), Garden Carpet (1), Heart and Dart (2),
Small Emerald (1), Double Square-Spot (1), Elephant Hawkmoth (2), Emmelina Mono
Dactyla (1), Large Yellow Underwing (3), Lesser Yellow Underwing (1), Small
Magpie (1), Snout (1), Swallow-Tailed Moth (2).
25/07/05 - Peter Hall reports that Striped
Lychnis larvae are currently being surveyed in Bucks and are being found in
their usual haunts in the southern half of the county (see photo below).
On Sunday 24th July David Redhead led a butterfly walk in Bernwood Forest for the Wheatley Society: “In kicking through the grass in the hope of finding a Common Blue and putting the butterfly species count into double figures, I managed to put up four specimens of a nationally scarce micro-moth, Sitochroa palealis. For those of you unfamiliar with this species it is an attractive micro-moth - white with black markings and similar in shape to a Straw Dot but somewhat larger. Its larvae live in the seed heads of Wild Carrot which is to be found alongside the rides in Bernwood Forest. For those of you wondering at my sudden knowledge of micro-moths I have to confess that this was all learnt recently from Martin Townsend. Photographers amongst you be warned - it has the annoying habit of hanging from grass stems at an unphotographable angle!”
Paul Bowyer ran a moth trapping evening at Holtspur Bottom Reserve
on 22nd July. The following species were identified:- Brimstone, Common Footman, Common
Rustic, Bordered Pug, Dark Arches, Large Yellow Underwing, July Highflyer,
Riband Wave, Ruby Tiger, Scalloped Oak, Mother of Pearl, Common Wainscot,
Shaded Broad Bar, Small Emerald, Dusky Sallow, Grey Dagger, Dunbar, Smoky
Wainscot, Double Square Spot, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Bright Eye Brown Line,
Willow Beauty, Mottled Beauty, Dot
Monday 25th
July 2005
At the Holtspur Bottom Reserve Open Day on Saturday 23rd July David
Redhead recorded the following: “The day flying moths put on a good show with Six-spot
Burnet, Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet, Shaded Broad-bar, Silver-Y, Pyrausta
Purpuralis, Treble-bar & Cinnabar (larvae only) all seen. The
Six-spots included an interesting aberrant with the spots being poorly defined
and merged (see photo below).“
Martin Townsend comments: “I’ve not seen one like this before – outer spots merged is
quite common, but this is f. conjuncta Tutt, which according
to MBGBI is very rare. Full reference is: Tremewan, W.G. in Heath, J. and
Emmet (eds.) (1985) The moths and butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 2.
Harley Books, Colchester.“
Dave Wilton sent in the following moth trap
records from his garden in Westcott:
- Friday
22nd July (over 600 moths of 70 species). “New for my garden list
this year were Least Carpet, July Highflyer, Dusky
Thorn, Sallow Kitten, Coxcomb Prominent, Dingy Footman, Buff Footman, Flounced Rustic, Twenty-plume Moth/Alucita
hexadactyla, Sitochroa palealis and Phlyctaenia
coronata. Just the one Hawkmoth this time (a Poplar Hawk). Common
Rustic was the most numerous moth (145+) but second-brood Shuttle-shaped
Darts have now started to appear so I suppose it won't be long before I'm
inundated with them again!”
- On Sat.
23rd July - Dave decided to have a quick look at the disused railway
cutting west of Westcott airfield and found the following moths: several Six-spot
Burnets and at least 15 Shaded Broad-bars which he disturbed from
the grass.
- Also,
on Saturday 23rd July, he had his first success with sugaring and it brought
another new garden species in the shape of Copper
Underwing.
Alastair Driver set the trap at home in Sonning on Fri 22nd July. He caught one new species for his parish list - Dusky Sallow, other firsts for the year for him were Buff Footman, Blood-vein, Marbled Beauty, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Shaded Broad-bar, The Dun-bar, and Sallow Kitten (see photo below). “I also had a Least Carpet to light last week which I notice isn't on the UTB 2005 list yet.”
22nd July - Pete Boss found an Elephant Hawk Moth 1 week ago outside his front door in
Deddington,
Peter Hall ran the overnight trap in his garden in
Ballinger Common on 19/07/05. The catch included 63 macros and 41 micros, 3 of
which are new to the UTB 2005 list:
Agriphila tristella, Endothenia marginana,
Trachycera advenella.
Derek Brown’s recent moth sightings from his
garden in Beenham, Berks, included the following species, 3 of which are
additions to the UTB 2005 list:
02/07/05 Rosy Footman,
16/07/05 Dark Umber, 17/07/05 September
Thorn, True Lover's Knot and
Clay (see photos below.)
Saturday 23rd
July 2005
21st July - Peter Hall noted Cameraria
ohridella leaf mines on Horse Chestnut at Hughenden
Manor today
On a visit to Wendover woods with his family on 17th
July, Dave Maunder found a Silver-Y (1) – his first of this year, Lesser
Yellow Underwing (1), and the wing of Black Arches in a spider’s web!
2 more reports for National Moth Night, 9th July, are as follows:
NMN 09/07/05 -
Grangelands. Trapping was by Martin Harvey, Neil Fletcher, Julia Carey and Andy
McVeigh. Site permission by Bucks County Council. 129 species, as follows:
Agapeta hamana; Agapeta zoegana; Agonopterix
kaekeritziana; Agriphila straminella;
Ancylis achatana; Batia lunaris; Batia
unitella; Blastobasis decolorella; Blastobasis lignea; Catoptria falsella; Celypha
lacunana; Celypha striana; Chrysoteuchia culmella; Conobathra repandana;
Crambus perlella; Endotricha flammealis; Epiblema roborana; Eucosma cana;
Euzophera pinguis; Hedya nubiferana; Homoeosoma
sinuella; Lozotaenia forsterana; Merrifieldia
baliodactylus; Pempeliella dilutella;
Perinephela lancealis; Pseudargyrotoza conwagana; Pyrausta
despicata; Pyrausta purpuralis; Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla; Udea
olivalis; Ypsolopha parenthesella; Ypsolopha
sequella; Spectacle; Poplar Grey; Dagger Sp.; Heart And Club; Heart And
Dart; Dark Sword Grass; Turnip; Mottled Beauty; Large Nutmeg; Clouded Brindle;
Light Arches; Dark Arches; Reddish Light Arches; Plain Golden Y; Flame;
Pandemis Cerasana; Peppered; Epiblema Uddmanniana; Common White Wave; Light
Emerald; Yellow shell; Mottled Rustic; Royal Mantle; Green Pug; Barred Yellow; Satin Beauty; Cydia Pomonella; Dunbar; Purple Bar;
Coronet; Pandemis Heparana; Elephant Hawk; Small Elephant Hawk; Burnished
Brass; Scarce Footman; Buff Footman; Common Footman; Phoenix; Juniper Pug;
Small Angleshades; Yellowtail; Drinker; Large Emerald; Hypsopygia Costalis;
Buff Arches; Common Emerald; Uncertain; Fern; Snout; Riband Wave; Small Fan
Footed Wave; Plain Wave; Bright Line Brown Eye; Poplar Hawk; Archips Podana;
Beautiful Hook Tip; Clouded Border; Clouded Silver; Tawny Barred Angle; Dot;
Pretty Chalk Carpet; Common Rustic; Mother Of Pearl; Shoulder Striped Wainscot;
Brown Line Bright Eye; Clay; Smoky Wainscot; Common Wainscot; Large Yellow
Underwing; Short Cloaked; Iron Prominent; Flame Shoulder; Marbled Minor;
Brimstone; Swallow-tailed; Willow Beauty; Buff Tip; Dark Umber; Small Dotted
Buff; Marbled White Spot; Coxcomb Prominent; Maple Prominent; Straw Dot; Brown
Rustic; Shaded Broad Bar; Small Magpie; Privet Hawk; Lobster; Acentria
Ephemerella; Pterophorus Pentadactyla; Garden Carpet; Large Twin Spot Carpet;
Red Twin Spot Carpet; Double Square Spot; Fanfoot; Leopard.
NMN 09/07/05 -
Pulpit Hill. Permission thanks to National Trust. Peter Hall, Dave Maunder and
Martin Albertini were the recorders:
Barred Yellow; Beautiful Golden Y; Beautiful Hook-tip; Bright-line
Brown-eye; Brimstone Moth; Broad-barred White; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing;
Broken-barred Carpet; Brown-line Bright-eye; Buff Arches; Buff Footman;
Buff-tip; Burnished Brass; Campion; Chinese Character; Clay; Clouded Border;
Clouded Brindle; Clouded Silver; Clouded-bordered Brindle; Common Emerald;
Common Footman; Common Marbled Carpet; Common Wainscot; Common White Wave ; Coronet; Coxcomb Prominent; Dark Arches; Dark Dagger; Dark Umber; Dot; Double Square-spot;
Drinker; Elephant Hawk; Engrailed; Fan-foot; Fern;
Flame; Green Carpet; Green Pug; Grey Pug; Heart & Club; Heart & Dart;
July Highflyer; Juniper Pug; Large Nutmeg; Large
Twin-spot Carpet; Large Yellow Underwing; Leopard; Lesser Yellow Underwing;
Light Arches; Light Emerald; Lobster; Maple Prominent; Marbled Minor; Miller;
Mottled Beauty; Mottled Rustic; Peppered; Plain
Wave; Poplar Grey; Pretty Chalk Carpet; Purple Bar; Purple Clay; Reddish
Light Arches; Red-necked Footman; Riband
Wave; Royal Mantle; Rustic; Scarce Footman;
Scorched Wing; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Shaded Broad-bar; Shark;
Short-cloaked; Small Elephant Hawk; Small Fan-foot; Small Fan-footed Wave; Smoky
Wainscot; Snout; Spectacle; Straw Dot; Swallow-tailed; Uncertain; Willow
Beauty; Yellow Shell and Yellow-tail. Micros were:
Acentria ephemerella; Agapeta hamana; Agapeta zoegana; Archips podana; Batia
lunaris; Celypha lacunana; Celypha striana; Chrysoteuchia culmella; Cnephasia
stephensiana; Conobathra repandana; Crambus
perlella; Cydia pomonella; Epiblema uddmanniana; Eucosma cana; Euzophera
pinguis; Hedya nubiferana; Hedya ochroleucana; Hypsopygia costalis;
Lozotaeniodes formosanus; Pandemis cerasana; Pandemis heparana; Perinephela lancealis; Pleuroptya ruralis;
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana; Spilonota ocellana; Udea olivalis.
Tuesday 19th
July 2005
Dave Wilton ran his moth trap again at Westcott
overnight on 16th July and it brought in another good haul with just over 500
moths of 70 species: ”This takes my garden macro-moth list for this year
up to 170 species. New from this catch were Small Blood-vein, Small
Fan-footed Wave, Small Dusty Wave, Single-dotted Wave, Ruby Tiger, Dark Sword-grass, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Cabbage
Moth, Clay, Olive, Dingy Shears, Dun-bar and Bee Moth/Aphomia sociella. Other
highlights included a melanic form Peppered Moth (my second of the year)
and four Poplar Hawkmoths. At just 54 examples, the Heart and
Dart invasion has thankfully peaked and this time they were beaten into
third place by Dark Arches and Rustic.”
David Redhead sent this report: “My latest garden moth trap on 16th July produced an increased number of macro-moths,
compared to previous two weeks, at 180 but with slightly less diversity, 38
species. However, several new additions to my 2005 garden list - Dingy
Footman, Double Lobed, Herald, Lesser broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Nut-tree
Tussock, Phoenix, Sallow Kitten, Scalloped Oak & Single-dotted Wave. Among
the micros identified a garden first Euzophera pinguis, Endotricha
flammealis.”
16th July – A moth trap led by Paul Bowyer was organised by the
Wycombe Rangers and held at Chairborough Local Nature Reserve. Moths identified were as follows: Common
Carpet, The Snout, Buff Arches, Small Magpie, Common Wainscot, Large yellow
Underwing, Scarce Footman, Common Rustic, Swallow-tailed, Mother of Pearl,
Riband Wave, Dot, Brown line bright Eye.
Friday 15th July - Paul Bowyer reports that the latest meeting of
the Wycombe Wildlife Group was in central High Wycombe on the banks of the
River Wye. The following moths were identified:- Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow
Underwing, Swallow-tailed, Old Lady, Grey Arches,
Riband Wave, Heart and Dart, Small Magpie, Mother of Pearl, The Flame, Bright
Line Brown Eye, Dark Arches, Flame Shoulder, Elephant Hawk, Scarce Footman,
Dot, Double Square Spot, Swallow Prominent.
Peter Hall ran an overnight trap in his garden in
Ballinger Common on 14th July. The catch included 71 macros and 34
micros, 15 are new to the UTB 2005 list and one was the stunning Garden
Tiger (see photos below). This was once a very
common sight all across Bucks but has become increasingly rare, with most
records coming from the northern half of the county. This is Peter’s first
record in the garden since 1999.
Beautiful Golden Y; Black Arches;
Bright-line Brown-eye; Brimstone Moth; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Brown-line
Bright-eye; Buff Arches; Buff Footman;
Buff-tip; Clay; Clay Triple-lines; Clouded Border; Clouded Silver; Common
Emerald; Common Footman; Common Rustic; Coronet; Dark Arches; Dingy Footman; Dot; Double Square-spot; Dwarf
Cream Wave; Elephant Hawk; Engrailed; Fan-foot; Flame; Flame Shoulder; Garden Tiger; Green Arches; Green Pug; Heart &
Club; Heart & Dart; Iron Prominent; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser Yellow
Underwing; Light Emerald; Lime Hawk; Lime-speck Pug; Mottled Beauty; Mottled
Rustic; Nut-tree Tussock; Peach Blossom; Peppered; Phoenix; Plain Golden Y;
Poplar Grey; Poplar Hawk; Riband Wave; Ruby Tiger; Rustic; Scalloped Oak;
Scarce Footman; Scarce Silver-lines;
Setaceous Hebrew Character; Shaded Broad-bar; Single-dotted Wave; Small
Blood-vein; Small Fan-foot; Small Fan-footed Wave; Small Rivulet; Smoky
Wainscot; Snout; Spectacle; Swallow-tailed; Sycamore; Tawny-barred Angle;
Turnip; Uncertain; Waved Black; Willow Beauty; Yellow-tail. Micros: Acentria ephemerella; Acleris forsskaleana; Acleris holmiana; Agapeta
hamana; Archips podana; Batia lunaris; Batia
unitella; Blastobasis decolorella; Catoptria falsella; Celypha lacunana;
Celypha striana; Chrysoteuchia culmella; Crambus pascuella; Cydia pomonella; Cydia splendana; Ditula
angustiorana; Endotricha flammealis; Epagoge
grotiana; Epiblema uddmanniana; Eucosma cana; Eucosma
hohenwartiana; Eurrhypara hortulata; Euzophera
pinguis; Hedya nubiferana; Lozotaenia forsterana ; Marasmarcha lunaedactyla;
Pandemis heparana; Phlyctaenia coronata; Pleuroptya ruralis; Pseudargyrotoza
conwagana; Pterophorus pentadactyla; Rhyacionia
pinivorana; Udea olivalis; Udea prunalis.
Monday 18th
July 2005
Les
Hill, Beds County Macro-moth Recorder, reports 14 Red-tipped
Clearwing taken at 'for' pheromone lure hung on Willow spp. on
16.07.2005 at Emberton Park nr Olney, Bucks.
Also noted at Emberton Park on 17.07.2005, 10 vacated pupal cases of Hornet
Moth at the base of Black Poplar.
Peter
Holland sent the following list from his catch on 14th July, including
one new species for 2005 UTB list:
14 June
2005: MV catch Wallingford: Riband
Wave (13), Heart and Dart (13), Uncertain (12), Large Yellow Underwing (12),
Dark Arches (9), Common Footman (9), Lesser Common Rustic (9), Bright Line
Brown Eye (7), Dot (4), Lesser Broad-Bordered Yellow Underwing (3), Common
Wainscot (3), Double Square Spot (2), Poplar Hawk (2), Peppered Moth (typical
form), Spectacle, Common Rustic, Flame, Marbled Minor, Chinese Character,
Scalloped Oak, Shaded Broad Bar, Scarce Footman, Double-Lobed,
Clouded Silver, Dun-bar.
Saturday 16th
July 2005
Alastair Driver had a good night on 14th July, trapping at home in Sonning. 34 macro spp., including two new firsts for his parish records - Haworth's Pug and Small Dotted Buff. Other year firsts for him were Scalloped Oak, Common Carpet, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Peppered Moth, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Old Lady, Tawny Speckled Pug and Buff Arches.
The
following list is from Dave Wilton’s garden trap at Westcott for National Moth Night (9th July). 620 moths of 56 species. Those
marked * were new to his garden list:
*Drinker (1), Common
Emerald (3), *Small Emerald (1), Dwarf Cream Wave (1), Riband Wave (2), Yellow
Shell (1), V-Pug (1), Clouded Border (5), Brimstone Moth (1), Swallow-tailed
Moth (2), Mottled Beauty (2), Common Wave (1), Clouded Silver (5), Light
Emerald (1), Elephant Hawkmoth (5), Small Elephant Hawkmoth (4), Buff-tip (2),
*Yellow-tail (5), *White Satin (2), *Scarce Footman (8), Common Footman (14),
Turnip (1), Heart and Club (7), Heart and Dart (213), The Flame (6), Flame
Shoulder (5), Large Yellow Underwing (130), *Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
(2), *Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
(1), Setaceous Hebrew Character (1), Dot Moth (4), Bright-line Brown-eye (6),
Common Wainscot (14), Shoulder-striped Wainscot (13), Poplar Grey (3),
Dark/Grey Dagger (7), *Lunar-spotted Pinion (4), Dark Arches (50), Light Arches
(5), Marbled Minor spp (5), Common/Lesser Common Rustic (9), *Dusky Sallow (1), Uncertain/Rustic (38), Mottled
Rustic (1), Burnished Brass (3), Silver-Y (1), Plain Golden-Y (1), Spectacle
(1), *Blackneck (5), Straw Dot (1), Snout
(2) & Fan-foot (1) along with micros Small Magpie/Eurrhypara hortulata (1),
Mother of Pearl/Pleuroptya ruralis (9), Udea olivalis (1) & Phlyctaenia
perlucidalis (2).
12/07/05
- Recent moth sightings in Wallingford from Peter Holland:
12 July 2005: Vapourer moth
flying around larch, daytime, Wallingford; 11 July
2005: Spinach moth at buddleia; 10 July 2005:
Leopard moth found in daytime, Wallingford.
9 July 2005: Ran my MV trap for National Moth Night, plus
held a 'Moth Identification Party' the next day. MV light trap caught: The
Uncertain (24), Common Footman (21), Large Yellow Underwing (11), Bright Line
Brown Eye (11), Heart and Dart (11), Dark Arches (10), Riband Wave (8), Dot
Moth (8), Common Wainscot (7), The Flame (6), Mother of Pearl (6),
Swallowtailed moth (5), Lesser Yellow Underwing (4), Small Magpie (3), Double
Square Spot (3), Smoky Wainscot (2), Burnished Brass (2), Brimstone moth (2),
Light Arches (2), Elephant Hawk Moth (1), Willow Beauty (1), Shark (1), Barred
Straw (1), Small Blood Vein (1), Spectacle (1), Tawny Marbled Minor (1), Lesser Common Rustic (1), Flame Shoulder (1),
Fanfoot (1), Single Dotted Wave (1), Beautiful Golden Y (1), Grey/Dark Dagger
(1), The Clay (1), Coronet (1).
1 July
2005: MV trap: The Uncertain
(20), Dark Arches (13), Common Wainscot (10), Large Yellow Underwing (9), Bright
Line Brown Eye (8), Flame (7), Marbled Minor (7), Heart and Club (6), Heart and
Dart (6), Smoky Wainscot (5), Pine Hawk Moth (2), Elephant Hawk Moth (2),
Peppered Moth (2), Nut Tree Tussock (2), Large Nutmeg (2), Dot (2), Riband Wave
(2), Setaceous Hebrew Character (2), Grey Dagger, Blood Vein, Brimstone Moth,
Cabbage Moth, Light Arches, Small Blood Vein, Buff Ermine, Snout, Bordered Pug,
Common Footman, Common Emerald, Double Square Spot, Common Rustic.
18 June
2005: Similar catch to 17 June (below), plus: Burnished Brass, Common Footman, Riband Wave, Poplar
Hawk.
17 June
2005: MV trap: Heart and Dart
(38), Large Nutmeg (15), Common Wainscot (9), Setaceous Hebrew Character (8),
Buff Ermine (3), Large Yellow Underwing (2), Double Square Spot (2), Marbled
Minor (2), Common Swift (2), Bright Line Brown Eye (2), The Flame (2), Dusky
Brocade, Brimstone Moth, Rustic Shoulder Knot, Poplar Grey, Shears, Poplar
Kitten, Tawny Marbled Minor, Mottled Beauty, Willow Beauty, Brown Silver Line,
Shoulder-Striped Wainscot, Lychnis.
Friday 15th
July 2005
12/07/05 - Moths seen by Dave Maunder in Aylesbury last week were:-
Small dusty wave (1), Small fan-footed wave (2 ), Riband wave (6),
Bee moth (3 ), Lg. yellow u/wing (2 ), Swallow tailed moths (3), Peppered moth(1),
Small magpie (2 ), Dot moth (1), Bright-line brown-eye(1), Many plume (1),
Smoky wainscot (1), Emmelina monodactyla (1), Endotricha flammealis (1),
Agepeta hamana (1), Yellow tail (2), Poplar hawk (1), Six-spot burnet (3),
Small blood-vein (1), Yellow shell (1), Vapourer moths (4) - 1st of year on 11th; Short
cloaked moth (1), Dark arches (1), Udea olivalis (1) and Mother of pearl
(1).
National
Moth Night 9th
July 2005 - Trap List from Rushbeds Wood (one 125W MV Robinson Trap).
Recorders: Bill Parker & Dave Wilton
Carcina quercana; Large Fruit-tree Tortrix; Eana incanana; Green Oak Tortrix; Hedya ochroleucana; Small Magpie; Phlyctaenia
perlucidalis; Udea olivalis; Mother of Pearl; Gold Triangle; Endotricha flammealis;
Bee Moth; Drinker; Large Emerald; Common Emerald; Small Blood-vein; Small
Fan-footed Wave; Riband Wave; Barred Straw; July Highflyer; Brimstone Moth;
Swallow-tailed Moth; Peppered Moth; Mottled Beauty; Engrailed; Common Wave;
Light Emerald; Poplar Hawk-moth; Elephant Hawk-moth; Yellow-tail; Common
Footman; Flame; Flame Shoulder; Large Yellow Underwing; Double Square-spot;
Minor Shoulder-knot; Poplar Grey; Lunar-spotted
Pinion; Dark Arches; Beautiful Hook-tip; Straw Dot; Waved Black; Small Fan-foot; Marbled Minor; Archips xylosteana; Aleimma loeflingiana; Epinotia
brunnichana.
Tuesday 12th
July 2005
Peter Hall ran another overnight garden trap on 10th
July in Ballinger Common. 58 macro moths and 23 micros were recorded, including
the following which are new to the UTB 2005 List:
Acleris holmiana; Argyresthia pruniella; Barred Red;
Catoptria falsella; Celypha striana; Epiblema roborana; Lozotaenia forsterana;
Lozotaeniodes formosanus; Pandemis heparana (Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix); Shaded
Broad-bar; Small Rivulet; Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla
Alastair Driver set the trap at home on 9th July for National Moth Night and caught 22 species of macro-moth,
of which The Miller and Pine Hawk-moth
were new garden records. Those two, plus Ruby Tiger and The Spectacle
were new for his year list.
David Redhead ran an overnight trap in his garden in Oxon on National Moth Night, 9th July: “It produced a similar size catch
to a week ago with 45 species of macro-moth, 149 individuals and another Pine
Hawkmoth - a different specimen to last week being less worn. It did
include several firsts for 2005 - Broad-bordered
Yellow Underwing (5), Drinker (3), Small Fan-footed Wave (2),
Olive (1) and Scarce Footman (1)
and also a garden first - Small Emerald (1). Amongst the micros the Mother
of Pearl inundation has started with an estimated 40 individuals. Two Phlyctaenia
coronata were a first for 2005.”
Paul Bowyer sent this report: “A meeting of the Friends
of Holtspur Bank was held on Friday 8th
July principally to see glow worms. I was asked to do some moth
trapping as well. The species identified were as follows:-
Heart and Dart, Swallow-tailed, Large Emerald, Small Magpie, Common Footman, The Snout,
Brimstone, Oak Hook Tip, Buff Arches, The Flame, Broad Barred White, Clouded
Silver, Buff Ermine, Common Wainscot, Mother of Pearl, Dark Arches, July
Highflyer, Beautiful Golden Y, Riband Wave, Flame Shoulder, Common Emerald,
Heart and Club and Elephant Hawk.”
Sunday 10th
July 2005
Ched George had a Bordered Sallow
in his garden trap last night, 8th July, plus a Scarce Footman.
Alastair Driver did some trapping at home in Sonning last night, 6th July. He caught 18 species, of which firsts for the year for him were Common Rustic, The Uncertain and The Sycamore.
Jackie
Park found a Poplar Hawk moth
in her bathroom on Tuesday 5th July in Hazlemere, Bucks. It was her first
sighting of this species.
[Photo to be posted
shortly.]
5th July - Dave Maunder’s weekly moth list from
Aylesbury was as follows:-
Buff tip (1), Shark moth (1), Common emerald (1), Small dusty
waves (2), Riband waves (3), Garden carpets (2), Light arches (2), Bee moths
(2), Emmelina monodactyla (4), Small fan-footed waves (3), Vapourer larva (1),
Mottled beauty (1), Single dotted wave (1), Poplar grey (1), Sycamore moth (1),
White plume (1), Six-spot burnets (5), Small square-spot (1), Phlyctaenia coronata (1), Lg. yellow u/wings
(2), Marbled beauty (1), Light emerald (1), Swallowtail moth (1), Small magpie
(1), Common wainscot (1).
On 2/7/05 a moth trap was run in Pavis Wood, a
Bucks County Council woodland site (by kind permission of them). Recorders were
Ched George, Peter Hall, Martin Albertini and Neil Fletcher. 70 macros and 25 micros were recorded, the following
are new to the UTB Species List for 2005:
Aphelia paleana (Timothy tortrix); Blastobasis
lignea; Common Lutestring; Eucosma cana; Grey Dagger; Larch Pug; Morophaga
choragella; Purple Clay (Diarsia brunnea); Rufous Minor (Oligia versicolor);
Sloe Pug (Chloroclystis chloerata); Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
Recent trappings by Dave Wilton at Westcott have
brought in the following new moth species for his garden:
19th June (466 moths/68 species): Common Emerald, Barred Straw, Clouded Border, Brown Silver-line, Eyed Hawkmoth, Common Footman, Heart and Club, Pale-shouldered Brocade, Broad-barred White, Knot Grass, Dark Arches, Clouded Brindle, Beautiful Golden-Y, Fan-foot, Green Oak Tortrix/Tortrix viridana, Large Fruit-tree Tortrix/Archips podana, Gold Triangle/Hypsopygia costalis, Phlyctaenia perlucidalis.
25th June (243 moths/52 species): Lackey,
Four-dotted Footman, Rustic, Silver-Y.
2nd July (500+ moths/53 species): Peach
Blossom, Swallow-tailed Moth, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Plain Golden-Y, Mother
of Pearl/Pleuroptya ruralis. The 2nd July total was boosted by three
species, Heart and Dart (195), Large Yellow Underwing (59) and Dark
Arches (70). Four Hawkmoth species were trapped that night, comprising Eyed
(1), Poplar (1), Elephant (7) and Small Elephant (12).
The following were recorded in Peter Hall’s garden in
Ballinger Common on 1st July:
Barred Yellow; Beautiful Golden Y; Beautiful Hook-tip; Bright-line
Brown-eye; Brimstone Moth; Brown-line Bright-eye; Buff
Ermine; Buff-tip; Burnished Brass; Clouded Border; Clouded Silver; Common
Emerald; Common Footman; Common Rustic; Dark Arches; Dot; Double Square-spot;
Drinker; Elephant Hawk; Fan-foot; Flame; Flame Shoulder; Ghost; Green Arches;
Heart & Club; Heart & Dart; Ingrailed Clay; Iron Prominent; Large
Nutmeg; Large Yellow Underwing; Marbled Minor; Middle-barred Minor; Mottled
Beauty; Mottled Rustic; Peppered; Plain Golden Y; Riband Wave; Rustic; Scarce Footman; Setaceous Hebrew Character;
Short-cloaked; Shoulder-striped Wainscot; Silver Y; Single-dotted Wave; Small
Dotted Buff; Small Elephant Hawk; Small Emerald; Small Fan-foot; Spectacle;
Spruce Carpet; Straw Dot; Swallow-tailed; Treble Lines; Turnip; Uncertain;
Willow Beauty; Yellow Shell; Yellow-tail
and the following Micros: Acentria
ephemerella (Water Veneer); Agapeta hamana; Agapeta
zoegana; Aleimma loeflingiana; Blastobasis
decolorella; Celypha lacunana; Chrysoteuchia culmella; Crambus lathoniellus;
Crambus pascuella; Crambus perlella; Cydia
pomonella (Codling); Dipleurina lacustrata; Endotricha
flammealis; Epiblema uddmanniana (Bramble Shoot); Hedya nubiferana;
Hedya pruniana; Hofmannophila pseudospretella; Hypsopygia costalis (Gold
Triangle); Nemapogon cloacella (Cork); Orthopygia
glaucinalis; Pandemis cerasana (Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix); Phycita roborella; Pleuroptya ruralis (Mother of
Pearl); Pseudargyrotoza conwagana; Ptycholomoides
aeriferanus; Scoparia ambigualis; Spilonota ocellana (Bud); Udea
olivalis
Monday 4th
July 2005
Tony Croft discovered a Scarlet Tiger moth in Shabbington
Wood, Bucks, on 3rd July. See photo below.
[This
is an exceptional record for Bucks – please keep a lookout for this moth which
can be seen flying in sunshine and usually frequents damp areas such as water
meadows, river banks and marshy hillsides.]
03/07 - Alastair Driver sent in this update today: “Peter has confirmed the
identification of the unusual, but apparently increasing, micro Phlyctaenia perlucidalis which was in my catch
from Ali's Pond LNR on 17th June.”
David Redhead’s garden moth trap last night, 3rd July,
produced quite a good haul with 47 species of macro-moth and 141 individuals: “These included a spectacular
garden first, a Pine Hawk moth (see photo below), a bit worn, presumably
having travelled a distance to get to my garden.”
The full list of macros was: Double Square-spot 12, Large Yellow Underwing 11, Poplar
Hawk moth 7, Snout 7, Common Footman 6, Heart & Dart 6, Clouded Border 5,
Dark Arches 5, Mottled Rustic 5, Riband Wave 5, Willow Beauty
5, Bright-line Brown-eye 4, Engrailed 4, Uncertain/Rustic 4, Buff
Arches 3, Common Emerald 3, Dingy Shears 3, Light Emerald 3, Southern
Wainscot 3, Buff Ermine 2, Buff-tip 2, Burnished Brass 2, Green Pug 2, Marbled
Minor 2, Mottled Beauty 2, Round-winged Muslin 2, Treble Brown Spot 2 and
singletons of Barred Yellow, Brimstone, Clouded Silver, Common
Rustic, Common White Wave, Dun-bar, Elephant Hawk moth, Flame, Grey Pine
Carpet, Heart & Club, July Highflyer,
Light Arches, Minor Shoulder-knot, Peppered,
Pine Hawk moth, Plain Golden Y, Spectacle, Swallow-tailed, White Satin & Yellow
Tail.
Also lots of micros but only four identified: Small Magpie 9, Udea Olivalis 9,
Gold Triangle 2 & Udea Prunalis 1.
1st July - Keith Mitchell reports: “In addition to the
Mullein larvae which are currently making themselves at home on my Verbascum
chiaxii, and the Vapourer larva (see photo below), the following adult moths
were trapped on Friday night:”
Barred Straw;
Bright-line Brown-eye (2); Brimstone (2); Brown Rustic (4); Buff-tip (3);
Burnished Brass (2); Cabbage; The Clay (2); Clouded Border (3); Clouded Silver
(3); Common Footman (3); Common Swift (9); Common Wainscot (6); Currant Pug (garden first); Dagger sp; Dark Arches (9); Dot Moth (3); Dwarf Cream
wave; Elephant Hawk-moth (5); The Flame (13); Green Oak Tortrix; Green Pug (3);
Heart and Dart (11); The Lackey (3); Large Nutmeg (9); Large Yellow Underwing
(7); Light Arches (6); Marbled Beauty (see photo below);
Middle-barred Minor; Minor spp (8); Mother of Pearl (3); Mottled
Beauty (3); Mottled Rustic (2); Pale Mottled Willow; Poplar Grey (2); Poplar
Hawk-moth (2); Privet Hawk-moth; Riband Wave (3); Rustic/Uncertain (24);
Setaceous Hebrew Character (9); Shoulder-striped Wainscot; Small Blood-vein
(Garden First); Small Magpie (3); Smoky wainscot (3); The Snout; The Spectacle;
Swallow Prominent; Swallow-tailed Moth; Willow Beauty (2); Yellow Shell;
Agapeta hamana (7); Bee Moth; Udea olivalis.
The following records were received from Jan
Haseler on 4th July: “On
Sunday 19th June, Reading and District Natural History Society had a
moth trapping night at Cholsey, and caught 76
species of moth, including Broad-barred White,
Brown Scallop, Drinker,
Small Clouded Brindle and Small
Dotted Buff. Also, on 22nd June in my
Tilehurst garden, I had 63 species of moth, including Blue-bordered Carpet, Bud
Moth (Spilonota ocellana), Garden Grass
Veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella), Scarlet Tiger, Small Magpie and Variegated Golden Tortrix (Archips xylosteana).”
Saturday 2nd
July 2005
1st July - Brian Clews had an Old Lady moth in his garden at Cookham, Berks
yesterday. “Don't know if that is of particular interest (I am mainly a birder and
had to use the guide book to ID it). Can you please clarify who the recorder is
for my area so I can copy him/her in?”
[County Recorders are now listed at the top of this page –
click the County Moth Recorder link for email
addresses]
30th June - Alastair Driver had a record catch of 41 macro-moth species last night (29th June) in his garden at Sonning! “New for my parish records were Bordered White and Lilac Beauty and new for my year-list were Oak Nycteoline, Small Angle Shades, Mottled Beauty, Common Footman, Clouded Border, Short-cloaked Moth, Light Arches, Swallow-tailed Moth, Dwarf Cream Wave, The Uncertain, Riband Wave, Burnished Brass, The Clay, and Light Emerald. I also caught several specimens of the micro Orthopygia glaucinalis. Definitely catching a greater variety of species than in the previous 3 years of regular trapping, but there's been no change in land use locally. I'd be interested to know if others are experiencing the same trends.”
29th June - John Woods found a
Vapourer Moth larva in his garden in Carterton, Oxfordshire on 29/6. See photo
below.
28/6 – David Redhead sent in these records: “My garden moth-trap last night was
a record for 2005 with 220 macro-moths from 52 species. This included a new one
for my garden list - Dwarf Cream Wave. The total list was:
Double Square-spot 25, Heart & Dart 24,
Uncertain 16, Riband Wave 15, Bright-line Brown-eye 14, Large Yellow Underwing
11, Flame 10, Mottled Beauty 7, Snout 7, Tawny Marbled minor 7, Mottled Rustic
6, Buff Ermine 5, Dark Arches 5, Burnished Brass 4, Beautiful Hook-tip 3,
Clouded Border 3, Green Pug 3, Mottled Pug 3, Poplar Hawk moth 3, Round-winged Muslin 3, Southern
Wainscot 3, Spectacle 3, Swallow Prominent 3, Turnip 3, Elephant Hawk
moth 2, Large Twin-spot Carpet 2, Marbled
Minor 1, Setaceous Hebrew Character 2, Small Square-spot 2, Smoky Wainscot 2
and singletons of Blood-vein, Buff Arches, Buff-tip, Campion, Common
Wainscot, Dingy Shears, Dot, Dun-bar, Dwarf Cream Wave, Eyed Hawk moth,
Fan-foot, Figure of Eighty, Ingrailed Clay, Light Arches, Light Emerald, Peach
Blossom, Pebble Prominent, Plain Golden Y, Poplar Grey, Straw Dot,
Swallow-tailed & Sycamore.
Also had a lot of micros but
only five species identified: Donacaula
forficella, Gold Triangle, Green Oak
Tortrix, Small Magpie & Udea Olivalis.
Also
held unreported moth traps earlier in the month: - Obscure
Wainscot (trapped 12, 17 & 19th June) & Slender Pug (19th June) are additions to UTB
list.
28/6 - Tony Croft sent in the following: “I'm not too well up on moths but
saw the attached Blood-vein [see photo below] which I've not seen
before. Rather lovely I thought.”
28th June - Daniel Howard reports
seeing numerous Scarlet Tigers over the past week or so,
including many on his walk home down Iffley road in Oxford. But on 27th June,
whilst waiting for a train at Hanborough Station he saw many of them at the
edge of the platform on a clump of Comfrey, and amongst them was a single
specimen of the yellow hind-winged form (Callimorpha dominula rossica
Kolenati).
27th June - Dave Maunders’ recent moth sightings from
Aylesbury include:-
Leopard moths (1 female, 1 male on 24th), Common swifts (2), Burnet
companion (1), Six-spot burnets (3 - 1st on 23rd), Small magpies (3),
Lesser yellow underwing (1), White plume (6), Blood-vein (1),
Small blood-vein (1), Thistle ermines (2), Bee moths (2), Heart
& dart (1), Small square spot (1), Garden carpet (1), Mottled
beauty (1), Dagger sp. (1), Common wainscot (1), Light
arches (1), Large Tabby (1), Riband wave (1).
Keith Mitchell found a Dwarf Cream Wave on
his front door in Stoke
Goldington on
Sunday morning, 26th June.
Jan Haseler led a well-attended joint Upper
Thames BC / Berkshire Moth Group moth trapping event at Moor Copse on 17th
June. Click here for the full Field Trip Report.
Species recorded were as follows:
Angle
Shades; Apotomis betuletana; Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix; Barred
Straw; Beautiful Golden Y; Beautiful Hook-tip; Blotched Emerald; Brown Rustic;
Buff Ermine; Buff-tip; Burnished Brass; Celypha lacunana; Clouded Border; Clouded
Silver; Common Carpet; Common Rustic; Common
Swift; Common Wainscot (Mythimna pallens); Common Wave; Common
White Wave; Double Square-spot; Elephant Hawk-moth; Figure of Eighty; Flame;
Gold Swift; Green Oak Tortrix; Grey Pug; Heart & Dart; Large Fruit-tree
Tortrix; Large Yellow Underwing; Light Emerald; Light Grey Tortrix; Lobster
Moth; Marbled Minor; Marbled Orchard Tortrix; Marbled White Spot; Middle-barred
Minor; Mother of Pearl;
Mottled Beauty; Nematopogon schwarziellus; Nutmeg; Pale Oak Beauty;
Peach Blossom; Phoenix; Pseudargyrotoza conwagana; Reddish Light Arches; Riband Wave; Scoparia
ambigualis; Scoparia pyralella; Scorched
Carpet; Scorched Wing; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Silver Y; Silver-ground
Carpet; Small Angle Shades; Small Fan-foot;
Small Yellow Wave; Snout; Spectacle; Straw Dot; Swallow Prominent; Treble Brown
Spot; Treble Lines; Udea olivalis; Vine's Rustic; White
Ermine; White Plume Moth.
Monday 27th
June 2005
Adam Bassett ran his moth trap on June 23rd and had 190 moths of 48 species. “New species not currently shown on the UTB year list - Swallow-tailed moth (2), Peach Blossom (2), Common Emerald (4), Lilac Beauty (1). New for the garden were Burnished Brass (1), Beautiful Golden Y (1), Beautiful Hook-tip (2), Small Yellow Wave (1). Also had another Hummingbird Hawk feeding on honeysuckle on June 24th.”
25th June - Keith Mitchell sent the following report: “Friday and Saturday nights in my garden – 62 species, with Pale-shoulder Brocade, White Plume, Sycamore, Blotched Emerald and Cyclamen Tortrix being garden firsts:”
Barred
Straw (2); Blood-vein; Bright-line Brown-eye (4); Brown Rustic (34); Buff
Ermine (17); Buff-tip (7); Burnished Brass; Clouded Silver (2); Common Footman
(2); Common Swift (20); Common Wainscot (12); Dark/Grey Dagger; Dark Arches;
Dot Moth; Elephant Hawk-moth (4); Fan-foot (3); The Flame (31); Flame-shoulder (6);
Heart and Dart (61); The Lackey; Large
Nutmeg (67); Large Yellow Underwing (7); Light Arches; Light Emerald;
Middle-barred Minor; Minor spp (31); Mottled Beauty (6); Mottled Rustic (10);
Pale Mottled Willow; Peppered Moth; Poplar Grey; Privet Hawk-moth (7); Riband
Wave (5); Rustic Shoulder-knot (14); Rustic/Uncertain (37); Scorched Wing (2);
Setaceous Hebrew Character (12); Shoulder-striped Wainscot (2); Single-dotted Wave; Small Waved Umber; The Snout (2);
The Spectacle; Straw Dot (9); Varied
Coronet; Vine's Rustic; White Ermine; Willow
Beauty and the following micros: Agapeta
hamana; Barred Fruit Tree Tortrix; Beautiful
China Mark; Dipleurina lacustrata; Green Oak Tortrix (50+); Light-brown
Apple Moth; Small Magpie (7); Udea olivalis; Thistle Ermine
Sunday 26th
June 2005
Thursday 23rd June – Paul Bowyer went to Ascott House near Wing to verify sightings of Small Blues. They turned out to be Chimney Sweeper moths.
22nd June - Colleen Watts reported a Hummingbird Hawk Moth
feeding on Red Valerian in the garden 9pm 22/06/05. “It stayed for about 2
minutes and was within 6 inches of my hand!”
21st June - Moths seen by Dave Maunder around Aylesbury
over the last week:- Lg. yellow u/wings (5), Lesser yellow
underwing (1), Green silver lines (1), Cinnabar moth (1), Burnet companions
(2), Common swifts (12), Common wainscott (1), Rustic shoulder knot (1), Heart
and dart (1), Straw dot (2), Pale tussocks (2), Small dusty wave (1), Treble
brown spot (3), Blood-vien (1), Yellow shell (1), Barred yellow (1), Barred straw (1), Green oak tortrix (1), Bee moth (1), White plume (4), Udea olivalis (1), Microstega pandalis (1),
Small magpie (1).
Wednesday 22nd
June 2005
Alastair
Driver reports another decent night's trapping on Fri 17th June at Ali's Pond
LNR. 22
species, including 2 new for the parish records - Small Elephant Hawk-moth and
a Clouded Brindle in beautiful
condition (photo provided). Others new for my yearlist were Cloaked Minor, Common Wave, Shoulder-striped
Wainscot, Figure of Eighty, Double Square-spot and
Heart & Club. An even better night last night, 19th June, in my garden
at Sonning. 36 species, including three new parish records - Brown
Silver-line, Small Fan-foot and The Spinach.
New for my yearlist were Elephant Hawk-moth, Poplar Hawk-moth, Dot Moth,
Brindled Pug, Clouded Silver, Smoky Wainscot,
Mottled Rustic and Bordered Pug.
Keith Mitchell reports: “Star of the show on Saturday night (18th)
in my garden was a pristine Bedstraw Hawkmoth. Unfortunately, in the
morning, it escaped before I could photograph it. Supporting cast was as
follows:
Eyed Hawkmoth; Elephant Hawkmoth (4); Poplar
Hawkmoth; Beautiful Hook-tip; Bee Moth; Bright-line Brown-eye (2); Brimstone
Moth; Brown Rustic (8); Buff Ermine (18); Burnished Brass (3); Common Footman;
Common Swift (21); Common Wainscot (4); Flame (12); Ghost Moth; Green Pug;
Green Oak Tortrix; Green Silver-lines; Heart and Dart (31); Large Nutmeg (66);
Large Yellow Underwing; Middle-barred Minor (4); Minor spp (19); Mottled
Rustic; Riband Wave; Rustic Shoulder-knot; Scorched Wing (2); Setaceous Hebrew
Character (10); Shoulder-striped Wainscot; Small Magpie; Small Square-spot (3);
Straw Dot; Thistle Ermine; White Ermine (3)
Paul Bowyer reports that on 17th June a meeting of the Wycombe Wild life group took place at Hughenden Valley. Species identified were as follows:- Common Swift, Brimstone, Small Elephant Hawk, Poplar Hawk, Treble Lines, Heart And Dart, Green Carpet, White Ermine, Marbled Coronet, Small Blood-vein, Lime Hawk, The Flame, Barred Yellow, Common Wainscot, Pale Shouldered Brocade, Nut Tree Tussock, Yellow Shell, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Mottled Beauty, Small Magpie, Dark Arches, Tawny Marbled Minor, Clouded Silver. Thanks to Angus Idle for the cabaret.
On 17/06/05 Peter Hall recorded the following moth
species in his trap at Ballinger Common:
Angle Shades; Beautiful Golden Y; Bright-line Brown-eye; Brimstone
Moth; Broken-barred Carpet; Brown Silver-line; Buff Arches; Buff Ermine;
Buff-tip; Cabbage; Clouded Border; Clouded Silver; Common
Footman; Common Marbled Carpet; Common Swift; Common Wainscot; Dark
Arches; Elephant Hawk; Fan-foot; Figure of
Eighty; Flame; Flame Carpet; Flame Shoulder; Garden Carpet; Ghost; Green Arches; Heart
& Club; Heart & Dart; Ingrailed Clay; Large Nutmeg; Large Yellow
Underwing; Light Brocade; Little Emerald; Marbled Minor; Marbled White Spot; Middle-barred
Minor; Mullein (larvae); Orange Footman; Pale Mottled Willow; Pale Oak Beauty;
Pale Prominent; Pale Tussock; Pale-shouldered
Brocade; Pebble Hook-tip; Peppered; Plain
Golden Y; Privet Hawk; Rustic; Rustic
Shoulder-knot; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Shears; Shoulder-striped Wainscot;
Silver-ground Carpet; Small Elephant Hawk; Small Fan-foot; Small Phoenix; Straw
Dot; Tawny Marbled Minor; Treble Lines;
Uncertain; White Ermine; White-pinion Spotted; Yellow Shell. Micros: Acentria
ephemerella (Water Veneer); Agapeta hamana; Agonopterix arenella;
Alucita hexadactyla (Twenty-plume); Archips podana
(Large Fruit-tree Tortrix); Blastobasis decolorella; Celypha lacunana; Crambus pascuella; Cydia fagiglandana; Cydia pomonella (Codling);
Elophila nymphaeata (Brown China-mark); Epiblema cynosbatella; Epiphyas
postvittana (Light Brown Apple); Eurrhypara hortulata (Small Magpie); Hedya nubiferana; Hedya pruniana; Hofmannophila
pseudospretella (Brown House); Nemophora degeerella; Pandemis
cerasana (Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix); Parapoynx
stratiotata (Ringed China-mark); Plutella
xylostella (Diamond-back); Prays fraxinella
(Ash Bud); Pseudargyrotoza conwagana; Scoparia ambigualis; Tortrix viridana (Green Oak Tortrix); Udea
olivalis
David Redhead’s garden moth trap on 19th June produced a new species for his garden list: Barred Yellow (2) in pristine condition but they both defied David’s attempts to get a photo! He also had a Scarlet Tiger Moth in the trap and saw one near Brasenose Woods allotments.
Dave Wilton ran another trap in his Westcot
garden on 16th June (210 moths/40 species): Species
included Dot Moth, Light Arches, Straw Dot, Snout. Other highlights
included Elephant Hawk moth (5), Small Elephant Hawk moth (9).
Ched George found a male Puss moth on his lawn on the afternoon of the 17th: “It was approx. 15 feet from the trap which had been run the previous night so may have been attracted to the lamp. It could have emerged having fed nearby.”
Saturday 18th June 2005
Welcome to all new
contributors to this site, most recently Peter Holland who sent in the
following on 15th June: “I saw your useful BC UTB site
with moth records. Below are some of mine for your use if you wish, spurred on
by a nice Privet Hawk last night. Light trap records, garden backing onto
arable farmland, Wallingford, Oxfordshire:
25 March 2005 - Common
Quaker (1), Hebrew Character (1), Early Grey (1), Oak
Beauty (1)
11 June 2005 - Brimstone
moth x 2, Common Wainscot x 7, Buff Ermine x 1, Heart and
Dart x 5, Common Swift x 1 (laid eggs), Large Yellow Underwing x
1, Dark Arches x 5, plus some other noctuids I wasn't sure about.
15 June 2005 - 1 x Privet
Hawk moth, 13 x Common Wainscot, 1 x Cinnabar Moth, 1 x Buff
Ermine, 1 x Mottled Beauty, 26 x Heart and Dart, 1 x Light Arches, 1 x Rustic Shoulder Knot,
7 x Setaceous Hebrew Character, 1 x Snout, plus about 30 other
macros that I didn't get round to checking.”
15/06/05 Dave Wilton
has been catching up on recent trap results in his garden at Westcott and sent
in details of the new species noted:
9th June (200 moths/50
species) - Oak Hook-tip, Riband Wave,
Broken-barred Carpet, White-spotted Pug,
Green Pug, Mottled Rustic, Burnished Brass,
Beautiful Hook-tip. Other highlights were Elephant Hawk moth (1), Small
Elephant Hawk moth (6).
14th June (150 moths/40
species) - Buff Arches, Mottled
Beauty, Light Emerald, Large Yellow Underwing. Other highlights
were Lime Hawk moth (1), Elephant Hawk moth (1), Small Elephant Hawk
moth (5).
15/06/05 Jan Haseler has forwarded some more
records from the Berkshire Moth Group session at Padworth Common on 27/5: Speckled Yellow, Neofaculta
ericetella, Ancylis uncella (amended from A. geminana on 17/02/06), Spotted Shoot Moth
(Rhyacionia pinivorana), Cream wave, Small seraphim, Pine Hawk moth
In her garden in Tilehurst – on 31st
May Triaxomera parasitella;
on 2nd June Small magpie, Light
arches, Dusky brocade,
Celypha lacunana, Epinotia bilunana;
and on 10th June Small dusty wave, Green pug, Dark arches, Udea
olivalis, Common white wave, Freyer’s
pug, Eudonia
mercurella, Cochylis
nana.
At Lardon Chase, 8/6 -
Crambus pascuella
In Green
Thursday 16th June 2005
Adam Bassett ran his trap again in Marlow Bottom on June 9th and had 99 moths of 33 species, including these not currently on the UTB 2005 list: Dark Arches 1; Coronet 1; Green Pug 3; Small White Wave 2. Best looking was a pristine Elephant Hawk, most numerous was Treble Lines (20) also had my 2nd Orange Footman of the year.
14/06/05 - Derek Brown
had time to do some moth trapping on Friday and Saturday night. Amongst a
dozen or so commoner species he recorded Dot
Moth, The Spectacle, Small Emerald, and Tawny
Shears.
14th June – Dave Maunder’s moth sightings in Aylesbury over the last week were:-
White Ermine
(3), Large Yellow Underwing (1), Rustic
Shoulder Knot (2), Burnet Companion (5), Common Swift (12), Poplar Hawk (1), Marbled Coronet (1), Carnation Tortrix (10), Agapeta hamana (2), Crambus lathoniellus (3),
Nemophora degeerella (35+), Small magpie (1), Silver-ground Carpet (1), and
Small Dusty Wave (2).
Wednesday 15th June 2005
Bill Parker, Martin Albertini and Dave Wilton ran
a trap in Rushbeds Wood, Buckinghamshire on 9th
June 2005, having been granted special permission to do so. Traps
: 2 x 125W MV Robinson traps and 1 Skinner trap with actinic lamp. Time : 21:45
– 01:15 hrs.
Alder Moth; Beautiful Hook-tip;
Brimstone; Brindled White-spot; Broken-barred carpet; Brown Rustic; Buff
Ermine; Chinese Character; Clouded Border;
Clouded Silver; Common Marbled Carpet; Common Swift; Common
White Wave; Figure of Eighty; Flame; Flame Shoulder; Grass Rivulet; Green Arches; Green Carpet; Ingrailed Clay; Knot
Grass; Light Emerald; Lime Hawkmoth; Lobster
Moth; Maiden’s Blush; Marbled White Spot;
Middle-barred Minor; Mottled Beauty; Mottled Pug; Orange Footman; Pale Oak Beauty;
Pale Prominent; Pale Tussock; Pebble Hook-tip; Peppered Moth; Poplar Grey; Poplar Kitten; Poplar Lutestring; Scallop Shell; Scorched Carpet; Scorched Wing;
Seraphim; Setaceous Hebrew Character; Silver-ground Carpet; Small Fanfoot; Small Seraphim; Small Yellow Wave; Snout; Spectacle; Straw Dot;
Swallow Prominent; Treble Lines; White Ermine; White Pinion-spotted.
Micros: Blastobasis decolorella; Celypha lacunana; Epiblema cynosbatella; Nemophora degeerella;
Pseudargyrotoza conwagana; Udea olivalis
12/06/05 - Alastair Driver reported a garden record catch in terms of species diversity on Thursday 9th. 36 species of macro-moth including two new for his Sonning parish records - Sandy Carpet and Spruce Carpet, and a further 11 species new for his year list - Small Dusty Wave, Treble Brown-spot, Lime-speck Pug, The Flame, The Snout, Buff Ermine, Brown Rustic, Straw Dot, Green Pug, Large Nutmeg and Grey Pug. (Also Yellow Shell in garden next morning). Micros included: Wax Moth, Small Magpie, Brown China-mark and Meal Moth.
12/06/05
– Ched George had his first Privet Hawk of the season, during the evening of the 7th June,
to his Radnage trap. He also recorded Beautiful
Golden Y and Treble Brown Spot on
11th which are firsts for the UTB 2005 species list.
Saturday 11th June 2005
11/6/05 in Bernwood BBOWT meadows, Tim Watts recorded 4 Forester
moths (see photos below), 1 Six-spot Burnet
moth and 1 Cinnabar. Later the same day he recorded
another 2 Forester moths at Asham Mead.
Ched George recorded an Alder moth in his garden trap in Radnage last night, 10th June.
On Friday 10th June, Nigel Russell discovered an Elephant Hawk Moth on the
wheel of a car at his workplace in Witney Oxfordshire
Simon Norris sent in the following interesting
email on 9th June: “I have been on the lookout every
day for the last week or so for Scarlet Tiger Moths in a garden in
Pangbourne following the unexpected observation last year of large numbers of
this moth. On 6th June, in the bright evening sunshine, I saw a
single moth flying in open ground but visiting and alighting on trees (almost
exclusively yew). I shall be looking out for larger numbers over the coming
days and will send an update in a few days time.”
On 8/6/05 at 5pm Tim Watts found this superb Eyed Hawk Moth low down in the grass at the Calvert BBOWT reserve (see photo below).
8th June – Wendy Redhead recorded a Hummingbird
Hawk Moth at Calvert drain.
On 7th June Daniel Howard had a
lunchtime walk in Pinsley wood near Long
Hanborough and saw dozens of male Longhorn moths (Nemophora degeerella)
dancing in the glades.
Bill Parker from Adstock, nr Buckingham, sent the following on 7th June: “As well as trapping in my garden, I also have permit from BBOWT to trap at Rushbeds Wood, Buckingham Old Canal and permission from Bucks CC to trap at Thornborough Community Woodland. Records from the last few days are:
5th June - Rushbeds Wood Reserve (daytime records): Burnet Companion; Grass Rivulet
6th June - Rushbeds Wood (light trap): Buff Ermine 1; Ingrailed Clay 3; Mottled Beauty 1; Pale prominent 2; Silver-ground Carpet 7; Small Phoenix 1; Small Square-spot 1
Not a great catch
for the beginning of June, although I heard on the radio that last night was
the coldest June night since early 1950s!”
7/6 - Dave Maunder recorded the following moths in Aylesbury
recently:- Pale prominent (1), Burnet companion (1), Emmelina
monodactyla (1), Pyrausta purpuralis (1), White ermine (2), Common
swift (1), Double-striped pug (1), Bee moth (1), Carnation
tortrix (1), Nemophora degeerella (1).
On Tuesday 7th June Paul Bowyer saw his first Hummingbird Hawk moth
of the year in his garden in Flackwell Heath.
Orange Footman – notes from Peter Hall: “This attractive
little moth had few records for Bucks up until the turn of the century with the
most "recent" being around 1960. Then in 2000 one was found in Slough
at a light trap. Nothing in 2001, but 2002 again had a sighting at a moth trap
with 3 moths present. This was attributed to migration, but in 2003 it was
found at 5 sites (including the site from 2002), in 2004 at 9 sites and already
in 2005 from 6 sites with one of these recording 43 moths in one night. So from
a probable migration, this species has quickly become firmly established over
much of the county."
2nd June – Peter Hall recorded Treble
Lines in numbers at a light trap in the Chilterns (click here for photo).
Peter Hall’s night records for 30/05/05: Angle Shades;
Brimstone Moth; Broken-barred Carpet; Brown Silver-line; Buff Ermine; Chinese
Character; Clouded-bordered Brindle; Common Marbled Carpet; Common Swift; Early
Grey; Flame Carpet; Flame Shoulder; Heart & Dart; Ingrailed Clay; Light
Brocade; Middle-barred Minor; Mottled Pug; Orange Footman; Pale Oak Beauty;
Pale Tussock; Pebble Prominent; Peppered; Scalloped Hazel; Scorched Wing;
Shuttle-shaped Dart; Small Phoenix; Small Square-spot; Treble Lines; Vine's
Rustic; White Ermine
Micros: Agonopterix ocellana; Ancylis badiana; Crambus
lathoniellus; Eurrhypara hortulata (Small Magpie); Pseudargyrotoza
conwagana; Scoparia ambigualis
Tuesday 7th
June 2005
The following was received on 7th June from Paul Bowyer
who ran a trap on Friday 27th May. “The following species were identified in my garden in Flackwell Heath. Green Silver Lines, Purple Bar,
Common Marbled Carpet, Maple Prominent,
Clouded Silver, Flame Shoulder, Treble Lines, White Ermine, Pale Tussock,
Shuttle Shaped Dart, Figure of Eighty, Brimstone, Gold
Swift, Light Brocade, Heart and Dart and Foxglove Pug.”
On 6th June David Redhead managed to get round to his
fourth garden moth trap of the year with 22 species and 37 macro-moths - Treble Lines (8), Poplar Hawk moth
(4), Green Carpet (3), White Ermine (3), Common Marbled Carpet (2) and singletons of Bright-line
Brown-eye, Buff Ermine, Burnished Brass,
Clouded-bordered Brindle, Clouded Silver, Elephant Hawk moth, Eyed Hawk moth, Figure of Eighty, Flame, Heart
& Dart, Ingrailed Clay, Least Black
Arches, Light Brocade, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Small Phoenix, Swallow
Prominent & Vine's Rustic.
Whilst wandering around Twyford Gravel pits on
Sunday 05/06/05 Eddie Napper came across about 10 Nemophora degeerella dancing in the sunlight.
Dave
Wilton ran the trap again at Westcott on 4th June and it brought in another
four new species for him:
Leopard Moth, Turnip
Moth, Shoulder-striped Wainscot and Uncertain.
On
5th June, whilst in the Grendon area, moths that Dave noted were: Silver-ground
Carpet (3), Clouded Silver (1), Buff-tip (2), Straw Dot (3), Burnet Companion (1,
with several more "probables"), Small
Yellow Underwing (1) & Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana) (2).
The caterpillars were Figure of Eight (5), Yellow-tail (5), Lackey (dozens)
& Drinker (1)
Dave
also ran a trap in his garden on 1st June and says: “It’s
sights like these - one Elephant Hawk Moth and four Small Elephant
Hawk Moths (photo received) from last night's results - that make
mothing such a pleasant activity. 120 moths of 36 species (taking me past the
100 species mark for this year), including Silver-ground Carpet, Grass
Rivulet, Peppered Moth, Grey/Dark Dagger sp, Middle-barred Minor & Marbled White-spot.”
Eddie
Napper recorded the following in Wokingham: “Two new
additions to my garden species list. On 01/06/05 Garden Pebble
and on 02/06/05 Bird's Wing.”
Monday 6th
June 2005
30/05/05 - Alastair Driver had two successful nights trapping at
Ali's Pond LNR, Sonning, on 26th and 27th:
”33 species in
total, including 5 that are new for my parish records - Pebble Hook-tip, The
Seraphim, May Highflyer, The Campion, Yellow-barred Brindle. Also,
Cabbage Moth, Middle-barred Minor, Pale Oak Beauty, White
Ermine, Common Wainscot, Turnip Moth,
Broken-barred Carpet, Small Square-spot. Sincere
thanks to Peter Hall who was extremely helpful in sorting out some of the more
difficult specimens I caught, such as Vine's
Rustic.”
30th May – Derek Brown carried out his
first night’s moth trapping on Saturday 28th May and got the
following:
Pine Beauty, Flame Shoulder, Buff Ermine, Blood vein, Treble
lines, Common Wainscot, Bright-Line Brown-Eye and Mottled Pug.”
29th May – Jan Haseler sent in the
following moth sightings:
21/5 Tilehurst: Syndemis
musculana
26/5 Tilehurst: Figure
of Eighty, Common Marbled Carpet, Broken-barred Carpet, Nutmeg, Shark, Silver Y,
Aethes smeathmanniana, Ephestia parasitella
27/5 Padworth Common, with the
Berkshire Moth Group: Scoparia ambigualis, Fox
Moth, Poplar Lutestring, Birch Mocha,
Brown Silver-Line, Pale Oak Beauty, Rosy Marbled
Sunday 5th
June 2005
3rd June Paul Howe sent this very interesting
report: “Not sure if this is of any interest but about 2 months ago
I discovered a large number of moth larvae feeding on Comfrey around the walls
of our house. They were then sprayed with herbicide and all were wiped out.
Luckily I got home just quickly enough to save 3 larvae. I reared them through
and they are Scarlet Tigers (as I'd
suspected) as one has emerged this morning (03/06/05). We live in Drayton, just south of Abingdon. I was always under
the impression that this was a fairly restricted species in terms of
distribution and habitat but I'm guessing that this may not be the case? There
is, of course, the possibility that these eggs came from one wandering female
although the larval colony was originally enormous and spread over a wide area
so I suspect not. Anyway, don't know if this is of interest but I thought I
would pass on the information just in case.”
Adam Bassett reported the following on 1st June: “Just had a quick look at your website and I have a few additions to the list from a trap run on 27th May in my garden in Marlow. Amongst others, I had the following species not on your list: Small Elephant Hawk; Pretty Chalk Carpet; Broken-barred Carpet; Brindled White-spot; White Ermine; Green Silver-lines; Shears (5); Clay Triple-lines (2); Scorched Wing. I also had a Hummingbird Hawk briefly on 28th May in the garden feeding on Ragged Robin. Also, Small Magpie at the porch light last night (31st May) and Silver Y on the window about a week ago.”
Wednesday 1st
June 2005
Dave Wilton has been catching up on his moth
trappings at Westcott, Latest additions to his garden record for the year are
as follows:
15th May (39 moths, 14 species): Green
Carpet, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Flame Shoulder, Lychnis,
Bright-line Brown-eye
20th May (29 moths, 16 species): Common
Swift, Common Wave, Lime Hawkmoth, Iron
Prominent, Buff-tip, White Ermine
24th May (30 moths, 21 species): Figure
of Eighty, Blood-vein, Purple Bar, Lime-speck Pug, Lesser Treble-bar, Clouded Silver,
Buff Ermine, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Large Nutmeg, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Treble Lines
and micro Aethes smeathmanniana
26th May (170+ moths, 50+ species): Common
Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, Grass Rivulet, Common Pug, Dwarf Pug, Seraphim, Scorched Wing,
Waved Umber, Pale Oak Beauty (to be confirmed), Elephant
Hawkmoth, Small Elephant Hawkmoth,
Heart and Dart, The Flame, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Common
Wainscot, Poplar Grey, Knot Grass, Brown Rustic, Angle Shades and micros: Small
Magpie, Pseudargyrotoza conwagana (plus
a few others awaiting ID by the County Recorder). Summer seems to have arrived!
[Note: After consultation, Dave decided that the Marbled Minor was an
unsafe record and it has therefore been removed.]
Tony Towner’s latest sightings from his garden trap at Tilehurst on
27/05/05:
Lime
Hawkmoth (1 female),
Setaceous Hebrew Character (1), Green Carpet (1), Shuttled Shaped
Dart (1), Iron Prominent (1), Flame Shoulder (1), Figure of Eighty (1), Twenty-Plume Moth (1).
Peter Hall recorded 36 species of moth in his garden in
Ballinger Common on 23/05/05, including 15 new to the UTB list for this year:
Brimstone Moth; Broken-barred Carpet;
Clouded Drab; Clouded Silver; Clouded-bordered
Brindle; Flame; Flame Carpet; Flame
Shoulder; Foxglove Pug; Least Black Arches;
Light Brocade; Lime Hawk; Muslin; Nut-tree Tussock; Oak
Hook-tip; Orange Footman; Pale Mottled Willow; Pale
Oak Beauty; Pale tussock; Pebble Hook-tip; Peppered;
Red Twin-spot Carpet; Red-green Carpet; Rustic Shoulder-knot; Scalloped Hazel;
Small Phoenix; Treble Lines; White Ermine; Micros: Alucita hexadactyla (Twenty-plume); Argyresthia trifasciata; Cnephasia
stephensiana (Grey Tortrix); Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple); Eulia ministrana; Scoparia
ambigualis; Syndemis musculana; Tinea trinotella.
On 29th May Wendy & Mick Campbell
recorded Commophila aeneana at the Disused
Railway cutting near Springfield Farm, Bucks. Photo confirmed by Peter Hall.
Saturday 28th
May 2005
Keith Mitchell reported as follows from Stoke Goldington on 25th May: “The first warm night for a while resulted in a more varied catch than of late, but still no great numbers. The best of the bunch was Water Carpet, which is rare around Milton Keynes, and Sandy Carpet, another garden first. Others were: Iron Prominent; Blood-vein; Clouded Silver; Common Swift (3); Poplar Hawkmoth (2); Mottled Pug (3); Garden Carpet (2); Green Carpet; Pale Prominent; Pale Tussock; Buff-tip; Flame Shoulder (2); Small Waved Umber; Treble Lines; Rustic Shoulder-knot; Muslin.”
Alastair Driver sent the following email on 26th May: “At last a warm dry night last night (25th)! Caught 11 species: Brimstone, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Green Carpet, Flame Shoulder, Willow Beauty, Double-striped Pug, Lime Hawk, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Pale Mottled Willow and Mottled Pug. Nothing new for the garden list but a few firsts for my year list. Best thing was I did a pond dipping session with the Sonning Primary after-school club today and I took along the moths to show them that not all are boring brown jobs - they loved them and everyone wanted to have the Lime Hawk cling on to their finger like they do. Despite that he was still in immaculate condition when they'd finished with him. Mind you I think even he was upstaged by the Grass Snake I caught with the butterfly net, not least because it had a small mammal bulging inside its belly! Good old Mother Nature - she never lets you down! Off pheromoning for Red-tipped Clearwing with Mark Calway et al at Thames Valley Park wetland reserve tomorrow. Fingers crossed..........”
Dave Maunders has recorded a few more moths from around Aylesbury
since the 20th May: Double striped pug (1), Common pug
(1), Green carpet (1), Bee moth (1), Adela fibulella (1), Anthophila fabriciana (10+), Common swifts (2), and Burnet
Companions (3).
On 21/05/05 Peter Hall trapped the following moths in
his garden in Ballinger Common: Pebble
Hook-tip; Grey Pine Carpet; Spruce Carpet; Buff-tip; Treble Lines; Nut-tree
Tussock and the Herald.
On Wednesday night (18th) Keith Mitchell trapped a Scalloped Hook-tip (garden first).
Tony Towner recorded the following day flying moths on 6th May: Orange Tailed Clearwing(1), Silver Ground Carpet(1), Cinnabar(1), Small Purple Barred(3) & the “Mint Moth” Pyrausta Aurata(2).
Thursday 19th
May 2005
19th
May, Eddie Napper reports the following: “Despite it being another wet /drizzly night I put the trap under the
gazebo and ran a 30w actinic lamp. The result was 2 Shuttle shaped Dart,
1 Muslin Moth, 5 Pale Mottled Willow, 1 Garden Carpet, 1 Lime Hawk Moth, 1 Yellow barred Brindle,
and a Common Marbled Carpet” [See photos
above.]
Caroline Steel sent this sighting in yesterday: “We saw a mating pair of Poplar
Hawk Moths On Sunday 15th May at Rushbeds Wood, Bucks.”
Dave
Wilton saw a single Mother Shipton at Whitecross Green Wood on 17th
May.
17th May - Dave Maunder sent a list of
moths seen in Aylesbury since the 6th:- Muslin moth(1), Brimstone
moth(1), Green carpet(1), Garden carpet(2), Sallow kitten(1),
Pale tussock(1), Light brown apple moth(1), Emmelina
monodactyla(2), Pyrausta purpuralis(1). Also in Finemere woods on Sunday
15th he
found Drinker moth larva(1), Yellow tail moth larva(1), and approx. 100+ Adela
reaumurella swarming around the tops of Sallow and Hazel trees.
17th May - David Redhead adds a new moth to the 2005
list: Burnet Companion seen in Whitecross Green
Wood, during an unsuccessful attempt to see a Wood White.
Paul Bowyer reports on a meeting of the Wycombe Wildlife Group, held at Cadmore End on Friday 13th May. A very cold night only produced 4 species of moths. These were Brimstone, Brindled Pug, Nut tree Tussock and Scalloped Hazel.
Monday 16th
May 2005
At dusk yesterday evening (Sun 15th) David Redhead recorded a Sandy Carpet egg-laying on Red Campion in his garden in Oxon.
Jan Haseler sent in these recent moth sightings
today:
11/5 - Garden (Tilehurst) - Nematopogon swammerdamella
15/5 - Garden (Tilehurst) - Tinea trinotella, Plum Tortrix, Poplar Hawk moth, Coxcomb Prominent, Heart
and Dart, Light Brocade, Treble Lines
15/5 - in W. Berks -
Drab Looper
Friday 13th May - Dave Wilton went to the disused
railway cutting west of Westcott airfield and saw Common
Heath, Lesser Treble-bar (3) and Cinnabar (3). “I also ran my moth trap again
on 12th and it brought in a dismal total of eight moths. However, there was one
highlight - a single male Poplar Hawk,
my first hawk moth of the year.
Peter Hall reports
Nematopogon swammerdamella at The Lee on 7th May.
Tuesday 10th
May 2005
Sunday 8th May - Alastair Driver reports as follows: “I think I might have an all-time
record catch for a dry night in May! A miserable total of 4 moths last night
(Sat 7th) - certainly a "personal worst" for me! I did get a lovely
specimen of Green Carpet though (see photo below and click on it
for a larger image) along with 2 Muslin Moths and a Shuttle-shaped
Dart.”
On Friday 6th May a meeting of Butterfly Conservation
took place at Holtspur Bank. Paul Bowyer reports that it was a cool showery
evening and only 9 species were recorded: Green Carpet, Common
Carpet, Brimstone, Nut Tree Tussock, Brindled Pug, Waved Umber, Small
Phoenix, Flame Shoulder and Knotgrass.
4th May - Alastair Driver says he still hasn’t got
around to do any trapping lately, but he did have a
Scorched Carpet to light last Sunday night. “I've only had one specimen
of this species before in Sonning, so it's
certainly not common round here.”
03/05/05 – Peter Hall ran a trap in his garden in Ballinger Common
with the following result:
Red Twin-spot
Carpet; Streamer; Brindled Pug; Yellow-barred
Brindle; Purple Thorn; Scalloped Hazel;
Brindled Beauty; Waved Umber; Grey Birch;
Lobster; Pebble Prominent; Lesser Swallow Prominent; Swallow Prominent; Lunar
Marbled Brown; Chocolate-tip; Least Black Arches; Common Quaker; Clouded Drab;
Hebrew Character; Early Grey; Nut-tree Tussock; Micros: Endrosis sarcitrella (White-shouldered House); Alucita
hexadactyla (Twenty-plume)
Sunday 8th
May 2005
On the night of 3rd May Dave Wilton added Least Black
Arches to his garden list and they were joined on 5th May by Purple Thorn and Pale Tussock. While walking around Grangelands on 5th May an Orange
Footman was disturbed from the vegetation and several Pyrausta nigrata were noted flying.
The following are David Redhead’s moth trap results for his garden
in Oxon, overnight 1st/2nd May::
Swallow Prominent 12, Pebble Prominent 6, Hebrew Character 4, Powdered
Quaker 2, Chocolate-tip 2, Clouded Drab, Common Quaker, Early Grey, Green Carpet, Muslin Moth (female), Pale Prominent, Red
Twin-spot Carpet, Small Phoenix &
White-pinion Spotted all singleton. Making 14 macro-moth species and 34
moths.
03/05/05 – Keith Mitchell reports: “Despite the warm weather over the Bank Holiday, the moth numbers were quite low, although the variety picked up a little. The following species were trapped in my garden in Stoke Goldington:
Swallow Prominent (3); Clouded Drab; Hebrew Character (33); Pebble Prominent (3); Red Chestnut; Brindled Beauty (3); Muslin Moth (15); Common Quaker; Common Pug; Cream-bordered Green Pea, Brindled Pug; Powdered Quaker; Chinese Character; Brimstone (2); Light Brown Apple Moth; Scorched Carpet; Ruby Tiger
Last night (2nd) Keith also spotted a geometrid moth flapping at the bathroom window, which he captured and photographed. It turned out to be a Scarce Tissue.
03/05/05
– The following moth list was received from Dave Maunder: Brimstone moth (1, on 28th), Garden carpet (1, on 1st), Waved umber (1, on 2nd), Clouded drab (1,
on 1st), Twenty-plume moth (1), Emmelina monodactyla (2), Carnation tortrix (2), and Pyrausta purpuralis (2).
3rd May - Jan Haseler sent this report
in: “New moths for the year in my Tilehurst
garden on 30/4 included:
Eriocrania subpurpurella, Incurvaria masculella, Argyrotaenia ljungiana, Epinotia immundana, Waved Umber, Shuttle-shaped dart and Spectacle.
Also, on Sunday 1st May, an unsuccessful hunt for
skippers at Decoy Heath turned up the following
day-flying moths:
The Vestal, Narrow-winged
Pug and Common Heath.
The Vestal is an immigrant moth, and there were strong southerly winds coming
up from North Africa and Southern Europe.
Overnight on 2nd May 2005, Eddie Napper found the
only new moths were Tawny-barred Angle and
Spectacle.
2nd May – David Fuller reports 2 Brimstone Moths in his
porch in Maidenhead today.
Wednesday 4th
May 2005
Tony Towner.’s latest moth sightings from his garden in Tilehurst:
01/04/05 - Common Quaker (6), Small Quaker (2), Early Grey (1).
23/04/05 - Pine Beauty (1).
01/05/05 - Knot Grass (1), Shuttle-shaped Dart (1).
30/04/05 – Peter Hall had a better night than last
week’s moth trap, with the following 22 species at Ballinger Common:
Frosted Green; Streamer; Brindled Pug; Double-striped
Pug; Brimstone Moth; Purple Thorn; White-pinion
Spotted; Lobster; Pebble Prominent; Lesser Swallow Prominent; Swallow
Prominent; Lunar Marbled Brown; Least Black Arches;
Powdered Quaker; Common Quaker; Clouded Drab; Hebrew Character; Chestnut; Pale
Mottled Willow; Nut-tree Tussock
micros: Agonopterix
arenella; Alucita hexadactyla (Twenty-plume)
Dave
Wilton ran his trap at Westcott on 25th April and added The Streamer to his garden list for
the year, while on the 27th April
there was another newcomer in the shape of the Lesser
Swallow Prominent, but the remainder of each catch was mostly still
Quakers and Drabs. “It is amazing what a difference a couple of days of warm
weather has made, though, because last night (30th
April) I got at least ten new species! There are still half a dozen pugs
to be sorted out but the remainder of the haul was as follows: Chinese Character (4), Dark-barred
Twin-spot Carpet, V-Pug (1), Brimstone Moth (3), Sallow Kitten (1), Pebble Prominent (2), Lesser Swallow
Prominent (2), Swallow Prominent (8), Pale Prominent (4), Chocolate-tip (2), Lobster
Moth (1, the darker obscura form), Small Quaker (1), Powdered Quaker
(3), Common Quaker (4), Clouded Drab (6), Hebrew Character (15) and Spectacle (1).
Jan Haseler reports that on Friday 22nd April,
some of the Berkshire Moth Group had a field trip to the banks of the River
Kennet near Burghfield. The catch included Agonopterix
ocellana, 2 Streamers and
a Nut-tree Tussock.
Also, new this year for Jan’s Tilehurst
garden on Sunday 24th April were Flame
Shoulder and V-Pug.
Tuesday 27th
April 2005
Dave Maunder says the only moths he’s seen over the last few days
in Aylesbury were 7 Emmelina monodactyla.
Keith Mitchell just trapped his first Swallow Prominent of the year
(25th April).
25/04/05 – Because of the rain Eddie Napper placed his 15w
actinic trap under the gazebo and left it on all night. Highlights
were 2 Nut Tree Tussocks and a Scarce
Tissue.
Paul Bowyer sent in this report for Friday 22nd April: At a meeting of the Wycombe Wildlife Group the following species were
recorded on a cool windy evening in Flackwell Heath:
Small Quaker, Double Striped Pug and Lunar Marbled Brown.
Monday 26th
April 2005
Peter Hall isn’t finding it very good at all for moths
at the moment - he ran the trap in his garden on 23rd April and got 1 Early Grey and
nothing else. He also had Alucita hexadactyla at the door.
Dave Wilton ran the moth trap again at Westcott
on the night of 20th April which brought in:
Double-striped Pug (1), Swallow Prominent
(2 – see photo below), Small Quaker (2), Lead-coloured Drab (1),
Powdered Quaker (8), Common Quaker (1), Clouded Drab (3) and Hebrew Character
(9). “The Pug and Prominents are new to my garden list for this year. A
large burying beetle was also present in the trap. So far the less welcome
results of trapping have been fairly innocuous (mostly beetles, caddis flies
and, once, a bumble bee) but I'm not looking forward to angry wasps and hornets
later in the year!”
Saturday 23rd
April 2005
Last night, 22nd April, Keith Mitchell trapped a very early male Muslin Moth in
his garden in Stoke Goldington.
On David Fuller’s porch, Maidenhead, this morning, 23rd April: Nut-tree Tussock and Twin-spotted Quaker.
New for Jan Haseler’s Tilehurst garden on Tuesday
19/4 were Acleris Cristana and Purple
Thorn. Also, at the Harris Garden,
University of Reading on 21/4 Jan saw Adela
Reaumurella.
Eddie Napper reports the following 2 moths
overnight on 19th April, both new for his garden in Wokingham:
Esperia Sulphurella (see photo
below) and Brindled Beauty.
19/04/05 - Dave Maunders’ moth list, seen over the last few days in
Aylesbury:- Early grey(2), Early thorn(1), Emmelina
Monodactyla(7), and Brown House Moth(1).
17th April
2005
Dave Wilton ran the trap in his Westcott garden
overnight on 5th, 10th, 13th and 15th April: “The
quantity of moths caught has reduced dramatically, thanks mainly to the
disappearance of the Small Quaker! The only new species was a Water Carpet on the 10th.”
On 12th April, Jan Haseler trapped
her first Brimstone and Pale
Mottled Willow for this year, and Oak-tree
Pug was a garden first.
12/04/05 – Dave Maunder’s moth list from Aylesbury during the last
week:- Hebrew character(1), Early grey(2), and Emmelina monodactyla(5).
Since 25th March, Keith Mitchell has trapped the following moths in
his Stoke Goldington garden:
Angle
Shades: Blossom Underwing (1 on
10/4, 2 days earlier than last year's specimen): Clouded Drab: Common
Quaker: Dotted Border (last on 28/3): Early Grey: Early Thorn (31/3): Emelina
monodactyla: Engrailed: Hebrew Character: Lead-coloured Drab: Pine Beauty (27/3, 1/4): Red
Chestnut: Shoulder-stripe (31/3): Small Quaker: Twin-spotted Quaker (last on
27/3)
10th April 2005
On 10/04/05 Eddie Napper added Lunar
Marbled Brown to his Wokingham garden list.
The following was received from Dave Wilton on 7th
April: “As of 1st April my garden moth count stood at 23 species -
things are improving and I might not have to move to Berkshire after all! I've
subsequently trapped on 3rd April (added the Herald)
and on 5th April (nothing new), while during the daytime on 3rd April I went to Rushbeds and saw an Orange
Underwing.” [After discussion with Martin Albertini it is possible this
may have been the less common Light Orange Underwing due to the presence of
Aspen rather than Birch in the wood.]
6th April
2005
05/04/05 – Dave Maunder reports the following moths seen over the
last few days in Aylesbury:-
Early
Grey(4), Diurnea Fagella(2), Emmelina Monodactyla(3), Agonopterix
Astromeriana(1), Early Thorn(2), Hebrew Character(1), and Common Quaker(1).
Dave Wilton provided the results of his last
three trappings, as follows:
1st April (451 moths, 20 species):
March Moth (1), Shoulder Stripe (6), Brindled Pug (1), Early Thorn (2), Dotted
Border (2), Engrailed (1), Red Chestnut (6), Small Quaker (197), Blossom Underwing (1), Lead-coloured Drab
(21), Powdered Quaker (6), Common Quaker (79), Clouded Drab (54), Twin-spotted
Quaker (7), Hebrew Character (57), Pale Pinion (1), Early Grey (6), Satellite
(1), Chestnut (1), Emmelina monodactyla (1). “The Brindled Pug, Engrailed,
Blossom Underwing (a bit of a rarety in Bucks, I'm told), Pale Pinion, Chestnut
and Plume were all new to my garden list.”
30th March (165 moths, 9 species):
Early Thorn (2), Red Chestnut (2), Small Quaker (65), Lead-coloured Drab (1),
Powdered Quaker (4), Common Quaker (21), Clouded Drab (21), Hebrew Character
(47), Early Grey (2).
27th March (280 moths, 15 species):
March Moth (1), Shoulder Stripe (1), Early Thorn (4), Dotted Border (1), Red
Chestnut (3), Small Quaker (132), Lead-coloured Drab (6), Powdered Quaker (2),
Common Quaker (53), Clouded Drab (28), Twin-spotted Quaker (3), Hebrew
Character (42), Tawny Pinion (1),
Early Grey (1), Satellite (2). “The Powdered Quaker and Tawny Pinion were new
to my garden list for the year.”
In David Fuller’s Maidenhead garden on 2nd April, an Early Thorn.
31/03/05 Jan Haseler reports: “On Sat
26th March, Laurie and I ran a 125W MV Skinner trap for 1.5 hours next to
sallow blossom at a site to the west of Reading
and caught 14 species of moth, including: Balsam
Carpet, Early Tooth-striped and White-marked. The Balsam Carpet was the
5th record for Berks, and a very early record too -- the previous earliest
Berks and Hants records were 26th April and 8th April respectively (though one
turned up on the same night in Winchester).
30th March
2005
Some more moths seen by Dave Maunder in Aylesbury over the last
week:-
Diurnea fagella(3), Emmelina monodactyla(7), Early
grey(4), Grey shoulder knot(1), Herald moth(1), Common
quaker(2), Clouded drab(1), Hebrew character(1), Early
thorn(1), and I also saw an Orange Underwing at Coombe hill on 28th
March.
David Fuller’s records for three nights as follows:
29/03/05 - Early Thorn; Early Grey;
Common Quaker
28/03/05 - Double-striped Pug 3, 1
bright individual and 2 fairly worn specimens. Also a different Emmelina
Monodactyla - a smaller and less pronounced specimen.
25/03/05 -
Emmelina Monodactyla; White Plume Moth; Early Grey;
The Engrailed (first for David’s garden in Maidenhead).
Results of two overnight garden moth traps from David Redhead:-
27th March - 72 moths, 10 species - 23 Common Quaker, 17 Clouded Drab, 14 Small Quaker, 7 Hebrew Character, 6 Twin-spotted Quaker, 1 of Brindled Beauty, Early Grey, Engrailed, March Moth & Powdered Quaker.
19th March - 119 moths, 10 species - 60 Small Quaker, 30 Common Quaker, 15 Hebrew Character, 6 Clouded Drab, 3 Twin-spotted Quaker and 1 of Engrailed, Lead-coloured Drab, Oak Beauty, Pale Mottled Willow & Powdered Quaker.
Peter Hall reports Diurnea
fagella at The Lee on 25/3/2005.
Dave Wilton says his catches at Westcott continue
to be mostly Quakers, Drabs and Hebrew Characters.
On 21st March I managed nearly 100 moths but the only new
ones to my list were: Shoulder Stripe (1), Red Chestnut (1), Twin-spotted
Quaker (2) and Diurnea fagella (1).
Another 90 moths on the 25th brought in Early Thorn (1), Early Grey (2)
and Pale Mottled Willow (1) but this still only takes me to 16 species
so far this year. I obviously need to move to Berkshire!
Alastair Driver set the Robinson trap in his garden at Sonning on
19th March, resulting in what he considered to be a fairly typical catch:
Common
Quaker (14), Small Quaker (7), Hebrew Character (4), Clouded Drab (2) and singles
of Early
Grey, Oak Beauty, Twin-spotted Quaker, The Chestnut and a micro - Diurnea Fagella. “Many thanks to
Peter Hall for identifying the latter. I'm a real novice when it comes to micro
id, so this species was new to me, but I then caught a melanic version of the
same species at another site in Sonning a few days later.”
25th March
2005
Two night’s-worth of moths from David Fuller’s garden in
Maidenhead:
24th March: Common Quaker 1; Clouded Drab 1; March Moth 1; Early Grey 2; White Plume Moth 1
23rd March: Early Grey 1; Dotted Border 1; White Plume 1. Dave says “Last night, 23rd Les Finch took a Yellow Horned moth which he showed me, a new moth for both of us.”
Dave Maunder reported a few more moths seen in
Aylesbury last week:-
Twenty-plume moth (1) on 18th, Light brown apple moth (1)
on 19th, and Emmelina monodactyla (1) on 21st march.
The following is a list of moth species recorded so far this year by the
Berks Moth Group. Click here to
visit the Berks Moth Group website and learn more about their meetings:
06-Jan, Winter Moth, Spring Usher, Mottled Umber Shinfield Park
06-Jan, Light Brown Apple Moth, Tilehurst
13-Jan, Oak Beauty, Chestnut Maiden Erleigh LNR
14-Jan, Pale Brindled Beauty, Shinfield Park
15-Jan, Dark Chestnut, Maidenhead
17-Jan, Golden Twin-Spot,
19-Jan, Twenty-plume Moth, Englefield House
19-Jan, Emmelina monodactyla, Maidenhead
25-Jan, Herald,
Shinfield Park
30-Jan, Hebrew Character, Earley
31-Jan, Early Moth, Agonopterix heracliana, Shinfield Park
31-Jan, Common Quaker, Earley
01-Feb, Dotted Border, Shinfield Park
04-Feb, Satellite, Padworth
09-Feb, Tortricodes alternella, Maidenhead
09-Feb, Acleris cristana, Shinfield Park
11-Feb, March Moth, Shinfield Park
11-Feb, Acleris ferrugana/notana, E. Berks
14-Feb, Buttoned Snout, Cholsey
09-Mar, Grey Shoulder-knot, Shinfield Park
11-Mar, Small Brindled Beauty,
11-Mar, Small Quaker,
14-Mar, Clouded Drab,
16-Mar, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, Early Grey, Pale Mottled Willow, Maidenhead
16-Mar, Lead-coloured Drab,
17-Mar, Twin-spotted Quaker, Tilehurst
17-Mar, Double-striped Pug, Diurnea fagella, Maidenhead
18-Mar, Shoulder Stripe, Shinfield Park
18-Mar, Orange Underwing, S. of Bracknell
18-Mar, Early Thorn, Tilehurst
19-Mar, Pine Beauty, Maidenhead
19-Mar, Oak Nycteoline , Earley
19-Mar, Agonopterix alstromeriana, Yellow Horned, Engrailed,
Red Chestnut, Pale Pinion, Bagley Wood
21-Mar, Agonopterix subpropinquella, Red Sword-grass, Dotted Chestnut, Fernham
21-Mar, Red-green Carpet, Brindled Pug,
Earley
Tony Towner sent this news on 21st March: “The first moths to enter my home-made trap here at Tilehurst were:
14/03 - 1*Grey Shoulder Knot.
17/03 - 1*Common Quaker + 2*Small Quaker.
19/03 - Also
found during the daytime on my wife's pink nightie (on the washing line) was 1*Early
Grey.
Keith Mitchell had
exciting news to report from Stoke Goldington after trapping the following
moths this weekend, 20th March, in mild conditions: Clouded Drab (11); Common Quaker
(25); Hebrew Character (30); March Moth (3); Red Chestnut
(1); Small Quaker (42); Twin-spotted Quaker (5). ”But the best of all was a pristine Dotted Chestnut (click photo below for a larger image).
Where did it come from? With the easterly winds, maybe the Greensand Ridge near
Woburn. Who knows? Has it been recorded in Bedfordshire recently? It's
certainly rare in Bucks. Have just seen the Web Site update - two Dotted
Chestnuts within a week!”
19th March - Dave Wilton trapped on
Thursday night and recorded: Oak Beauty (2), Small Quaker
(12), Lead-coloured Drab (5), Common Quaker (24), Clouded Drab (7), Hebrew
Character (7) and Satellite (2).
Thursday 17th March - Paul Bowyer’s first moth records for the
year: “My 2nd
trap of the year in my garden in Flackwell Heath. No moths last Thursday but 2 Common
Quakers and a March Moth tonight. The latter was kindly identified
by my son Ellis.”
14/03/05 – Peter Hall’s moth trap at Ballinger Common
produced the following:
Chestnut: Clouded Drab: Common Quaker: Dotted Border; Dotted Chestnut (see Moth Feature); Hebrew Character; March Moth; Oak Beauty; Pale
Mottled Willow; Satellite; Shoulder
Stripe; Small Brindled Beauty;
Small Quaker; Twin-spotted Quaker
and two micros: Agonopterix heracliana; Emmelina monodactyla
New reporter to the moth website, Dave Wilton
sent the following: “Having tried my newly acquired Robinson twice in
February without result, I've now had a couple of successful nights here in
Westcott:
8th March - March Moth (1), Lead-coloured
Drab (1).
15th March - Lead-coloured Drab (2), Common Quaker (7), Clouded Drab (1), Hebrew Character (2).
Also, a single Dotted Border was attracted to the light in the kitchen
window on 9th March.
Dave Maunder recorded a few more moths last week:- Dotted border (1), Early moth
(1), March moth (1), and Early Grey (1) - on 12th march.
10th March - Tony Towner says: “This evening I had one Common Quaker near my home made moth trap in
the back garden. I live at Tilehurst, Reading. The temperature was +3.5.”
10th March – the following email
received from Keith Mitchell - “The
first moth for a while at the front door lights (Stoke Goldington). March
Moth.
News from Andrew Kershaw – “Here
in Longwick the 7th March proved a mild night and hey presto: 4 March
moths, 1 Dotted Border and 1 Satellite!”
Dave Maunder reports only one moth record for 27th
February: “A March Moth arrived on my porch light on probably the coldest night this
winter- Sunday 27th - it must have been at least -5 c. - very unusual, I
thought!
Dave Maunder recorded a few more early moth
sightings from lights in Aylesbury:-
Pale Brindled Beauties (2 on 4th Feb, 1 on 8th and 1 on 20th
after a frosty night!), Dotted Border- 5th Feb, Emmelina Monodactyla-
9th, Vapourer moth eggs- 13th, Chestnut - 15th, Satellite - 18th,
Early Moth - 19th, and in the woods of Coombe Hill on 20th
Dave found 2 Pale Tussock pupae shells, under bark, probably emerged last
season.
At Keith Mitchell’s front door lights on 17th Feb (Stoke Goldington): Satellite and Early Moth.
January
& February 2005
16/02/05 – Keith Mitchell said: “The 11th Feb was a mild night resulting in 2 Spring Ushers and 1 Pale Brindled Beauty
at my front door
lights.”
08/02/05 – Keith Mitchell’s first report of the
year:
“I had Pale Brindled Beauty last
night (7th Feb) and Dotted Border tonight
(8th Feb) at my front door lights in Stoke Goldington.”
03/02/05 - Dave Maunder has
recorded these moths in Aylesbury so far this year:
02/02/05 Angle shades (on a fence in Fowler
Road – unusually early!)
31/01/05 Pale Brindled Beauty
13/01/05 Emmelina
Monodactyla
07/01/05 Chestnut
05/01/05 Pale Brindled Beauty
01/01/05
Emmelina
Monodactyla
01/02/05 - David Redhead sent in the first moth
report of 2005: “Just now a Buttoned
Snout was flying about in our house. Unfortunately it settled on our
high (Victorian) ceiling just out of reach and disappeared when I managed to
disturb it. Think it’s hidden in all the junk on top of the wardrobe. In the
past Martin Townsend has found caterpillars on some hops just up the lane from
our house. Presumably this one was hibernating in our unheated outhouse.”
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