Garden Micro Tick

The garden traps performed a little better last night, with double the species and almost 3 times the number of individuals compared to Saturday night. Total catch was 36 of 16sp. (125W MV 23 of 14, 80W actinic 13 of 7) - still the MV vs actinic disparity though. The catch included 3 firsts for the year, and best of all this garden tick:

Acleris cristana - not one of the smartest forms but good enough

Acleris cristana was first recorded in VC55 as recently as 2002. Since then, it has colonised both Leicestershire and Rutland rapidly, spreading from the southern counties, and it has been recorded across a wide distribution. Seeing as one of its main foodplants is Blackthorn (of which there is plenty on the embankment running adjacent to the garden), I always expected it would turn up here before long.

Total catch summary was:

0667 Semioscopis steinkellneriana 1
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 2
0697 Agonopterix arenella 1
0822 Scrobipalpa acuminatella 1 [first for year]
1054 Acleris cristana 1 [FIRST FOR GARDEN]
1288 Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla) 1 [first for year]
1497 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 1
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 1
1760 Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1
1862 Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata) 5
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 2
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 1 [first for year]
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 1
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 4
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 8
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 5

I was surprised that Dotted Border has only just showed up here so late in its normal flight period.

Dotted Border

Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

Double-striped Pug