You're Mine, You're Mine, You're,

As part of my recovery, my walks from home have gradually turned from short shuffling ambles to longer strolls with a bit of pace. I've not really been going anywhere with intent, it's just to stretch the legs and get some life back into muscles. But of course it doesn't take long before longer walks turn to walk-stop-walk sequences whilst looking at some shrubbery or other. And so it is that I've picked up a few leafmines over the last few days - mostly expected, but good to get the eye in for some proper effort later in the month. Almost everything so far vacated.

These three all on crab apple: Leucoptera malifoliella, Callisto denticulella and Bohemannia pulverosella.

Stigmella aceris all over the place on both Field Maple as here, and also on Norway Maple.

Etainia louisella on Field Maple keys. Actually this may be tenanted but almost impossible to dissect out without destroying it.

Perhaps the only one that wasn't entirely expected, I found a load of Phyllocnistis saligna mines on White Willow growing alongside the Whetstone Brook between the local park and school. I've not walked along there for a good few years, and realised that aside from these willows there are some osiers and some healthy looking oaks that must have been planted when the park was created c30years ago.

My walks have mainly been in the early evening after the sun has started to dip, rather than in the full blown sunshine ....

What is Sallow Anyway ....

This morning was bright and mainly sunny, just a few high clouds in the blue. Warm enough too, and very little breeze. Just about perfect for clearwing luring ......

I headed to Cossington Meadows. To my mind, this should be pretty good habitat for Lunar Hornet Moth, with an abundance of willows and sallow. Maybe. After a couple of hours of trying the lure at four different spots around the whole reserve I decided that perhaps the site did not hold the right willows and sallows. And what is 'sallow' anyway. As a diversion I collected some leaves during the day. These leaves ....

All of these could be referred to as 'sallow' by someone. The smaller more oval leaf on the right is what I call sallow. What actually is it? Probably Grey Willow, or more likely a Grey Willow x something else hybrid. This is the tree that will be profusely covered in yellow catkins in spring that I would stand around looking for moths if I was 'sallowing'. I would also offer copious amounts of leaves from this to any larvae I'm rearing that feeds on 'sallow'. The much larger rounder leaf on the left is, I'm pretty sure, Goat Willow. Or sallow, if that's what you call that too. The one in the middle might also be Goat Willow, or not. Suffice to say these Salix spp. can be a complete pain. Essentially I've decided that if the leaves are very narrow it is an 'osier', long and pointed it is 'willow' and oval or rounded it is 'sallow'.

Anyway, Lunar Hornet Moth apparently feeds within the trunks of 'willows and sallows', which probably means any Salix sp. is possible but I've got a feeling that's not quite true.

I left Cossington and headed to Ulverscroft - there are some previous records from one part of Ulverscroft - though these are of larval workings from the 80s and 90s and I have no detail of what the larval workings were on. I tried and failed. On the way back to the car, I had one last go at a spot that looked not dissimilar from the area I had success in Northants yesterday - a woodland ride with some sapling growth of Goat Willow.

A bushy growth of Goat Willow on the right hand side, with several small saplings out of shot and a larger tree on the left hand side.

Ten minutes later and one showed up ....

Nice - and good to get one in VC55, even if I have had to work a bit for it. My gut feeling is that sites with Goat Willow will be more successful, but clearwing lures can be hit and miss so the areas with no success so far could still come good on another day.

Whilst fannying about with the leaves I found a new rust, Melampsora caprearum. Seth would have been pleased to see me looking at rust.

Here's a couple of recent flies, the stiletto from Croft Hill and a horse fly from yesterday at Eyebrook Reservoir that I subsequently netted and keyed.

Thereva nobilitata

Tabanus bromius

And here's a couple of leafmines. First up, a tenanted sawfly mine on oak ....

Profenusa pygmaea

These blotchy sawfly mines are a good source of new species so far, once you know they exist. I had another on birch today too, Profenusa thomsoni.

This one had me completely bamboozled. It's on Crab Apple, and the mine is only discernible from certain angles/lighting - if backlit you can hardly see it at all. I figured it must be dipteran, and posted it to the leafminers group to check only to find that it is actually an early-stage mine of the moth Callisto denticulella. Once you read the description for that species it fits perfectly.

Narborough Bog 23/05/2010 + Garden 24/05/2010

It was with a great sense of expectation that I headed out to Narborough Bog at stupid-o-clock on Monday morning to retrieve and empty the 3 x 125W MV traps I'd left running overnight. It was 20°C when I left the traps running at 22:15, and was already up to 13°C at 05:30.

Before I'd entered the reserve I was already pleased - a Sedge Warbler was manically singing on Sunday night and was still present. Whilst a common species, it was a first for me at this site and one that I had expected (though I was perplexed to find no previous records of it here over the last few years).

The first trap I checked had 2 Chocolate-tips sitting on the outside amongst others - I knew it was going to be a good overall catch. I gathered the 3 traps by the car and started the process of checking egg boxes and counting moths with pots at the ready for any goodies.

The total catch was a splendid 311 of 76 sp., with a gelechiid still to confirm (which could be the best moth of the night for me) plus a Gold Swift lekking at dusk. Aside from the obvious personal highlight below, 26 May Highflyers in one session is the highest ever count in VC55.

County Tick
0310 Callisto denticulella 1

Yearticks
0266 Bucculatrix nigricomella 2
0305 Parornix scoticella 1
0333 Phyllonorycter salictella viminiella 2
0696 Agonopterix propinquella 1
0883 Mompha raschkiella 1
0947 Aethes smeathmanniana 1
0993 Cyclamen Tortrix (Clepsis spectrana) 1
1501 Platyptilia gonodactyla 1
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 1
1759 Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata) 8
1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) 1
1808 Sandy Carpet (Perizoma flavofasciata) 2
1830 Wormwood Pug (Eupithecia absinthiata) 1
1874 Dingy Shell (Euchoeca nebulata) 5
1955 Common White Wave (Cabera pusaria) 1
1994 Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) 1
2145 Nutmeg (Discestra trifolii) 1
2278 Poplar Grey (Acronicta megacephala) 1
2289 Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis) 2
2326 Clouded-bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata) 1
2387 Mottled Rustic (Caradrina morpheus) 1
2492 Small Fan-foot (Herminia grisealis) 1

Highest Counts (>5)
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria) 35
1778 May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata) 26
1076 Celypha lacunana 23
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 17
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 12
0986 Syndemis musculana 10
1906 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 10
1887 Clouded Border (Lomaspilis marginata) 9
1174 Epiblema cynosbatella 8
1981 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) 8
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) 8
2123 Small Square-spot (Diarsia rubi) 8
2028 Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda) 6
2060 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) 6
2063 Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica) 6

Other Highlights
0293 Caloptilia syringella 4
0357 Phyllonorycter stettinensis 2
1979 Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae) 2
2019 Chocolate-tip (Clostera curtula) 5

Dingy Shell

Knot Grass

Poplar Grey

Agonopterix propinquella

Cyclamen Tortrix

Ancylis badiana

The garden traps were not quite so busy last night, unsurprising with the slightly cooler temps and light breeze. Still not a bad night though, with the total catch being 73 of 30sp. (125W MV 36 of 21, 80W actinic 37 of 20). The actinic held its own again.

0266 Bucculatrix nigricomella 1 [first for year in garden]
0294 Aspilapteryx tringipennella 1 [first for year]
0332 Phyllonorycter corylifoliella 1
0409a Argyresthia trifasciata 3
0544 Coleophora albicosta 2
0697 Agonopterix arenella 1
0892 Mompha subbistrigella 1
0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 2
1136 Epinotia immundana 1 [first for year]
1176 Epiblema trimaculana 1 [first for year]
1376 Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata) 1
1724 Red Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia) 2
1727 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) 2 [first for year]
1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) 1 [first for year in garden]
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria) 7
1778 May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata) 1
1817 Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata) 1
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 10
1825 Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata) 1
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 15
1835 White-spotted Pug (Eupithecia tripunctaria) 2
1906 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 2
1920 Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata) 2
1958 Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata) 2
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 4
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 2
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 1
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 1
2302 Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea) 1 [first for year]
2450 Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita) 1

I'm leaving the traps off tonight - the conditions have turned and it has been run over a fair few consecutive nights so time for a rest! When I do re-start, I'm going to back off the trap reports to just the highlights rather than endless lists of anywhere between 30 - 100 species.

We had our first juv Robin in the garden this morning, obviously picking up habits from the parents by loitering around the trap position. Also Woodpigeons actively rebuilding their nest for another brood on the embankment, Common Whitehroat singing away up there (though the Lesser seems to have departed), and Blackbirds still carrying food all over the place.

One unusual thing yesterday evening was a Blue Tit dropping purposefully into the aperture at the top of the kids basketball net stand. This is only c2" diameter and only drops to c6" depth before there is a threaded 'stop' going through the post. I can't believe the tits would use this for nesting, and it seems an unlikely place to forage for insects, but what else could it have been doing? I haven't noticed them going in before or again today.