Put the garden traps out last night - though not sure why, the conditions were no better than the previous night. It was probably a subliminal reaction to the garden tick
Mompha sturnipennella during the day. Incidentally, I have since been advised that there are only two previous VC55 records for that species - from 1984 and 1998.
Anyway, as I duly emptied the traps this morning I could think of mothing else than how good an extra half hour in bed would have been. Just as I'd finished and went to put the traps away, a previously unseen Caloptilia sp. flew up from the outside of MV trap and landed on the shed door. I potted it up, expecting it to be elongella or stigmella. It wasn't, and I was puzzled as it didn't look familiar at all. Duly fridged, I thought nothing more of it until I got home to photograph it ....
A quick review of web images and books, and I had the ID -
Caloptilia falconipennella, albeit a worn one. Possibly rare, possibly overlooked. Mines Alder - like the big tall tree on the neighbour's front overhanging the embankment. It's a British, County and Garden tick all in one for me - and better still it's a first for VC55. Glad I bothered!
The rest of the catch was rubbish (apart from a yeartick Twenty-plume Moth and another spring Dark Chestnut - you wait for years and then ....).
Total catch 15 of 8 sp.(125W MV 11 of 7sp., 80W/100W actinic/tungsten 4 of 4sp.)
0289 Caloptilia falconipennella 1 (NFG)
1288 Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla) 1 (NFY)
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 2
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 3
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 3
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 3
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 1
2259 Dark Chestnut (Conistra ligula) 1
