Sugar, do do do do do do

Ah honey, honey, do do do do do do ....... sorry, is it just me that remembers the popular music hit by the manufactured band The Archies - loved that when I was a toddler.

I've not gone completely mad by the way, it's just that I've had the mothing sugar out a couple of times lately. It's not a new batch of sugar, in fact it's the same recycled batch that I've had going for years - the same batch I was using back in 2009 at least. I've re-heated it, given it a stir and added some more alcohol (Drambuie this time) which helps give it a lift as the alcohol evaporates and carries the scent. Anyway, it still works .....

Old Lady - two on 14/07/2017

Old Lady - one of three to the dried-up dregs on 15/07/2017

Both these shots were complete point, shoot and hope efforts with my phone - not too shabby I reckon. I'll keep trying the sugar through the autumn, leading up to the National Moth Night Ivy & Sugar theme. So far just the Old Ladies and one Large Yellow Underwing. And one mahoosive unidentified Teg.

Doubt it was actually imbibing!

Otherwise, here's a few recent noctuids from the garden traps .....

Knot Grass

Rustic

Nutmeg

Least Yellow Underwing

Lesser Common / Common Rustic agg.

Although I'd bet a large sum on this actually being Lesser if detted.

Dot Moth

From The Garden Trap - 22/06/2011

Before I give the summary from garden trapping on Wednesday night, a bit of a landmark in terms of the garden list has been reached. ish. Back on 16th Jan I was speculating on which new species might turn up in the garden, and also on whether the garden list would top 600 during 2011. Before Wednedsay night, the garden list comprised 297 Macros, 298 Micros and an additional 4 micros for gen det confirmation of the provisional ID - all of which are certainly new species for the garden. That gives a grand total of 599 species unless my mental maths needs calibrating. So, the Heart and Club will (eventually) be the 600th moth species for the garden. Hurrah. And it doesn't stop there as there is another new micro and another one for gen det as you'll see shortly.

Also worth noting that back on 16th Jan the list stood at 296 macros and 293 micros (589 species). I somewhat unscientifically suggested 25 micros and 25 macros that could potentially turn up. One of the two new macros since then was on the list (Puss Moth). But of the new micros, only one of the six definite and five TBC additions was on the list, clearly showing what a load of speculative nonsense that list was.

Anyway, here's the summary and pics for what turned out to be a very good night.

Total catch 220 of 63sp.
(125W MV 89 of 36; 80W/100W actinic/tungsten combo 131 of 47)

NEW FOR GARDEN:

0945 Aethes cnicana 1

1334a Scoparia basistrigalis 2 (TBC)

2088 Heart and Club (Agrotis clavis) 1

Aethes cnicana

A putative Scoparia basistrigalis, for which there are no properly confirmed VC55 records. This stood out due to the wing shape differences - longer and narrower winged in appearance vs typical ambigualis/pyralella. Will need a gen det to confirm.

Scoparia ambigualis - gen. det. by Jon Clifton Jan 2012

New for year in garden:
0415 Argyresthia retinella 1
0424 Bird-cherry Ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella) 1
0441 Paraswammerdamia nebulella 1
0536 Coleophora betulella 1
0987 Ptycholomoides aeriferanus 1
1036 Acleris forsskaleana 2
1201 Eucosma cana 1
1205 Bud Moth (Spilonota ocellana) 1
1333 Scoparia pyralella 1
2050 Common Footman (Eilema lurideola) 3
2322 Light Arches (Apamea lithoxylaea) 2
2327 Clouded Brindle (Apamea epomidion) 1
2441 Silver Y (Autographa gamma) 1

Ptycholomoides aeriferanus

Scoparia pyralella

Common Footman

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 49
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 19
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 17
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 11
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 8
1338 Dipleurina lacustrata 7
1390 Udea prunalis 6
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 6
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 6
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 5
1076 Celypha lacunana 5

Dipleurina lacustrata

Best of the rest:
1133 Epinotia bilunana 1
1634 Lackey (Malacosoma neustria) 3
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 1
1765 Barred Yellow (Cidaria fulvata) 2
1922 Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria) 1
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 1

Barred Yellow

Dot Moth

Down the lane

I decided to pull up down the lane after work and have a mooch along the hedgerow. Nothing particular in mind, I just felt compelled to do it. As it happens, I found a few interesting bits. It was very dull light so I had to rely on flash to get a few record shots, but here-goes anyway.

First up - I found a pair of bush-crickets which I am sure are my first ever Long-winged Cone-head (or at least first I've bothered to try and ID). Here's a shot of the female - let me know if I've screwed up the ID!

I also found a couple of larvae:

Dot Moth

Drinker

Sticking with moths, I found numerous leaf-mines on hawthorn. Not really sure on species as yet, but I found examples of 3 different types of mines.

In fact on this leaf you can see all 3 types: a blister mine on the left, a blotch mine on the right and a gallery mine at the top leading to a small blister.

Blister mine with frass clearly visible

This gallery mine on bramble is, I'm fairly sure, Stigmella aurella

This fly was happily foraging on various plants that I can't identify:

Mesembrina meridiana

Otherwise, here's a bit of colour:

Hawthorn berries

Prickly Sow-thistle ??

Creeping Thistle flower

Creeping Thistle seeds

Breakthrough

Ebony and Ivory

No - don't worry. This is not a post about the appalling piano-based collaboration between McCartney & Wonder. It's a reference to the colour-way of the two moths I photographed from Saturday night.

Dot Moth - not very colourful

Peppered Moth - this one is referable to the intermediate form insularia

From the trap and down the lane

I wasn't expecting too much from the garden traps last night as it has not been that mild and was still very breezy - and both traps looked a bit dead by the time I went to bed. However, going through them this morning, actinic first, on the second egg tray I found this: Superb - a migrant Scarce Bordered Straw, the second wild one for the garden (I reared one from a larva found on cut flowers a few years ago). The rest of the trap wasn't so exciting, and the MV was rubbish. In fact, the MV was so rubbish I've chucked the bulb and fitted a new one to see if that helps next time out. 05/09/2009 - Total catch 99 of 21sp. (125W MV 23 of 9sp., 80W actinic 76 of 17 sp.) First for year in garden: Scarce Bordered Straw (Helicoverpa armigera) 1 Highest counts: Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 28 Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) 24 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 12 Other highlights: Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 1 Gold Spot (Plusia festucae) 3 Silver Y (Autographa gamma) 6 Vine's Rustic A bit later in the morning, I nipped out for a walk down the lane to collect some fresh nettle for these: Small Tortoiseshell from yesterday's walk. I've not reared any butterfly larvae before so hopefully approaching it the same way as I do for moths will work. All being well they should pupate and emerge before the end of the autumn (they overwinter as adults from the second brood). Whilst browsing the undergrowth, I found this larva: Dot Moth - another one to try and rear through Bird-wise, a really smart juv Lesser Whitethroat flitting about in a hawthorn hedge was the clear winner on the interest stakes down the lane. A field that was being ploughed had already attracted a gathering of c40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and assorted corvids, whilst a stubble field held c50 Woodpigeons but nothing else. Still plenty of Swallows and House Martins in evidence. Just as I left the lane and came back into the estate, I noticed a very large moth roosting on the garden wall of the first house in. Close inspection confirmed the expected Red Underwing.