Sheep on Drugs

Last night's mothing effort at The Drift near to Pickworth was, as expected, superb. To be honest it couldn't be anything but given the fact that I've not sat by a sheet for just over two years.

The Drift is actually a long rough road/track that heads through the middle of nowhere. It becomes impassable to cars after a while, though it's not exactly a regular route for anything. The verges along the track are full of flowering vegetation, and there are plenty of mature trees in the hedgerows.

We set up a sheet in a convenient gateway with woodland visible c100M through the gate. No traps, this was old-school manning a sheet and keeping alert.

Pretty much from the off, the sheet was alive with inverts. Lots of moths of course, but literally 1000s of water boatmen (Corixidae), 100s of Carabids and plenty of other non-leps. But this was about the moths - and given my lack of activity in the last couple of years (and to be honest I'd not done a lot for a couple of years before that either) there was always going to be a few that I'd not seen for a while.

Top billing though goes to a new moth for me, and one that has very few VC55 records ....

Sitochroa palealis

Just the one, but we also had a few of its close relative ....

Sitochroa verticalis

This site is turning out to be excellent for a good range of species, and in particular Four-spotted seems to be doing well here. We only saw three as it is likely to be between broods.

Here's a few that I snapped on the sheet:

Minor Shoulder-knot

Round-winged Muslin

Black Arches

Latticed Heath

Pine Hawk-moth

(Dishevelled) Ruddy Carpet

Cochylis dubitana

Acrobasis suavella

Twin-spot Carpet

And a couple I potted to snap:

Pammene aurita

Recurvaria leucatella

The draft list is at c140sp - pretty good going for one sheet manned from dusk to c01:30.

On the way home, we had to go over cattle grids and through a field with sheep. It was a bit surreal; the sheep were sleeping on the road and reluctant to move. It was like they'd been smoking crack.

Watermead CP South 02/07/2011

First up of the two sites we (me and Adrian Russell) worked on Saturday night. There has been very little trapping done at Watermead CP South so far, so we fully expected to add some dots to the map. Seeing as the site is within the City boundary then a few of these could be potentially even more interesting. We targeted the reedbed area around the northern side of the southern lake, and we had a key species in mind that could be loitering there. Did we record it ...... absolutely!

Silky Wainscot

In fact we took a total of 28 Silky Wainscots so not only did we prove it was resident at the site, we ended up with the most significant count of this species anywhere in Leicestershire, and second only to a big night at Rutland Water. We also took a whopping 84 Dingy Shears - by far the biggest total recorded in VC55.

Overall we added 63 species to the site list, with some very good inner-city records including Round-winged Muslin and Suspected. I also picked up 20 yearticks. The total catch was a highly respectable 908 of 105 species - full list follows, interspersed with the odd photo (NFS = new for site, NFY = new for year).

0014 Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli) 2 (NFS)
0424 Bird-cherry Ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella) 4
0441 Paraswammerdamia nebulella 1 (NFS)
0464 Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella) 1
0516 Large Clover Case-bearer (Coleophora trifolii) 1 (NFS)
0609 Elachista maculicerusella 2
0642 Batia unitella 2
0937 Agapeta hamana 3 (NFS)
0970 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana) 2 (NFS)
0972 Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis heparana) 1 (NFY)
0993 Cyclamen Tortrix (Clepsis spectrana) 1 (NFY)
0994 Clepsis consimilana 5 (NFS)
1033 Green Oak Tortrix (Tortrix viridana) 2 (NFS)
1053 Acleris hastiana 1 (NFS)
1063 Celypha striana 4 (NFS)
1076 Celypha lacunana 2
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 2 (NFS)
1108 Lobesia abscisana 4 (NFS)
1115 Ancylis achatana 2 (NFS)
1169 Gypsonoma dealbana 1 (NFS) (NFY)
1175 Bramble Shoot Moth (Epiblema uddmanniana) 2 (NFS)
1201 Eucosma cana 2 (NFS)
1261 Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella) 4 (NFS)
1290 Chilo phragmitella 3 (NFY)

Chilo phragmitella

1293 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) 260 (NFS)
1294 Crambus pascuella 2 (NFS)
1302 Crambus perlella 2 (NFS)
1304 Agriphila straminella 1
1328 Schoenobius gigantella 7 (NFY)

Schoenobius gigantella - male above, huge female below

1331 Water Veneer (Acentria ephemerella) 55
1336 Eudonia pallida 8 (NFY)
1338 Dipleurina lacustrata 7 (NFS)
1350 Beautiful China-mark (Nymphula stagnata) 2 (NFS) (NFY)
1376 Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata) 4
1378 Phlyctaenia coronata 1 (NFS)
1380 Phlyctaenia perlucidalis 1 (NFS)
1388 Udea lutealis 1 (NFS) (NFY)
1405 Mother of Pearl (Pleuroptya ruralis) 5
1417 Meal Moth (Pyralis farinalis) 1 (NFS) (NFY)
1428 Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) 3 (NFS)
1439 Trachycera advenella 1
1483 Phycitodes binaevella 1 (NFS)
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 1 (NFS)
1640 Drinker (Euthrix potatoria) 1 (NFS)
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 21 (NFS)
1690 Small Blood-vein (Scopula imitaria) 1 (NFS)
1702 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) 1 (NFS)
1713 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) 10
1762 Dark Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta citrata) 1 (NFS) (NFY)
1803 Small Rivulet (Perizoma alchemillata) 1 (NFS)
1832 Currant Pug (Eupithecia assimilata) 2 (NFS) (NFY)
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 1
1862 Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata) 1 (NFS)
1887 Clouded Border (Lomaspilis marginata) 1
1893 Tawny-barred Angle (Macaria liturata) 1 (NFS)
1906 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 5
1922 Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria) 3 (NFS)
1931 Peppered Moth (Biston betularia) 5
1956 Common Wave (Cabera exanthemata) 1
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 3 (NFS)
1979 Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae) 1 (NFS)
1981 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) 1
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 3
1994 Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) 3 (NFS)
2000 Iron Prominent (Notodonta dromedarius) 1 (NFS)
2031 White Satin (Leucoma salicis) 1 (NFS)
2035 Round-winged Muslin (Thumatha senex) 4 (NFS) (NFY)

Round-winged Muslin

2050 Common Footman (Eilema lurideola) 2 (NFS)
2061 Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) 4 (NFS)
2064 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa) 1
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 62
2091 Dark Sword-grass (Agrotis ipsilon) 1 (NFS) (NFY)
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 1
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 35
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) 6
2107 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 7
2128 Double Square-spot (Xestia triangulum) 3 (NFS)
2155 Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae) 2 (NFS)
2160 Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) 7
2170 Varied Coronet (Hadena compta) 1 (NFS) (NFY)

Varied Coronet

2197 Southern Wainscot (Mythimna straminea) 22 (NFY)
2198 Smoky Wainscot (Mythimna impura) 42
2268 Suspected (Parastichtis suspecta) 1 (NFS) (NFY)

Suspected

2278 Poplar Grey (Acronicta megacephala) 8 (NFS)
2280 Miller (Acronicta leporina) 1
2284x Dark Dagger / Grey Dagger (Acronicta tridens/psi) 1 (NFS)
2314 Dingy Shears (Parastichtis ypsillon) 84 (NFS)
2318 Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina) 1
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 27
2322 Light Arches (Apamea lithoxylaea) 21 (NFS)
2336 Double Lobed (Apamea ophiogramma) 11 (NFS)
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 9
2340 Middle-barred Minor (Oligia fasciuncula) 1
2341 Cloaked Minor (Mesoligia furuncula) 1 (NFY)
2368 Crescent (Celaena leucostigma) 3 (NFY)
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 6 (NFS)
2382 Rustic (Hoplodrina blanda) 1 (NFS)
2387 Mottled Rustic (Caradrina morpheus) 7 (NFS)
2389 Pale Mottled Willow (Paradrina clavipalpis) 1 (NFS)
2391 Silky Wainscot (Chilodes maritimus) 28 (NFS) (NFY)
2421 Scarce Silver-lines (Bena bicolorana) 1 (NFS) (NFY)
2441 Silver Y (Autographa gamma) 2
2450 Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 3 (NFS)
2474 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis) 3

Narborough Bog 22/07/2008

Although the days were warming up nicely, it was still cooling off fairly quickly overnight so not the best night for out of garden trapping, but with the next couple of nights scuppered I decided to leave traps running at Narborough Bog in the hope of at least picking up a couple of the reserve specialities for the year. Turned out to be a bloody good night overall!

3 x 125W MV traps operated dusk - dawn
Total catch 715 of 124sp.

Main highlights were the two targets:


Fen Wainscot (2) - Narborough Bog was the only site for this species in VC55 up until recently, has spread a little and has turned up in a few gardens (including mine) as it tends to wander like most reedbed species.


Round-winged Muslin (9) - ditto the above except the garden and wandering bit!

Other highlights:
Elachista apicipunctella 1
Mompha ochraceella 1
Limnaecia phragmitella 2
Aethes rubigana 14
Cochylis dubitana 1
Phlyctaenia perlucidalis 1
Blue-bordered Carpet (Plemyria rubiginata rubiginata) 2
Bordered Beauty (Epione repandaria) 1
Lilac Beauty (Apeira syringaria) 1
Double Lobed (Apamea ophiogramma) 1
Pinion-streaked Snout (Schrankia costaestrigalis) 2
Highest counts:
Dingy Footman (Eilema griseola) 98
Clouded Border (Lomaspilis marginata) 81
Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) 51
Smoky Wainscot (Mythimna impura) 31

Mother of Pearl (Pleuroptya ruralis) 27

Drinker (Euthrix potatoria) 24

Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) 24

Celypha lacunana 21


Bordered Beauty - aptly named


Dingy Footman - also aptly named!


Large Emerald, White Satin


Aethes rubigana, Limnaecia phragmitella


Double Lobed