First up, I joined a small gathering of moth recorders at Rutland Water last
week in the hope of picking up a couple of reedbed wainscots that I'm yet to
see (Obscure & Webb's). Sadly no joy on that front, and the conditions
were not ideal with it cooling quite quickly and rain due in the early hours, but
nonetheless another great session - so good to be out by a mothing sheet
again. The group split up into three areas, and I joined Adrian Russell in
what seemed to be a perfect spot immediately alongside Lagoon 3 and close to
Shoveler Hide. We ran a sheet and I walked a trap out along the edge of the
reedbed. The constant chattering of Common Terns, Oystercatchers and Lapwings
was a great backdrop as we set up.
There was plenty of activity at the sheet and over the trap, though it all
seemed to die down a little as the night wore on.
Still, great to see a few species again that I don't generally get in the
garden and haven't seen for a while, including Chilo phragmitella, Slender
Brindle and these three:
Southern Wainscot
Brown-veined Wainscots
Eudonia pallida
But the first moth of the night was a Gelechiid on the sheet that may yet turn
out to be one of the most interesting of the c73sp. once checked ....
Probably Caryocolum fraternella
More recently, last night I headed out for a couple of hours to again walk
around a site near Dunton Bassett with Graham Calow and Craig Mabbett.
Another peaceful and productive walk, with a fair number of leaf mines
collected. The site really is unusual, with very rough scrub at the back of
an industrial estate with HGV parking, leading down to managed carp fishing
lakes. The site seems to be a magnet for unusual, and often escaped, flora -
perhaps dragged in on the wheels of lorries etc.
I'll leave out leaf mines for the moment, though a few were new for me.
Instead here's a couple of damselflies (all were a bit sluggish loafing on
waterside vegetation after rain) and a spanking sawfly larva ....
White-legged Damselfly
Common Blue Damselfly
Craesus septentrionalis - a good number defoliating a small Alder
sapling
A new one for me
The peak period for leaf-mining and galls will be upon us before long ....
Back in the day, after buying 'Skinner 2nd Ed', this was the second moth guide
that I bought ....
Apparently 'Pyralid' is derived from the Latin pyralis (which in turn appears
to be derived from the Greek pyr = fire). Pyralis was a fly fabled to have
lived in fire; perhaps an allusion to moths heading towards candles / torches?
Either way some of the species in this group are real crackers (though not
necessarily any of those featured here).
Amongst the micros, this group has always been generally sought after - perhaps
because accessible guides to other micro groups were limited at best. I used to
scrutinise any new Pyralid moths against this guide as I learnt the commoner
species, but I don't think I've actually opened my copy in the last ten years or
so.
Whilst it is a diverse group with a number of sub-families, there were all
Pyralidae back then. Not now; the group has been split into two families, Pyralidae and Crambidae. I've been happily snapping just about anything that
sits still by the trap for long enough over the last few weeks, whilst
looking for interesting non-leps, and realise I've ended up with a number of
photos of various common 'Pyralids' - a good opportunity to actually check
which family some of these are in and to overload your screen with far too many images for one blog post.
I'll start with species that are still within the Pyralidae:
Bee Moth
Gold Triangle
Endotricha flammealis
Phycita roborella
Acrobasis consociella
Acrobasis advenella
Euzophera pinguis
Homeosoma sinuella
Rhodophaea formosa
And the following are all within the Crambidae ....
Eudonia lacustrata
Eudonia mercurella
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Crambus pascuella
Agriphila straminella
Catoptria pinella
Water Veneer (female)
Small China-mark (male)
Small China-mark (female)
Ringed China-mark (male)
Ringed China-mark (female)
Pyrausta aurata
Anania perlucidalis
Udea prunalis
Mother of Pearl
It doesn't take a genius to see that there are moths within both families
that have similar shapes, eg why is a Gold Triangle a Pyralid and yet Udea
prunalis is a Crambid. I'm sure it makes sense genetically ....
I'm going to focus on various Tortricidae from the garden, and
including some ticks. In no particular order. First up, a couple of
non-descript looking Torts that were confirmed via gen det courtesy of Andy
Mackay:
Grapholita tenebrosana - 12/07/2021 - a full blown tick for me
Grapholita funebrana - 13/07/2021, previous records in 2017 & 2018
Oddly enough, I've had neither of these to the pheromone lures that
seem to have attracted them for others (SKI & MOL). Unlike the following
two; whilst these were never really in doubt, they have been confirmed by gen
det too:
Pammene suspectana to MOL - 29/05/2021
Grapholita lobarzewskii to SKI - 13/06/2021
And this one too:
Dichrorampha vancouverana - 01/07/2021
The following was new for the garden, though I didn't realise until after it
had been dismissed with the rest of the catch so only this quick snap.
Eucosma hohenwartiana - 16/07/2021
Also new for the garden, though not a classic specimen!
Variegated Golden Tortrix - 12/07/2021
None of the following were new, though only single records for each:
Gypsonoma oppressana - 17/07/2021 (one previous record 2013)
Cydia fagiglandana - 17/07/2021 (one previous record 2020)
Acleris kochiella - 22/07/2021 (one previous record 2011)
The following will be new for the garden when confirmed - pending gen det:
And to round up the Tortrix overload, none of the following are 'special',
except that they are Tortricids which are perhaps my favourite moth group.
Epinotia foenella
Cydia splendana
Epinotia nisella
Lobesia abscisana
Zeiraphera isertana
Lozotaeniodes formosana
Rhyaconia buoliana
Pammene fasciana
Celypha lacunana
Finally sticking with the Tortrix theme, the
Epinotia spp. that I netted
a couple of weeks ago were confirmed as Epinotia tedella and
Epinotia nanana by gen det.
Tortrix is derived from the Latin tortus, meaning twist - alluding to the
leaf-rolling habits of many of these species.
