Trap Action

The garden MV has been pretty busy over the last couple of nights, relatively good numbers of moths (compared to recent weeks in any case), though nothing remotely exciting or unusual. I haven't had a chance as yet to sort out the lists as I've been late home from work, attending a 'your child has been successful' ceremony at Isabelle's school and watching some disappointing Iberian football. For the same reasons I haven't bothered to photograph any more than a couple of moths.

Blastodacna hellerella

Epiblema trimaculana

This morning though I was struck by the relative abundance of 'other stuff' in the traps, and made good use of the Lumix+macro conversion lens to get shots of very small stuff sitting on egg cartons. I'm sure most of this stuff has been regular in the traps over the last few years - I've just never noticed them whilst scrutinising the intended moths. Amazing how productive five minutes with a camera can be!

First up, a couple of Psyllids ....

Trioza remota

Psyllopsis fraxini

This is yet another new soldier fly for me ...

Green Gem [Microchrysa flavicornis] - note the yellow basal section to the antennae

And another picture-winged fly, plus a wood gnat ....

Rhagoletis alternata

Sylvicola punctatus

These have eluded ID though: the first one looks like something that should be identifiable and I feel sure I've seen a photo of this somewhere, the owl-fly is undoubtedly a lost cause ......

Unidentified fly

'Owl-fly'

Finally, this was in the garden this evening .....

Empoasca vitis

Ticks Down The Lane

Yesterday late afternoon, after more weekend hours in the office, I headed down the lane for an hour with the net and relatively low expectations. Turned out to be quite productive with three new beetles, a new bug, a new soldierfly and a plant that I've undoubtedly seen and ignored.

Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa) - note the hairy eyes

Nettle Ground Bug (Heterogaster urticae)

Liocoris tripustulatus - not new but worthy of a shot

Cantharis cryptica - quite a bit smaller than the other Cantharids I've been seeing

16-Spot Ladybird - quite likely one I've overlooked though it is small

I also potted up a small weevil which I am sure is Trichosirocalus troglodytes but it won't behave for a photo. The overlooked plant I found was Greater Plantain - very common and not very photogenic.

One other thing I found was this very hard looking larva - which I've just about worked out is a lacewing though obviously no idea which one .....

I also got the outstanding plant from Huncote Embankment on Saturday sorted out - it's this ...

Selfheal - not yet flowering

The garden trap is out tonight - would be good to have a few moths to photograph for a change!

Huncote Embankment 23/06/2012 - Flowering Stuff

So, following from the last post - did I find the Wild Liquorice? Yes! Pleased with this as it is very scarce in VC55. I was looking in the wrong area previously, though I was also looking for something smaller than it actually is. It's not quite in full flower as yet.

 

Wild Liquorice

I also realised that something I'd undoubtedly seen before and ignored was Common Cudweed - again actually quite scarce in VC55 (although it's doing very well here) ...

Common Cudweed

Another new one for me came about once I noticed that the Black Medick wasn't all the same ....

Lesser Trefoil - smaller flowers and rounded leaves versus ....

.... the larger flowers and sharp-pointed leaves of Black Medick

Another new one for me, though quite ugly, was this .....

 

Musk Thistle

And two more that I've failed to take any notice of before ........

Hairy Tare

Crested Dog's-tail

This one isn't new .....

White Clover

I have one further plant to ID - hopefully I can post that tomorrow.

Huncote Embankment 23/06/2012 - Inverts

Spent most of today catching up in the office, but I left at c4:30pm and headed back over to Huncote Embankment. It was a little overcast and very windy, but I was determined to finally locate the Wild Liquorice that I'd been told about ...... I'll come back to that in a separate post. With the wind and rain threatening, I took the camera but opted to leave the net in the car (though a few pots came in my pocket just in case). I noted a few inverts, though not many as I was focusing on the flowering stuff. This one was new for me though:

Deraeocoris flavilinea - two colour forms of the nymph (ID from here)

The paler one managed to avoid being in focus in all my shots until it crawled onto my hand whilst I was trying to hold the branch still and take one-handed photos.

Anyone want to guess what this blob is? All will become clear in the last photo on this post - and I think you'll agree that in terms of obscure Global Blog firsts, this takes some beating ......

 

This smart Treble-bar was sitting right next to some St John's-Wort - not sure what type but quite possibly Perforate St John's-Wort as I also found this on it ....

 

 

Chrysolina hyperici - sadly not the best shots in the windy conditions, the last one is probably best apart from most of the head missing!

I coaxed it onto an adjacent fence post to try for more shots when it did this ......

I bet you didn't guess that!

Sweep Net Bits & Garden Moths

Late home from work yesterday evening, but seeing as it was mild and going to be light for another good hour and a half I decided to head over to Huncote Embankment for a bit of fresh air and a swish about with my net. Not too much flying about moth-wise, but plenty of stuff in the net and naturally a few bits potted up .... like these ....

Crytocephalus moraei

Leptogaster cylindrica

Tibellus oblongus

Tachyporus obtusus

 Leptopterna dolabrata

Common Froghopper

When I got home from this foray it was just in time to get the moth trap on - that's trap singular. I forgot to mention last week that my superb Synergetic trap got trashed by Nichola in a bizarre 'getting my bike out of the shed' incident which somehow caused the trap to hit the floor at just the wrong velocity and angle to ensure that the Synergetic ring got smashed to smithereens. Seeing as the mothing has been a bit pants anyway I haven't been bothered with getting one of my other traps out and have just been running the regular 125W MV. Naturally, with so little mothing of late there have been a fair few firsts for the year in the garden, and of course that garden first Isotrias rectifasciana that I've already posted about. Last night was the best so far this year.

18/06/2012 : 23 of 17sp.
0017  Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus)  2
0332a  Firethorn Leaf Miner (Phyllonorycter leucographella)  1 (NFY)
0994  Clepsis consimilana  1 (NFY)
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  1
1014  Isotrias rectifasciana  1 (FFG)
1076  Celypha lacunana  1 (NFY)
1083  Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana)  2 (NFY)
1115  Ancylis achatana  1 (NFY)
1376  Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata)  1 (NFY)
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  2
1827  Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata)  1
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  3
1937  Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)  2
1941  Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata)  1 (NFY)
1981  Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi)  1
2302  Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)  1 (NFY)
2387  Mottled Rustic (Caradrina morpheus)  1 (NFY)

Mottled Beauty

19/06/2012 :40 of 25sp.
0647  Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella)  1
0874  Blastobasis lacticolella  1
0970  Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana)  1 (NFY)
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  1
1014  Isotrias rectifasciana  1
1076  Celypha lacunana  4
1082  Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana)  3
1174  Epiblema cynosbatella  1
1176  Epiblema trimaculana  1 (NFY)
1334  Scoparia ambigualis  2 (NFY)
1376  Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata)  2
1392  Udea olivalis  1
1428  Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella)  2
1713  Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)  1 (NFY)
1742  Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)  1 (NFY)
1764  Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  2
1827  Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata)  2
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  1
1860  Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata)  1 (NFY)
2120  Ingrailed Clay (Diarsia mendica)  1
2126  Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum)  1
2321  Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha)  1 (NFY)
2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  3
2337x  Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.)  4 (NFY)

Silver-ground Carpet

20/06/2012 : 86 of 41sp.
0017  Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus)  1
0246  Tinea semifulvella  1 (NFY)
0602  Elachista apicipunctella  1
0647  Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella)  1
0874  Blastobasis lacticolella  5
0905  Blastodacna hellerella  1 (NFY)
0970  Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana)  1
0994  Clepsis consimilana  1
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  3
1010  Red-barred Tortrix (Ditula angustiorana)  2 (NFY)
1076  Celypha lacunana  1
1083  Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana)  2
1174  Epiblema cynosbatella  2
1334  Scoparia ambigualis  1
1338  Dipleurina lacustrata  1 (NFY)
1392  Udea olivalis  1
1428  Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella)  9
1713  Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)  2
1727  Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata)  1 (NFY)
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  2
1738  Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata)  1
1764  Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  1
1827  Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata)  2
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  7
1837  Grey Pug (Eupithecia subfuscata)  3
1860  Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata)  3
1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  2
1920  Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata)  2
1937  Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)  5
1941  Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata)  3
1979  Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae)  1 (NFY)
2069  Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)  1
2089  Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis)  2
2302  Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)  1
2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  1
2337x  Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.)  3
2340  Middle-barred Minor (Oligia fasciuncula)  2 (NFY)
2384  Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua)  2
2473  Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula)  3 (NFY)
2477  Snout (Hypena proboscidalis)  1 (NFY)

Lime Hawk-moth

No trap out tonight though. Sadly but predictably, seeing as tonight is the first of this year's Moth Night period, it is pissing down.

Tort Tick

Amongst the generally pathetic-for-mid-June catch in the garden moth trap last night, I did managed to finally notice and record this .....

Isotrias rectifasciana

This is a new one for me, though I am absolutely sure that this is because I will ignored it in the past amongst various Cnephasia spp. This one only caught my eye as it was sitting on the white trap funnel isolated.

Seems as good an opportunity as any to also post some other recent early-summer torts - all found by day. It's pretty obvious which one was photographed in the field ......

This one from Huncote Embankent is almost certainly Dichrorampha plumbana - gen det required

Only one previous VC55 record, err, mine!

Dichrorampha alpinana from Whetstone

Pammene aurana from Cosby