Being Birched

Way back on 25/03/2005 I'd headed over to Kinchley Lane that runs between Swithland Reservoir and Buddon Wood (a reminder again for the birders, it's where that Crag Martin was in 1999). Whilst there I managed to net two Eriocraniids - neither of which looked right for Dyseriocrania subpurpurella and both of which looked interesting. Turned out I was a very lucky man indeed; one was Eriocrania cicatricella, the other was Eriocrania unimaculella and both were confirmed firsts for VC55. Both feed on birch, of which there is plenty available. I managed to net a single E. cicatricella the following year, but have failed to produce any more records of either since.

Eriocrania cicatricella - Kinchley Lane 25/03/2005

Eriocrania unimaculella - Kinchley Lane 25/03/2005

Today I headed over there again for a bit of fresh air and sunshine whilst mooching about. Almost immediately after getting out of the car, I picked up a couple of Orange Underwings with my bins - no chance of one coming close enough to be netted ot photographed. Ravens were cronking, Great Spots calling and Chiffchaffs singing, all adding to the very welcome springtime ambience.

Soon afterwards I noticed a couple of butterflies nectaring on catkins, but both were backlit so I thought I'd get a couple of shots to see how they turned out.

 

Comma

Peacock

Just after taking these shots, I noticed a golden Eriocraniid on a dead oak twig just under my nose. That's just about the same time that I realised I'd made a schoolboy error ... camera battery died. I'm so used to it lasting for ages that I'd not checked if it needed charging after use yesterday. Arse. So I duly potted the moth, and as I did so I noticed a darker individual on the wall and potted that too. And I then failed to find any more over the next hour or so that I was there. I found a few bits on the walls, like Bristly Millipedes, Taleporia tubulosa, a couple of beetles to check and (oddly) a Saucer Bug. But with the camera dead there are no shots.

I did point my phone at the lane and the birches though, but I managed to screw that up too as the phone camera was set to some odd 'full screen' mode that meant the photos are an odd ratio. Still I quite liked them so some got cropped and some are almost 2:1. Something oddly nice about a birch woodland I reckon.

Later this afternoon, after the camera had been charged up, I grabbed a couple of quick snaps of the two Eriocraniids that I potted up. I'm certain one is just Dyseriocrania subpurpurella (there are a few oaks dotted amongst the birches) but the other is definitely a different species, slightly bigger and looks a good contender for Eriocrania semipurpurella which I've not seen before. One for the chop.

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella - 28/03/2019

Eriocrania semipurpurella? - 28/03/2019

Croft Hill 13/04/2014

I nipped over to Croft Hill for a couple of hours late yesterday afternoon to enjoy the last of the warm sunshine. Turned out to be pretty productive with a couple of PSL ticks and one pending ID. The visit was also notable for a couple of things present en masse.

Firstly there are lots of dry open patches, quite likely caused by rabbits, plus dry well-walked paths. It was immediately noticeable that these areas were very busy with these ...

Ashy Mining Bee - male

Ashy Mining Bee - female

These bees were absolutely everywhere on site, 100s of them. Lots of interraction between individuals, a lot of it appearing to be aggressive behaviour, and small nesting holes were all over the place.

Typical area used by nesting Ashy Mining Bees

There were odd individuals of other solitary bee spp. around, including Early Mining Bee, but most noticeable were several Nomada spp. I've kept one to check out (and so far can't resolve it with either of the keys I've acquired) but Nomada lathburiana has to be a strong contended as it is the cleptoparasite of Ashy Mining Bee.

Nomada sp. - male

The other notable massed presence was around the oaks, with loads of these flying about or settled on trunks and fallen logs ...

Eriocrania subpurpurella

Pair in-cop

It always interesting when you look at something you've looked at 100s times before and see something new. Whilst browsing around the gorse bushes looking for Gorse Shieldbug (which I didn't find) I noticed a tiny weevil, only c2mm long. Further searching revealed that there were quite a few of them around, generally perched on the flowers and probing in. It is Exapion ulicis - a common weevil associated with gorse. How have I not seen it before?

Also new for me was this groundbug, which was a completely lucky find as it happened to crawl into view whilst I was watching the bees coming and going. Turns out to be scarce in VC55, the county recorder has no previous records but there appear to be a couple of dots on the NBN Gateway maps for Rutland.

Peritrechus lundii

I also found a couple of other beetles, Bembidion quadrimaculatum and this Badister bullatus ...

... and finally, the whole site was awash with Spring Beauty again.

Pale Pinion, Martinshaw, Butterbur

First up, the garden traps last night (Friday 23rd) were shite for numbers but I was very pleased to find another Pale Pinion nestling in one of the egg trays making the effort worthwhile. Total catch was just 9 of 4sp. (125W MV 5 of 3, 80W actinic 4 of 2).

1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 1
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 2
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 5
2236 Pale Pinion (Lithophane hepatica) 1

Pale Pinion

The brief session at Martinshaw Wood with Adrian Russell ended up with a reasonable list, considering the still cool conditions and a relatively early finish. We ran 1 x 125W light over a sheet and 4 x 125W MV traps up to c22:30. The total catch was 257 of 17sp., including 4 yearticks for me.

Martinshaw Wood is mainly coniferous plantation interspersed with some remnant broadleaved wood including Oak, Aspen, Birch and Sallow. Also a reasonable mix in the understory. One of the main benefits of this site is that the rides afford excellent vehicular access - always a major bonus for moth trapping.

Not quite so usual is the fact that the wood is bisected by a rather larger track, as seen in this map which also shows the central point where we ran the sheet (2), the access track entrance (1), plus the four trap locations.

0006 Eriocrania subpurpurella 99 [yeartick]
0461 Ypsolopha ustella 2
0663 Diurnea fagella 14
1750 Water Carpet (Lampropteryx suffumata) 3 [yeartick]
1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 29
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 2
1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 1
2015 Lunar Marbled Brown (Drymonia ruficornis) 20 [yeartick]
2179 Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea) 2
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 7
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 21
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 3
2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 5
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 32
2237 Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis) 1 [yeartick]
2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 10
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 6

I've checked back and it was 2002 when I last moth-trapped at Martinshaw Wood - must try and get in more through this year. Here's a few of the highlights:

Lunar Marbled Brown - darker form

Lunar Marbled Brown - regular form

Eriocrania subpurpurella

Water Carpet

Grey Shoulder-knot - a worn three-legged individual

Pine Beauty - can't see enough of these smart moths

Finally, I mentioned Butterbur at Misterton Marsh the other day - here's a couple of quick snaps showing how prolific it is at this site.

As far as I know, there are not too many sites in VC55 with Butterbur - I'm going to make a concerted effort to check this one for The Butterbur (moth) later in the spring by cutting a few stems to check for larvae.