New Phyllos

We finally got around to repatriating some potted plants and stuff into the garden today. Whilst the works were ongoing, anything we had in pots was moved around to the front and essentially buried out of the way behind the bins, bikes and a few other bits. Most have fared well and, dare I say it, thrived.

Anyway, aside from the mild feeling of having got something done and dusted, it turned out to be a very lucky activity. One of the plants was my hawthorn sapling. The only reason I have been trying to grow a hawthorn (and a sallow) in a pot was the potential to draw in one or two new moths. We it worked, as aside from some (expected) Parornix anglicella mines there were a good number of Phyllonorycter mines, all like these:

These are the mines of Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae, new for the garden. Most appeared empty, but one had a live larva and several had dead larvae.

Even better, I found a number of similar-looking mines on our 'Himalayan Honeysuckle' [Leycesteria formosa]. These had very strong creases in the lower epidermis, with numerous mines including a few leaves with two mines. I opened several up and found many had brown papery-looking oval cocoons. They seemed to be a very good match to Phyllonorycter emberizaepenella, and a quick check on the British Leafminers FB page got the thumbs up. This is not only new for the garden but new for me too.

Here's something from another 'Phil O.'

Time / Live

It's the same old for me in later summer / early autumn: all of the enthusiasm that builds up to a spring and early summer peak seems to just dissipate. There is no trigger for this as such, but I seem to hit this every (normal) year one way or another. Part of it, I guess, is the additional strain on my time of working whilst others are off on their break - which usually means picking up additional work. And I generally don't get much a break during the summer; pre-Covid, when travel was actually possible, if we went abroad it would be later in the year anyway.

Either way, I've done nothing remotely noteworthy in the last couple of weeks or so. Even the garden trap has been quiet. And - at long last - we are actually going to get our garden ripped out and re-landscaped with some drainage. But that also means no or limited garden moth trapping for a good two or three weeks after this weekend.

I am looking forward to some live music though: a mix of things booked pre-Covid that were rescheduled (twice) and new events.

First up, I'll be heading to Sheffield for a slightly niche gig: Heaven 17 playing tracks from the first two Human League releases, Reproduction and Travelogue. Of course you all know that Heaven 17 were formed from the original Human League line-up (Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were joined by Glenn Gregory after splitting with Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright). This was originally scheduled for March 2020, then Sep 2020 ....

A couple of weeks later, I'm off to the Isle of Wight Festival, the same one that was meant to be June 2020, then June 2021 .... Not the strongest festival line up you'll ever see, but it's a good crack and overall I'll probably spend more time the Big Top than at the main stage.

I'll be back in Sheffield in early October for a rescheduled 808 State gig ....

Later in October, I'm off to Birmingham to see Public Service Broadcasting ....

And looking further ahead, Gary Numan is popping into Leicester in May ....

Along with the return of full attendance Premier League games, some Europa League games coming up and a family break in October, my time for all things natural is stretched. But I'm sure the enthusiasm will return, as sure as the sun rises, and autumn turns to winter turns to ....

Minors, Daggers, Rustics

Every few years I make a point of saving one or two likely individuals to confirm the Minors, Daggers and Common Rustics, rather than continually aggregating them. I have managed to do these myself in the past, but I have to say it's been a while. With the rainy week forecast I thought I might have a go, but it appears my chemicals may not be up to it - my bottle of Potassium Hydroxide 10% is looking very cloudy indeed. I'm not surprised, I've had it for years and barely have any use for it as aside from these few aggs. I don't really need to gen det any macros and regardless I'm not up to micros. But it is time to re-stock on chemicals and then I can boil up these four ....

Clockwise: Marbled Minor / Tawny Marbled Minor / Lesser Common Rustic / Grey Dagger

Probably.

Here's a brief update on my square listing. You may recall that up to the end of April things appeared to be going well and I was ahead of my 2013 score. Well, May was pants and through June I've not had as much time to get out. But it's not all bad. As at 31/05/2021 the total was 486sp, and at the end of June the total was 710sp. Here's the respective breakdowns:

It should be pretty clear from these that a big part of the jump between end of May and end of June is that the moth trap kicked into life.

Here's the totals vs 2013:

But the overall totals don't tell the whole story. For example: by the end of June in 2013 I had recorded 122 vascular plants (vs 140 in 2021), 81 beetles (vs 91 in 2021) and 36 hemipterans (vs 38 in 2021). But perhaps most surprisingly, given that 2013 was a great year overall for moths in the garden/square and this year has seemed rubbish, by the end of June I had recorded 196 species vs 207 in 2021.

I never set out to beat the 2013 total, and probably still will not as I'm not making any effort on some groups, just picking bits up casually. But on the stated aim of improving the totals in some orders I think I'll get there - I just need some decent weather and time this month.

As for the 5MR birding, there hasn't been any. I'll probably pick that back up again in a few weeks when things start moving again.

Here's four static blokes in front of a graphics display making their machines create a superb racket ....

Overdue - Chamomile Shark

I started an occasional thread a while back looking at moth species that I'd recorded in the garden, but hadn't seen here for over 10 years. Of course as time has gone on, a few of these have re-appeared (Sprawler, Garden Tiger, Seraphim, Small Phoenix, December Moth off the top of my head) whilst a few more have slipped into the overdue category.

One that is now overdue is Chamomile Shark. I have two garden records of singles, 26/04/2004 and 28/04/2007. The larvae feed on the flowers of Chamomile, Corn Chamomile, Stinking Chamomile, Feverfew and Scentless Mayweed. I guess my garden records could related to whatever someone on the estate is growing, though Scentless Mayweed is surely present locally.

Chamomile Shark - Whetstone 26/04/2004

Same individual showing fore and hindwing cilia detail

Chamomile Shark - 28/04/2007

Whilst I'm rehashing old themes, here's another. This week I have mainly been listening to classic pre-Dare Human League. Reproduction and Travelogue are both great albums. Don't get me wrong, there are some great tracks on Dare - it's just that 'Don't You Want Me' is not one of them.

I'm in for surgery tomorrow, so all being well there will be short interlude in blogging. If you've not heard from me by this time next week it didn't all go well .......

Wasted

When it comes to mothing, there are various highly productive habitats that are more than worth visiting. Ancient woodland, moorland, coastal scrub and dunes, fenland and boggy marshes, reedbeds, chalk downs, limestone grasslands, industrial wasteland .... Eh?

Yes - industrial wasteland. In fact, transitional habitats and generally unloved bits of derelict land can be brilliant places for wildlife and inverts generally, and of course moths. One of my favourite sites locally over the last few years is an old quarry, which became landfill, got capped and is now just completely wild.

And so, just before dusk last night I met up with Adrian on the now derelict and abandoned site of an old factory. Adrian had checked it out a week or so ago, netted a Small Ranunculus whilst there and noted some relatively intersting plants from a VC55 mothing perspective. The site was a bloody eyesore, and bloody brilliant. You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was actually part of a war torn city ....

Concrete slabs, heaps of rubble and crap, but the key to our interest was the masses of buddleia, mullein, mugwort, willowherbs, and most importantly, wormwood. The intention was to have a good look around, casually net anything flying, and run a trap for an hour or so whilst we did that.

Despite the generally casual approach, we managed to net/trap c20 species including a few nice micros like Catoptria falsella, Epiblema foenella and Eucosma conterminana. No sign of the hoped for Wormwood, though it will certainly be worth a return visit or two to check for larvae which is the best way to record this species. Also a fair bit of Great Lettuce on the site which is not doubt hosting Small Ranunculus.

Great Mullein

Too late for any Mullein larvae, though plenty of evidence that they are on site

Wormwood - fancy an Absinthe

Purple Toadflax

Tall Meliot

Common Evening Primrose