Something Good

It's been a great weekend weather-wise, with a good few insects finding their way onto my square list.

I stuck out a pheromone lure in the garden yesterday afternoon (MOL lure for Grapholita molesta). I was hoping that one of the Pammene sp. that are coming to this lure would turn up, more in vain hope than expectation, but literally within a minute of putting it out a small moth was flittering about the trap before going in. I secured it in a pot and was pretty sure it was Pammene suspectana, with rapid confirmation from a FB posting. There are no previous VC55 records, although I've since picked up that Keith Tailby had a few to a lure on Friday. I'll get it gen detted to support the record, but I have no doubts personally. The weird thing about this though is that it turned up very quickly, but I left the lure out and in the subsequent 24hrs it attracted one aphid.

The garden trap has also livened up a bit, although overall numbers are still low. There have been a few NFY species over the last three nights including these:

Campion

Sandy Carpet

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Pale Tussock

Flame Shoulder

Today I grabbed a couple of hours in the square sweeping and swiping my nets. I've ended up with a fair few pots to work through, and I grabbed some very quick photos of a couple of beetles, with the first being a tick ....

Plateumaris sericea

Anthonomus pedicularius

Hylesinus varius

And always good to see a few of these whilst out and about ....

Swollen-thighed Beetle

Ace(ris)

Nipped out the afternoon for a walk along another disused railway line not too far from home, this one running between Enderby (not far from the Quarry I used to moth-trap regularly) and Narborough. It's called the Whistle Way, apparently. I completely ignored Government advise about gathering in social groups of six and opted for an anti-social group of one.

My intent was to look for leaf mines. In particular, I was following up a recent leaf mine record of Incurvaria pectinea which is extremely rare in VC55 (no records since c1955 as far as I know, despite an abundance of all potential foodplants inc. Hazel and active leaf mine recording for decades). I had absolutely no joy on that score, and interestingly there was very little Hazel and Birch present. There was however an abundance of other trees and shrubs, including Field Maple, Elder, hawthorn, Prunus spp., Rosa spp., oak and Ash. Plenty to look at then. In particular, I had a good look at the Field Maple, looking for one that had so far eluded me despite searching over the last few weeks. And scored!

Stigmella aceris, avec green larva and greenish frass darkening in older part of mine

I also found a lot of the same mine on Elder, a messy looking blotch that appeared to be dipteran. It was.

Liriomyza amoena

Another dipteran mine was not new, this one on White Dead-nettle ....

Amauromyza labiatarum

Whilst looking for leaf mines, there is always a chance of finding more obvious larvae ....

Pale Tussock, inconspicuously bright yellow, tufty and red-tailed

Crawling

I'm glad I've got a bit of a surplus of stuff to post, as weather-wise it's gone a bit overcast and dull with less invert action in the garden during the day. That does mean some better potential for mothing and as the trap was relatively good last night I'll use that for now with one exception - the garden bird lockdown list.

Before all this started, I'd already highlighted that Red Kite, Raven and Peregrine were hoped-for garden ticks, almost expected if I spent enough time at home / in the garden looking out for them. So the fact that the first two have come along during lockdown is great, but not a surprise and I've then been expecting a flyover Peregrine to come along any time. But what I wasn't expecting was that I'd add another raptor first! Very early this afternoon I nipped out to the garden with a plate of salad (yes, real actual salady salad) to enjoy in one of the sunny spells, and as I sat eating it a Buzzard came very low over the garden mewing. I went and grabbed my bins thinking it would come back and circle around like they usually do, and to look out for any other birds whilst I was out. No more Buzzards or any other large raptors in the next few minutes. But then out of the blue, a falcon came tearing into view. I immediately knew what it was from the long slim-looking wings and relatively slight body, and I got the bins up in time to see a superb Hobby blast over heading north-west. Brilliant. Not completely outlandish as I've seen a couple over the years down the lane. Much later in the afternoon a flock of at least 15 Swifts came over the garden screeching, and they loitered in the vicinity for a good while feeding overhead before gradually drifting north-ish.

So to the moth trap. I ran the 125W MV last night as there was a potential for rain around dawn and my actinic trap is still electrically unsafe. The barbeque is currently sitting in the exact spot against the kitchen wall where I usually run the trap, so I had it positioned about two meters further out on an old curtain lining as a sheet over the pebbles. I had a good feeling when on the first check there were two Pale Tussocks and a Flame Carpet already in. When I went back out a little later, I noticed a movement on a low wall that was close to the trap (but would normally be a couple of meters further away from it). This is the wall ....

It is absolutley nothing special and it's been there as long as we've lived here (26years now I've just realised). The contents of the planting were culled along with everything else before the winter, so it's just got some scraggy bits that have come back up. The bricks have some fine algae and lichen bits on it, and somehow it has avoided being pressure washed to death by Nichola. The movement I notced was near the middle of the front face on the lowest brick .... here ....

So a quick look with phone torch and I could not believe my eyes ....

Luffia lapidella f. ferchaultella

How the actual F does an apterous parthenogenetic species manage to get onto one of my garden walls? Some lepidopteran larvae are thought to be able to 'balloon' to disperse but probably not this one. Surely it can't have crawled very far to get on my wall! Anyway this most unexpected event meant that I'd managed to add a new species to the garden moth list before emptying the trap. Species 699 - one to go!

Today I've had a good look around, and I can't find any other cases on walls, fences or trunks. I didn't collect this one as, quite frankly, there's not much point trying to rear one out as I don't think the female even bothers leaving the case before laying and dying. It's got a much better chance of surviving and multiplying if left alone.

The trap this morning was relatively busy, and happily it was bone dry. The total catch was 31 of 20sp., and of those there were 10 NFY species. I filled up lots of tubs to photograph a few moths for a change.

Pale Tussock

Flame Carpet

Small Magpie

Foxglove Pug

Currant Pug

V-Pug

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Brimstone Moth

Bee Moth

The moth trap is out again, and again there is a chance of rain pushing up from further south just before dawn. Hopefully it will pick up something before then. In the meantime I've got some sawflies and diptera to try and pin tonight.

Psychidelic Garden Tick

I'd emptied the trap and potted a few bits to photograph, and walked back into the garden with nice bright sunshine just appearing to gather a couple of props. As I walked down the garden I saw a small dark moth flittering about (after a good few years of moth trapping you can pretty much distinguish a micro flying about versus any other flying insects) but had nothing to hand other than, well, my hand. A couple of missed grabs, and then I had it neatly tucked in. A quick peek confirmed that it was a micro, it was dark and there were some paler markings. A few minutes later and I'm looking at it in a pot and realise that it looks a Psychid. I grabbed a couple of quick shots and was happy that it was a garden tick Narycia duplicella, albeit a worn one. A couple of hours later I had another go, as the other side looked less worn.

Narycia duplicella - 669th moth / 357th micro for the garden

There was some nice karma in managing to catch this. Had I been at work I'd of missed it, and it's good to now add it to the garden list after I added it to the VC55 list back in 2004.

Narycia duplicella, reared ex-larva found at Swithland Res 27/03/2004, emerged 07/05/2004

I've seen the adult a couple of other time as well, including another success rearing one from a larva.

Narycia duplicella, reared ex-larva found at Swithland Res 05/03/2006, emerged 18/04/2006

Here's some other bits from the trap.

Peach Blossom

Pale Tussock

White Ermine

Thistle Ermine

Diamond-back Moth

Recent Garden Mothing

The moth traps have been out for the last three nights (after a lengthy dormant spell in late May again!). I've also got the synergetic running again at long last, almost a year on from when it got knackered by Nichola during a bizarre shed incident. Catches still poor though overall, though garden leps. yearlist now up to 86.

31/05/2013
Total catch 49 of 23sp.
(125W MV 17 of 13sp., 22W/18W Synergetic/CFL combo 32 of 16sp.)
0409a  Argyresthia trifasciata  3 (NFY)
0464  Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella)  1 (NFY)
0602  Elachista apicipunctella  1
0648  White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)  1
0649  Esperia sulphurella  2
0892  Mompha subbistrigella  1
0986  Syndemis musculana  2
1356  Garden Pebble (Evergestis forficalis)  1 (NFY)
1648  Pebble Hook-tip (Drepana falcataria)  1 (NFY)
1654  Figure of Eighty (Tethea ocularis octogesimea)  1 (NFY)
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  4
1776  Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria)  5
1778  May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata)  1 (NFY)
1817  Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  1
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  5
1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  11
1920  Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata)  2
1955  Common White Wave (Cabera pusaria)  1 (NFY)
1958  Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata)  1 (NFY)
1981  Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi)  1 (NFY)
2092  Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)  1
2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  1 (NFY)

Poplar Hawk-moth

Diamond-back Moth

Common White Wave

01/06/2013
Total catch 20 of 12sp.
(125W MV 7 of 5sp., 22W/18W Synergetic/CFL combo 13 of 10sp.)
0602  Elachista apicipunctella  1
0649  Esperia sulphurella  1
0822  Scrobipalpa acuminatella  1
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  1
1776  Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria)  4
1778  May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  1
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  3
1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  2
1920  Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata)  3
1981  Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi)  1
2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  1

02/06/2013
Total catch 39 of 17sp.
(125W MV 11 of 6sp., 22W/18W Synergetic/CFL combo 28 of 16sp.)
0266  Bucculatrix nigricomella  1 (NFY)
0409a  Argyresthia trifasciata  2
0464  Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella)  1
0648  White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)  1
0779  Bryotropha affinis  1 (NFY)
1428  Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella)  1 (NFY)
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  2
1776  Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria)  8
1778  May Highflyer (Hydriomena impluviata)  3
1808  Sandy Carpet (Perizoma flavofasciata)  1 (NFY)
1817  Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  1
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  4
1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  5
1920  Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata)  4
1958  Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata)  2
2028  Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda)  1 (NFY)

Pale Tussock

From the garden trap, 14/05/2010

Another generally cool night after a reasonably warm day. Again the traps were not exactly bulging, but again more new species for the year. However the oddest part of the catch was four pristinely fresh Clouded Drabs, all in the actinic - what's that all about?

Total catch 16 of 11sp. (125W MV 6 of 5, 80W actinic 10 of 6). Note that both traps held completely different species.

0648 White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella) 1
1747 Streamer (Anticlea derivata) 1 [first for year]
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 1
1936 Waved Umber (Menophra abruptaria) 1
1997 Sallow Kitten (Furcula furcula) 1 [first for year]
2006 Lesser Swallow Prominent (Pheosia gnoma) 1 [first for year]
2028 Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda) 2 [first for year]
2078 Least Black Arches (Nola confusalis) 1
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 2
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 4
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 1

Streamer

Lesser Swallow Prominent

Sallow Kitten

Waved Umber

Pale Tussock

The garden yearlist now stands at 62 species, whilst the overall yearlist is now at 100. Tonight we are spreading ourselves with traps across 2 or 3 of the East Leicestershire woodlands - so hopefully that will bring a few more species.

We've also been out to Huncote Embankent today, but I'm going to have to leave that until tomorrow to write about - need to get my traps sorted etc now.