Big Garden Roundup

Here are the summaries for 13th - 15th in the garden.

13/06/2011

Swarming around cherry tree late afternoon
0420 Cherry Fruit Moth (Argyresthia pruniella) 60 (NFY)

Total catch 127 of 45sp.
(125W MV 80 of 30, 20W/29W actinic CFL/CFL combo 47 of 31)

New for year in garden:
1458 Thistle Ermine (Myelois circumvoluta) 1
1708 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) 1
2069 Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae) 1
2128 Double Square-spot (Xestia triangulum) 2
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 2
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 1
2474 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis) 1
2489 Fan-foot (Zanclognatha tarsipennalis) 1

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 32
1334 Scoparia ambigualis 7
1428 Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) 7
1076 Celypha lacunana 6
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 5
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 5

Best of the rest:
1497 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 2
1682 Blood-vein (Timandra comae) 1
1707 Small Dusty Wave (Idaea seriata) 1
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 1
2061 Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) 2


14/06/2011
Total catch 172 of 60sp.
(125W MV 84 of 43, 80W/100W actinic/tungsten combo 88 of 35)

New for year in garden:
0977 Large Fruit-tree Tortrix (Archips podana) 1
1033 Green Oak Tortrix (Tortrix viridana) 1
1338 Dipleurina lacustrata 2
1413 Gold Triangle (Hypsopygia costalis) 1
1501 Platyptilia gonodactyla 1
1653 Buff Arches (Habrosyne pyritoides) 1
1702 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) 2
1758 Barred Straw (Eulithis pyraliata) 1
2030 Yellow-tail (Euproctis similis) 1
2077 Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella) 1

Small Fan-footed Wave f. fimbriolata

Platyptilia gonodactyla

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 45
1076 Celypha lacunana 8
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 7
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 6
1860 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata) 6
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 6
2160 Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) 5

Best of the rest:
0409b Argyresthia cupressella 3
1634 Lackey (Malacosoma neustria) 2
1708 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata) 1
1742 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata) 1
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 2
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 2

Another wacky Lackey (see here)

This the form of Lackey I usually get

Cabbage Moth

15/06/2011
Total catch 182 of 68sp.
(125W MV 89 of 47, 80W/100W actinic/tungsten combo 93 of 40)

FIRST FOR GARDEN:
0601 Elachista albifrontella 1

Elachista albifrontella

New for year in garden:
0658 Carcina quercana 1
0724 Metzneria lappella 1
1690 Small Blood-vein (Scopula imitaria) 1
1765 Barred Yellow (Cidaria fulvata) 1
1922 Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria) 2
2318 Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina) 1

Metzneria lappella - first for garden since 2001

Highest counts:
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 46
1076 Celypha lacunana 7
1175 Bramble Shoot Moth (Epiblema uddmanniana) 7
2321 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) 6
1083 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) 5
2098 Flame (Axylia putris) 5
2381 Uncertain (Hoplodrina alsines) 5

Best of the rest:
0409b Argyresthia cupressella 1
1261 Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella) 1
1338 Dipleurina lacustrata 4
1392 Udea olivalis 2
1634 Lackey (Malacosoma neustria) 1
1702 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) 1
1742 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata) 1
1758 Barred Straw (Eulithis pyraliata) 1
1961 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 2
1991 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) 2
2011 Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) 1
2061 Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) 2
2077 Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella) 1
2384 Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua) 1
2473 Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) 3

Carcina quercana

Swallow-tailed Moth

Barred Straw

A few bits

No trapping to report, and whilst VC55 has had a bit of a purple patch on the bird front (2 White-winged Black Terns, Blue-winged Teal, several singing Firecrests, Temminck's Stint) I've seen them all before in the County and haven't had a chance/bothered to go and see these ones.

In lieu of anything doing, here's a few bits that got missed from recent posts for one reason or another plus a couple of updates.

First up, back on 11/05/2010 I searched for larvae and collected sprigs of hawthorn. A couple of days ago I had a first success when this emerged:

Ptycholoma lecheana

Even on freshly emerged individuals, the yellow-brown scales seem patchy and prone to falling off leaving black patches.

Next up, a micro I've been taking in the garden recently:

Coleophora albicosta

This breeds on the gorse bushes that are on the embankment adjacent to the garden. Back in 2002 I had the first for VC55 confirmed from my garden (and it was present the year before but not gen detted)

Here's a few that are from the Narborough Bog catch on Sunday night:

Platyptilia gonodactyla

Nutmeg

Gold Swift - refused to sit still, constantly revving

Buff-tip - wouldn't sit the right way up (upside down) on the birch sapling

Also from Narborough Bog is this:

Cream-spot Ladybird

Ladybirds quite often turn up in the moth traps and I like to see them - they are mothing mates in my book. Obviously I would be concerned if I started getting ladyboys in the moth trap, that would just be wrong.

Finally, last week I was lucky enough to be presented with a box of Emperor Moth caterpillars courtesy of Keith 'Mothshots' Tailby. He'd reared some last year, and managed to assemble a male to his garden this year resulting in more eggs than he could possibly cope with. I've tried assembling this species before without success, so was more than happy to blag a few to rear for next spring. They were already just under 20mm when I got them on the Wednesday evening, now they are just over 30mm and growing fast - eating loads of sallow and shedding skin. They change dramatically through the instars, going from mainly black with a bit of orange, to orange and black, to green and black, and finally to huge and green. Superb caterpillars. I'll get more images as they grow.