The trap went out on Saturday night and I had a nice catch of 43 moths from 27 species. And, as the title of the blog may suggest, there was a ghost in the moth trap, or rather a female Ghost Moth. The species gets it name from the pure white males, which 'lek' over grassland to attract females.
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| Ghost Moth |
Another new macro moth in the trap was the Bright-line Brown-eye. This species is named after the pale brown 'eye' mark and the 'bright' white cross line. Other new species for me included Barred Fruit-tree Tortirx (see recent posts) and a Cydia ulicetana.
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| Bright-line Brown-eye |
Daytime searches for moths have revealed a few nice surprises in the garden. On Sunday there was a Cinnabar roosting on the garden steps, but the real highlight was a small tortrix I found in my long grass meadow. After a bit of research it proved to be Dichrorampha petiverella. This is a new moth for us in the Strettons, and according to the county micro list the first record since 1996. It is generally a common moth in the UK, so I suspect it is overlooked.
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| Dichrorampha petiverella |
I also put out the trap last night, recording 25 moths of 14 species. Not as good as the weekend, but there were still several new species. There was one new macro moth, the beautiful True Lover's Knot.
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| True Lover's Knot |
The most interesting moth, however, was probably this micro moth Dioryctria abietella. Another first record for us in the Strettons and a species which is probably not particularly common.
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| Dioryctria abietella |
Not a bad week then, and with the weather warming up I hope to be reporting more new moths soon.
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