Back to Purple

There were several nice surprises in the moth trap this morning, with several new moths for the year and one new species for the garden. Probably the best moth was this Purple Thorn, resting in the grass outside the trap.

Purple Thorn

This species rests with its wings held open, an easy was to distinguish it from the similar Early Thorn. This was my second record for the garden, following one seen last summer.

Purple Thorn

The new species for the garden was the Waved Umber. In fact I had three of this species in the trap, including this one that was resting on the outside of the trap itself. This is a moth I have been on the look out for, as it was a glaring omission from the garden list. Its curious shape and habit of resting flat with wings fully spread makes this an intriguing moth.

Waved Umber

There was also my second record of Water Carpet, though quite a faded individual. Despite the name this moth is not particularly associated with wetland habitats, and can be found in woodland, grassland and scrubby areas.

Water Carpet

And finally my first Bright-line Brown-eye of the year. Also in the trap were the years first Small Phoenix and Brown Silver-line, along with a yet to be identified leaf miner.

Bright-line Brown-eye

Haunted

It has been a bit of a hectic week and even though a few good moths have been recorded, I have not got round to putting together a blog until now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dioryctria abietella

Not a bad week then, and with the weather warming up I hope to be reporting more new moths soon.