An awesome wave

A few new species have appeared at the moth trap over the last few days, with a noticeable shift in the commons species as well. This week has seen the emergence of the Heart & Club. Not having been recorded before, the last two trapping sessions in Batch Valley have recorded nine individuals, making it the commonest moth at present.

Heart & Club

Others have appeared in smaller numbers. One of them is the delicate Satin Wave, which I found in the garden on Tuesday night. This is one of the moths which overwinters in the larval stage, with the caterpillars hibernating over the winter.

Satin Wave

Micro lepidoptera have been in short supply this week, but I was pleased to find one new species for the garden in the trap this morning. This was a Celypha striana, like the Satin Wave the larval stage feeds on dandelion, a plant which is in good supply in the garden.

Celypha striana

Other new species for the garden including The Flame, which Graham mentioned in a blog recently, and a long-awaited Buff-tip. The Buff-tip is a species I have been hopeful of attracting one to the moth trap. I recorded a caterpillar in the garden last year, but until this week had never recorded the adult stage. Whilst we try not to repeat pictures of the same species on the blog, I will make an exception for this exceptional looking moth.

Buff-tip

A very mixed bag!

Oh to be in England .............

It has certainly been a mixed bag of weather and mothing has been equally mixed. However there is lots to report in spite of the trap being fairly empty. How come I hear you say? Well because if they won't come to you, you have to go and look for them.

And so, those that came to me included some firsts for me here, especially pleasing being the Buff-tip moth, which mimics a bit of broken twig. Here are 2 pictures, an unusual one of its head - but note the detail.


Buff-tip




Buff-tip (head on view)

Equally pleasing was a fine example of a Scalloped Hazel. Its caterpillar feeds on dozens of different plants but I guess they found it on Hazel in the days when the names were decided.


Scalloped hazel

Another new moth for the site, also a geometrid was the pretty Clouded Border...


Clouded Border

...and there was also a Lunar Marbled Brown, one of the Notodontidae family.

Lunar Marbled Brown

On the micro-moth front, there are literally thousands of the "longhorn" moth Adela reaumurella about and you can see them 'dancing' round the bushes in the sunlight. A trip to Soudley in the sunshine on Friday led to the capture of another longhorn, with possibly the longest antenna as well as the longest name - Nematopogon swammerdamella. Also caught was an Incurvaria masculella.

Nematopogon swammerdemella

Incurvaria masculella

On the home front, the Lime Hawkmoth, Pale Tussock and Peppered Moth caterpillars/pupae hatched out this week. All of these have featured previously on the blog.

Peppered Moth

And lastly, a Cydia ulicetana hatched from some gorse pods taken on the Mynd several weeks ago.

Cydia ulicetana