Friday 27 July 2012

NFY micro smorgasbord

The hot weather this week has been excellent for trapping in the garden and dusking nearby, with a nice variety of new for year species added to the list:

Caryocolum blandella
Caryocolum blandella

Nemapogon ruricolella
Nemapogon ruricolella

Gypsonoma dealbana
Gypsonoma dealbana

Euzophera pinguis
Euzophera pinguis

Lobesia abscisana
Lobesia abscisana

Epagoge grotiana
Epagoge grotiana

Acleris holmiana
Acleris holmiana

Dave

Thursday 26 July 2012

Black and White and Red (Data)

The first Yponomeuta irrorella of the year arrived at the trap on Monday, with further specimens Tuesday and Wednesday.
 Yponomeuta irrorella


I had been getting worried about this one, as it is an annual visitor (usually about 4 or 5 a year), but perhaps not surprisingly, it is a little late this year. I have loads of spindle adjacent to the garden and given the regular appearance of this moth at the trap, I think it is safe to assume a small breeding population of this rare moth is located nearby. I have not as yet managed to locate any larvae, despite extensive searching.

Dave

Tuesday 24 July 2012

ella, ella, ella....

Not trendy enough to be a reference to a track from Rihanna but just noted that most of the new for year micros in the garden this week had one thing in common...

Dichomeris marginella
Dichomeris marginella

Phycitodes binaevella
Phycitodes binaevella (2)

Tinea semifulvella
Tinea semifulvella

Nomophila noctuella
Nomophila noctuella

Blastodacna hellerella
Blastodacna hellerella

Acrobasis advenella
Acrobasis advenella

Dave

Monday 16 July 2012

Of galls, blotches, folds and galleries

...just some of the guises of various early stages found in recent days:

Stigmella speciosa on Sycamore Stigmella speciosa mine on Sycamore


Stigmella ruficapitella on Oak Stigmella ruficapitella tenanted mine on Oak

Stigmella salicis on Goat Willow Stigmella salicis tenanted mine on Salix

Lyonetia clerkella on Silver Birch Lyonetia clerkella tenanted mine on Birch

Phyllonorycter hilarella/dubitella on Goat Willow Phyllonorycter hilarella or dubitella mine on Salix caprea

Mompha raschkiella on Rosebay Willowherb Mompha raschkiella tenanted leaf mine on Roseby Willowherb

Mompha sturnipennella on Rosebay Willowherb
 Mompha sturnipennella  larval gall on Rosebay willowherb (3) Mompha sturnipennella  larval gall on Rosebay willowherb

Dave


Thursday 12 July 2012

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Dusking and the Playboy Bunny

Quite a productive evening dusking along hedgerows by the house yesterday with a few micros and plenty of mines.

Catch included Ypsolopha sequella which when viewed dorsally, has markings just like the Playboy Bunny, or so I am told!

Ypsolopha sequella
Ypsolopha sequella

Ypsolopha sequella - the Playboy Bunny Moth

Other finds included:

Nemapogon clematella
Nemapogon clematella

Spilonota ocellana
Spilonota ocellana

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella leaf mine on Hawthorn
Phyllonorycter corylifoliella mine on Hawthorn

Parornix scoticella leaf mine and fold on Whitebeam
Parornix scoticella - mine and fold on Whitebeam

Dave

Monday 9 July 2012

The strange case of...

Coleophora siccifolia


Found this on Hawthorn next to the back garden yesterday whilst mine sweeping.  This one certainly fits into the 'weird' case category; it just looks so scruffy compared to many of its congeners.

Coleophora siccifolia larval case

Coleophora siccifolia larval case
It is also a very large case in comparison to many others and creates very large blotches; it was this latter feature that drew me to its location in the first place.

All in all very pleased with what is a new case for me and a very scarce moth here in Kent (although undoubtedly under-recorded).

Dave

Saturday 7 July 2012

Meanwhile, back at the mines...

More and more miner finds almost daily now wherever I look - parks, gardens, hedgerows etc etc.

Here's some of the latest to keep an eye out for:

First two, Phyllonorycter esperella on Hornbeam
Phyllonorycter esperella larva in mine on Hornbeam Phyllonorycter esperella mine on Hornbeam

Also on Hornbeam, Stigmella floslactella
Stigmella floslactella mine on Hornbeam

Next two, Parornix anglicella on Hawthorn
Parornix anglicella mine on hawthorn (3) Parornix anglicella mine on hawthorn (2)

Next two, Stigmella plagicolella on Blackthorn
Stigmella plagicolella mines on Blackthorn Stigmella plagicolella tenanted mine on Blackthorn

Phyllonorycter coryli on Hazel
Phyllonorycter coryli leaf mines on Hazel

Dave

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Spots before my eyes

Another great night in the garden with over 70 species in and around the trap this morning.  Plenty of new ones for the year but the highlight came in monochrome: Ethmia terminella, a lifer and in the garden, well chuffed to say the least.

Ethmia terminella?

With the amount of moths at the trap this morning this was first rapidly potted up without so much as a second glance, no doubt later to be recorded as Yponomeuta sp.

However, on removal from the fridge and then examining the images more closely something didn't quite add up: black dots along the termen, small number of large dots on the wings, dots on the thorax, grey wash to the dorsum and costa, surely this had to be E. terminella.


Dave




Monday 2 July 2012

A rich seam at the mine

Well peak season for miners seems to be taking off now, half an hour or so scouring hedges close to the house at the weekend yielded, amongst others the following:

Antispila metallella on Dogwood: tenanted and vacated (showing cut-out)
Antispila metallella tenanted mine on Dogwood Antispila metallella vacated mine and cut-out on Dogwood

Stigmella malella on Apple - tenanted
Stigmella malella tenanted mine on Apple

Stigmella lemniscella on Elm
Stigmella lemniscella mine on Elm

Phyllonorycter blancardella on Apple (upperside and underside)
Phyllonorycter blancardella mine on Apple Phyllonorycter blancardella mine on Apple

Callisto denticulella - tenanted
Callisto denticulella mine on Apple

Lyonetia clerkella - quite a few of these
Lyonetia clerkella mine

Dave