Evening sweep

A very productive early evening walk with the net yesterday, the highlights were...
Micropterix tunbergella


Gracillaria syringella

Incurvaria masculella Also lots of larval webs of Yponomeuta cagnagella and feeding signs of Y. plumbella and various larval spinnings on a range of plants.

Miner miscella-ny

Whilst this was one miner I had been searching chalk downland for for a while, it ended up being a totally accidental discovery...Mompha miscella on Common Rock-Rose (Helianthemum nummularium)



I had noticed various larval spinnings on Rock Rose and had potted some up, I decided to add a few extra leaves as food supply and lo and behold one of these was tenanted by the larva of Mompha miscella.  This appears to be pretty scarce in Kent (or perhaps more accurately, scarcely recorded or looked for).

There are also plenty of Eriocrania mines on Birch now including:

The longest wait...

Having collected mines of various Ericorania species last May and boxing them up more in hope than expectation, the first two E. chrysolepidella emerged yesterday after a wait of over 10 months, longer than the human gestation period.




 This was one of the mines:

Mint provides new currency for the garden

Potted up this Acleris literana flitting about the trap a couple of nights ago, a new one for the garden.




I love the colour; there aren't too many mint green moths.

What's that cat?

The recent weather also means that the frequency of early stage finds is increasing, with plenty of larvae to be found, their location betrayed by the distorting effects of their spinnings in many cases.

I have tentative IDs for these, any suggestions welcome though, and hopefully will be able to rear them through to adulthood.

Anthophila fabriciana? On Stinging Nettle

Pandemis corylana? On Bramble

Early stages: Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)

The Rosemary bushes in my garden are covered in dozens of easy to spot larval spinnings of Epiphyas postvittana: if this is anything to go by, it looks like this moth will be extremely abundant this year.

The Ox-eyes have it

Lots of very active larvae of Bucculatrix nigricomella on the Oxeye Daisy plants in the garden this week: both of young, mining larvae and later free-living stages. This species took my 2014 total to over 50, achieved by the last day of February.