2012, New for garden list and larva ID

I meant to publish this list a few weeks ago,
These are the new additions to The Dells garden list from 2012
After 3 years & 5 months of recording the garden moths the total species now stands at 549.
Last year was a terrible year weatherwise but I added 45 new species, mainly micro moths, so if the weather is kind in 2013 maybe another 51 new names will boost the tally to an eye-raising 600.
However, I would need to pot up quite a few micro samples and rely on our county recorder to achieve this,
Do larvae count ?
Leaf mines do, so surely larva must be included.
The only trouble with larvae is, a lot of them look the same or similar, so I guess breeding them through is the answer. Some sort of moth zoo.
Speaking of larva.... here's one I found on one of my Brooms on monday 4th feb.......

It looks easy enough to ID, and maybe it is, but I trawled though UK Leps and gave up.
....any ideas ?  25mm long
So how would I breed it through?
Do I put it in a box with a handful of my sapling Broom twigs only to risk starving it to death ?
There was no visible damage to the Broom sprig so maybe it isn't a Broom feeder and simply got lost while looking for the right type of grass to nibble.Who knows ?
No, I think breeding larvae through would take up too much space and time and is fraught with problems so I'll wait and hopefully trap it later when it is airborne and easier to ID.

2012 new additions :-
1)   26th Feb ... 1932 ... Spring Usher
2)     9th Mar ... 2189 ... Twin-spotted Quaker
3)   10th Mar ... 1659 ... Yellow Horned
4)   15th Mar ... 0890 ... Mompha jurassicella... gen det., David Manning
5)   15th Mar ... 1053 ... Acleris hastiana
6)   20th Mar ... 0435 ... Zelleria hepariella
7)   20th Mar ... 1044 ... Acleris ferrugana .. gen det, David Manning
8)   23rd Mar ... 0483 ... Epermenia chaerophylella
9)   26th Mar ... 0692 ... Agonopterix subpropinquella... gen det, David Manning
10) 18th Apr ... 0607 ... Elachista canapennella... gen det, David Manning
11)   8th May ... 2214 ... Chamomile Shark... ID confirmed, Andy/Melissa Banthorpe
12) 11th May ... 0290 ... Caloptilia semifascia ... ID confirmed, David Manning
13) 16th May ... 0449 ... Prays fraxinell f. rustica ... ID David Manning
14) 16th May ... 0682 ... Depressaria Chaerophylli ... gen det, David Manning
15) 23rd May ... 1954 ... Bordered White
16) 28th May ... 1099 ... Endothenia marginana
17) 29th May ... 1000 ... Ptycholoma lecheana
18) 22nd July ... 1454 ... Dioryctria abietella ... gen det, David Manning
19) 23rd July ... 1108 ... Lobesia abcisana ... gen det, David Manning
20) 24th July ... 0425 ... Yponomueta padella... ID confirmed, David Manning
21) 24th July ... 0891 ... Mompha sturnipennella... gen det David Manning, VC30 1st record
22) 24th July ... 1187 ... Epiblema costipunctana ... ID, David Manning
23) 25th July ... 1438 ...Trachycera suavella ... ID, David Manning
24) 26th July ... 0556 ... Coleophora trochilella ... gen det, David Manning
25) 27th July ... 0536 ... Coleophora betulella ... gen det, David Manning
26) 30th July ... 2105 ... Dotted Rustic
27) 31st July ... 0568 ... Coleophora versurella ... gen det, David Manning
28)   1st Aug ... 0756 ... Parachronistis albiceps ... ID, David Manning
 29)  4th Aug ... 2197 ... Southern Wainscot .. (probably an oversight in the past and recorded as Common Wainscot due to lack of ID knowledge))
30)   4th Aug ... 0379 ... Red-belted Clearwing
31)   7th Aug ... 0521 ... Coleophora conyzae ... gen det, David Manning
32)   7th Aug ... 1803 ... Small Rivulet
33)   8th Aug ... 0420 ... Argyresthia prunella
34)   8th Aug ... 0565 ... Coleophora saxicolella ... gen det, David Manning
35) 10th Aug ... 0936 ... Cochylimorpha straminea ... ID, David Manning
36) 14th Aug ... 2131 ... Square-spotted Clay ... ID confirmed, Andy/Melissa Banthorpe
37) 14th Aug ... 0495 ... Coleophora spinella ... gen det, David Manning
38) 14th Aug ... 1022a . Cnephasia pumicana ... gen det, David Manning ... VC 30 1st record
39) 17th Aug ... 0522 ... Coleophora lineolea ... gen det, David Manning
40) 17th Aug ... 1139 ... Epinotia tenerana ... gen det, David Manning
41) 18th Aug ... 1316 ... Catoptria falsella
42) 18th Aug ... 1716 ... Vestal
43) 23rd Aug ... 0215 ... Nemapogon granella ... gen det, David Manning
44)   8th Oct ... 1042 ... Acleris rhombana
45)  21st Oct ... 1771 ... Juniper Carpet

Here are some more unidentified larvae :-

Above....5th May 2012 on Hebe, approx 40mm long

Above ... 18th Oct 2012, approx 25mm max

Above ... 30th Nov 2011, approx 35mm

Above ... 7th May 2010, approx 10mm

5th Jan 2013 ... Earliest Early

Early Grey was the earliest record for the garden, found on the wall by the trap.
Yet another Dark Chestnut, which is the 5th this year and much commoner in The Dells garden than Chestnut.
Other interesting creatures were the variety of flies around the trap and a Rosemary Beetle, Chrysolina americana.
An unidentified larva was seen munching away at my Senicio cineraria (Silver Ragwort) which also suffers occasional attacks from Cinnabar larva as it is closely related to Common Ragwort.

Early Grey

Rosemary Beetle

Unidentified larva  25mm max.

28th Aug, The Mill, Biggleswade

Rain stopped play last night so nothing to report.
Today, took grandkids Keely and Louie to to the little park at the old mill (long since converted to des.res.) next to the River Ivel which flows through home town Biggleswade and is a feeder for the Great Ouse.
Coming through The Dells to Back St we checked out the Prickly Lettuce plants that seem to grow out of the asphalt edges of the paths and it wasn't long before Louie found the first Small Ranunculus larva, in fact almost every small patch of plants was occupied .....

... small wonder that I get so many adults in the garden.
There is also plenty of Ivy-leaved Toadflax sprawling down the brick walls along the pedestrian footpaths but no sign of any Toadflax Brocade larva, maybe the wrong time of year ?

Ivy-leaved Toadflax

The Mill, River Ivel

River Ivel

20 years ago the banks of the Ivel were covered with Common Comfrey and Purple Loosestrife etc, but now the invasive Himalayan Balsam has taken over.

A few young bunnies were having a nibble at the quiet end of the park

Cameraria ohridella on every leaf of the parks Horse Chestnuts trees

A larva found by the grandkids.... anyone ?
Bright-line Brown-eye looks good

I've been on the lookout for one of these in the garden recently... Red Underwing on its last legs, found in the park by Keely

14th Feb 2012... A Moth !

Min overnight temp ... 5.1 deg, NW wind 20mph gusts, light showers.
It's been 19 days since the last moth sighting in the garden due to the icy conditions so it was nice to put the traps on and add another species to the year list...... Satellite, plus another entry for my growing list of unidentified larvae.




The Satellite



Unidentified larva ( 22 mm )

WINE BET UPDATE
Trent V Captain Trappings ( Matt ) .. Winner: 1 bottle of quality red
The garden macro species race, will now resume, but on a more level playing field.
I was expecting a slight advantage with the Captain & crew going away for 3 weeks to the Cayman Islands but the trip had to be cancelled last week.
Disappointment in large doses for the wife and kids but more so for daughter (grand-daughter) Keely who was on the rough end of a dose of chicken pox and is still covered in spots.
Her brother Louie is on "spot watch" as his turn is probably due around now.
A re-arranged trip may have to be next year, but hopefully it will be May or June to give me an even better advantage !
I do enjoy a nice glass of red...even more so when I haven't paid for it, so having lost the bet for the two years of its existence, I need an edge.
Latest odds..... Captain T ........ 1/2
                           Trent.............. evens

24th Jan 2011...Garden Traps

Temperatures were at 8+ deg and little or no wind.
It could have been a perfect Jan evening but for the persistent fine drizzle that fell until late evening.
On the 22nd Jan, I caught two more Dark Chestnuts, bringing the total to 9, so it was a nice change to find my second macro species of 2012.....Pale Brindled Beauty.
A Light Brown Apple Moth made up the total catch.

Pale Brindled Beauty

Epiphyas postvittana... B.F. 998

Two unidentified caterpillars grazing on moss or lichen on the brick wall:-



Garden Total.....5 species..........3 x micro...2 x macro

30th Nov 2011

Overnight min temp...8.2 deg
Strong winds with light showers until some time in the wee wee hours.
Nothing to add to the year list, but two macros' were recorded.

Large Nutmeg..."Inhabiting dry pasture and woodland fringes, the adults fly in June and July, and are attracted to light and sugar".....from UK Moths


30th November catch :-
1 x Large Nutmeg !
1 x Silver Y

LARGE NUTMEG

Can anyone name this Catty ?... Found on the shed wall last night, about 35mm long.

13/14th Nov 2011...Waiting

Still waiting for macro No. 250 for the year...
13th Nov...min temp = 8.9 deg. overcast, light breeze
14th Nov...min temp = 8.4 deg. overcast, calm
13th:-
1 x Brick
1 x Angle Shades
1 x Rusty Dot Pearl, Udea ferrugalis

14th Nov:-
2 x Angle Shades
1 x Dark Arches
1 x Silver Y
3 x Epiphyas postvittana
2 x Rusty Dot Pearl

ANGLE SHADES

RUSTY DOT PEARL, Udea ferrugalis

Unidentified larva, a Carpet type ?

A Red Weevil ?

21st Aug 2011....Static

Overnight min temp...9.3 deg, calm, clear sky.
A bit cooler than the forecasted minimum, 13 deg.
Very little to report as the summer species are starting to look rather tired now and the autumn species haven't got going yet.
There has been a noticeable drop in Shuttle-shaped Dart numbers and an increase in Vine's Rustic lately.
I was clearing an overgrown Dog Rose from the front garden yesterday and came across a very large gall

Dog Rose gall

As a kid growing up in Kent, we used to call these "Robins pincushions". I'm sure there are several local names for these galls from county to county.

Another caterpillar that I can't ID was found near the trap last night, about 2inches long max....if anyone recognises it, feel free......

Unidentified larva

Two macros from last night .......

LIME-SPECK PUG



ROSY RUSTIC