There are only 3 records of
Argyresthia cupressella for the Bedfordshire VC30 county and all from my garden !
This little moth, like lots of the tiny micros, has probably been overlooked or ignored by the majority of garden moth trappers.
My next door neighbour has a couple of Cypress cultivars as do a few others in the street which is the food plant along with Junipers which probably explains my annual record of Juniper Pug.
First seen in England in 1997, this attractive little micro is spreading its range northwards and into Wales, its most Northerly location is NE Northern Ireland and remains the only NI record.
At 5mm in length it is difficult to spot especially amongst other Argyresthia species like the many
pruniella and
goedartella that regularly turn up in my garden.
Fortunately, this one was a loner and quite easy to spot and identify....
Above ...
Argyresthia cupressella and just to be certain, confirmation received from Mr D.V. Manning, county recorder for micro moths.
The brown blotches on this example are darker than the previous two which were a washed out orangey colour.
And now for something completely different ... more moths.
New for 2014 ...
UDEA OLIVALIS below..
HEDYA PRUNIANA below ..
TREBLE-BAR below
CINNABAR MOTH below
This is one I often get wrong but here goes ...
SMALL SQUARE-SPOT
Just to point out that my regular ID mistakes are confined to the blog. Any doubtful ID's are run past our county recorders for confirmation before being entered into my records and obviously theirs.
Most of my blog entries are entered unchecked hence the odd mistake.
This is due to shape dislexia with a dash of myopia.
Any corrections are welcome as always and the occasional humerous sarcastic comment is always taken in good heart (don't forget I know where you all live)
Having said that, I have a moth here which I always have trouble with.
An Apamea species.
It's the "Brindles" and Dusky Brocade group.
The moth below is smaller than Dusky Brocade, sizewise it is spot on for Small Clouded Brindle but looks too dark.
Any offers ?
This group is quite scarce in my garden so I don't get to see many if any to familiarise myself ...
above ... SMALL CLOUDED BRINDLE ?
A year on ...
Having now seen a few of these I am satisfied that it is a Small Clouded Brindle.
Not new, but two of these impossible to pronounce moths were found near the traps .... Hetheth methetheth pethetheth rugosana ...
above,
PHTHEOCHROA RUGOSANA
