15th/16th June ... Garden Moths latest

At last, a warm, humid, overcast night, perfect for a bit of mothing.
Nothing much on the 15th, although I managed to add Celypha lacunana and Middle-barred Minor to the year list.

BF 2340 ... Middle-barred Minor

BF 1076 ... Celypha lacunana

The light breeze was still coming from the NE and had a cold feel to it but it slowly shifted to the SE giving us a glorious day yesterday and a perfect moth night.
Probably about 70 species at the lights last night allowing for the ones I have forgotten, surprisingly, no Hawk-moths.
Micros took centre stage with several year first records and a new species for the garden, Carpatolechia fugitivella.

BF 772 ... Carpatolechia fugitivella 

Micros
0227 Monopis laevigella, 3
0229 Monopis obviella, 3
0263 Lyonetia clerkella, 4
409a Argyresthia trifasciata, 1
0450 Scythropia crataegella, 1, year first.

BF 450 ... Scythropia crataegella

0647 Hofmannophila pseudospretella, 2
0648 Endrosis sarcitrella, 2
0772 Carpatolechia fugitivella, 1, garden first.
0787 Bryotropha terella, 3, year first

BF 787 ... Bryotropha terella

871a Oegoconia caradjai, 1, year first ( to be confirmed )

Oegoconia spp.

0874 Blastobasis lacticolella, 2
0970 Pandemis cerasana, 2, year first

BF 970 ... Pandemis cerasana

0994 Clepsis consimilana, 9
0998 Epiphyas postvittana, 4
1020 Cnephasia spp. 2, ( to be confirmed )
1063 Celypha striana, 1
1076 Celypha lacunana, 4
1083 Hedya nubiferana, 1, year first

BF 1083 ... Hedya nubiferana

1205 Spilonota ocellana, 1, year first
1293 Chrysoteuchia culmella, 1, year first
1301 Crambus lathoniellus, 3
1334 Scoparia ambigualis, 2, year first
1344 Eudonia mercurella, 1
1356 Evergestis forficalis, 1
1361 Pyrausta aurata, 1 night, 4 on sage and oregano daytime.
1376 Eurrhypara hortulata, 4
1392 Udea olivalis, 2, year first

BF 1392 ... Udea olivalis

1428 Aphomia sociella, 5
1474 Ephestia unicolorella, 1
1481 Homoeosoma sinuella, 1, year first

BF 1481 ... Homoeosoma sinuella

1513 Pterophorus pentadactyla, 1
1524 Emmelina monodactyla, 3

Macros
0017 Common Swift ♀, 1
1707 Small Dusty Wave, 3
1711 Treble Brown Spot, 4
1728 Garden Carpet, 4
1764 Common Marbled Carpet, 1
1819 Mottled Pug, 2
1827 Freyer's Pug, 1
1834 Common Pug, 6
1837 Grey Pug, 3
1860 Green Pug, 4
1862 Double-striped Pug, 1

BF 1862 ... Double-striped Pug

1887 Clouded Border, 1
1906 Brimstone Moth, 2
1931 Peppered Moth, 1
2043 Orange Footman, 1

BF 2043 ... Orange Footman

2050 Common Footman, 2
2069 Cinnabar, 2
2087 Turnip Moth, 2
2088 Heart and Club, 1, year first
2089 Heart and Dart, 28
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart, 4
2102 Flame Shoulder, 1
2107 Large Yellow Underwing, 1
2126 Setaceous Hebrew Character, 2
2147 Shears, 1, year first. (poorly marked for a fresh moth, I thought it might be Dingy Shears but it doesn't appear "boat shaped" enough for Dingy)

BF 2147 ... Shears

2165 Small Ranunculus, 1

BF 2165 ... Small Ranunculus

2223 Toadflax Brocade, 1

BF 2223 ... Toadflax Brocade

2279 Sycamore, 1
2331 Small Clouded Brindle, 1
2337x Marbled Minor agg. 4

BF 2337x Marbled Minor agg.

2381 Uncertain, 2
2384 Vine's Rustic, 2
2387 Mottled Rustic, 3
2389 Pale Mottled Willow, 2
2477 Snout, 4, year first

BF 2477 ... Snout

2489 Fan-foot, 1, year first

BF 2489 ... Fan-foot

31st May 2014 ... Argyresthia cupressella plus "Brindle" ID help needed. (Juniper Pug should read Juniper Carpet)

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

17th June 2013 ... Great start .. Tragic end

The latest "best night of the year so far" started with some sweep netting on my overgrown front lawn.
Tall grasses and a lot of Ox-eye Daisies are present and our micro recorder suggested a sweep as he had found some of the scarcer Dichrorampha on his ox-eye.
One Dichrorampha, probably "plumbagana", turned up with a Carnation Tortrix, an unidentified micro and a garden first Nettle-tap....

385 ... Anthophila fabriciana ... Nettle-tap

After recording a big selection of moths throughout the evening around the traps it was time for shut-eye and a check inside the traps in the morning.
The tragic part was after I had checked the house end trap, I moved on to the BBQ end trap.
Bearing in mind the skinner trap near the barbie has a 23mm slot, it was amazing to see a House Sparrow had forced it's way into the trap. Not only that, two more appeared from behind egg boxes !!!
I released the flock ? (how many birds make a flock ? more than two ?) and checked the trap....it was carnage !
One set of wings belonged to a Privet Hawk-moth, with several Heart and Dart and many others.

New for Year moths .........

216 ... Cork Moth ... Nemapogon cloacella

746 ... Chrysoesthia drurella

1392 ... Udea olivalis

1958 ... Clouded Silver ... Lomographa temerata

1955 ... Common White Wave ... Cabera pusaria

1902 ... Brown Silver-line ... Petrophora chlorosata

1768 ... Grey Pine Carpet ... Thera obeliscata

1991 ... Elephant Hawk-moth ... Deilephila elpenor

1682 ... Blood-vein ... Timandra cornae

17th May 2011...Hi Ho Silver Lining

Another fairly good night with 12 degree minimum temperature, although the wind was trying to wreck the party most of the evening.
6 species were added to the garden year list and 80 plus moths were recorded of 25 species.
CLOUDED SILVER 1958

YELLOW SHELL 1742

UDEA OLIVALIS 1392

CRAMBUS LATHONIELLUS 1301

STRAW DOT 2474

EPIBLEMA TRIMACULANA 1176

PEPPERED MOTH 1931

KNOT GRASS 2289

SYCAMORE 2279 TOTAL :-

17 Heart & Dart

11 Shuttle-shaped Dart

6 x Large Nutmeg

1 x Yellow Shell * year first

1 x Clouded Silver * year first

1 x Straw Dot * year first

1 x Pale Prominent

8 x Vine's Rustic

1 x Garden Carpet

2 x Willow Beauty

5 x Turnip Moth

5 x Pale Mottled Willow

1 x Peppered Moth

3 x Common Swift

1 x Sycamore

2 x Knot Grass

4 x Marbled Minor agg.

10 x Epiphyas postvittana

1 x Cydia pomonella

4 x Endrosis sarcitrella

2 x Aphomia sociella

1 x Epiblema trimaculana * year first

1 x Udea olivalis * year first

1 x Enarmia formosana

1 x Evergestis forficalis

1 x Crambus lathoniellus * year first

2011 Garden Total :-

155 species.....107 macro, 48 micro