Orthotelia sparganella, what an unusual micro - New for the garden!

Some more new moths for the year last Saturday night, yep i'm running a week behind now because of other commitments and health.

So just a quick post tonight.

 

It was another warm day, and I ran my trap until bedtime as I wasn't feeling too sharp.

 

I was glad I did run it though, as a cracking reedbed specialist, Orthotelia sparganella turned up on the sheet. 

This is a local species nationally, and a really good garden moth, the 447th micro species to be recorded here.

 

That was to be the only new micro of the night (Although a couple of Phyllocnistis species will be retained and could prove new species for the year).

 

On the macro moth front, 2 new ones were ticked off, they were a huge female Oak Eggar, a species I didn't get last year, and a rather smart orange-tinged Tawny-speckled Pug that posed rather obligingly for a photo before being released.

 

New additions have slowed somewhat now as we head towards the end of July, but migrant season is nearly upon us, and for an inland garden, I get some crackingly good species at times.

 

This year I would like a White-speck or Beautiful Marbled... not asking for much, honest!

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 503 species

 

20/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Oak Eggar 1 [NFY]
Tawny Speckled Pug 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths 

Orthotelia sparganella 1 [NFG]

Tawny Speckled Pug

Oak Eggar

Orthotelia sparganella

Ostrinia nubilalis

Phyllocnistis sp

Scarlet Tiger

 

A very tidy mid-summer catch including 1 new moth for me and 2 new for garden species!

A big catch here for mid/late July on Friday night, with highs of 28 degrees, it was to be the warmest day of the year, and night with lows of 19 degrees.

Probably in excess of 70 species, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to count anything.

 

Unfortunately I was terribly unwell, what started as a cold on Wednesday, turned into a full blown virus come Friday and it was a struggle going through the trap, I probably a missed a few, but 14 new ones were secured in pots and popped in the fridge ready to photograph when I could function.

Highlight undoubtedly went to a brand new macro moth for me, a Plumed Fan-foot... well what was left of it, such a terrible state it was. At least the snout and antennae were still present I guess.

I've been lucky to encounter this species abroad a couple of times in Croatia and Slovenia.

Two more good moths, Aproaerema larseniella/cinctella (inseperable visually) & the whopping great Coleophora conspicuella were both garden firsts.

Other favourites included the lovely black Dichomeris alacella, the two-tone Cydia splendana & finally a Lunar Yellow Underwing second brood (missing out on the first brood this year).

 

That lot made it to the big 500 species for the year, phew! 165 to go to beat my best year in 2022.

The weather continues to be nice and settled and warm and cloudy at night.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 500 species

 

19/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Fen Wainscot 1 [NFY]
Lunar Yellow Underwing 1 [NFY]
Plumed Fan-foot 1 [NFG]
Small Rufous 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths 

Aproaerema larseniella/cinctella 1 [NFG]
Brachmia blandella 1 [NFY]
Carpatolechia fugitivella 1 [NFY]
Catoptria falsella 1 [NFY]
Chilo phragmitella 1 [NFY]
Coleophora conspicuella 1 [NFG]
Cydia splendana 1 [NFY]
Dichomeris alacella 1 [NFY]
Eudemis profundana 2 [NFY]
Metzneria metzneriella 1 [NFY]

Plumed Fan-foot

Aproaerema larseniella cinctella

Caloptilia honoratella

Chilo phragmitella

Coleophora conspicuella

Cydia splendana

Dichomeris alacella

Eudemis profundana

Lunar Yellow Underwing

Metzneria metzneriella

 

More new moths as things hot up!

We are now getting weather that we should have got in June! Sadly a little late for a lot of my target species this year as we approach mid Summer, there's always next year.

Moth continue to dazzle though, with a lovely Scarce Silver-lines and a silky Oak Hook-tip in the trap on Thursday night. 

Several slightly large Batia lunaris were measured for the rare lambdella, sadly, too small (They need to be 8mm+ long generally, leading to a 16-20mm wingspan).

 

A further 4 micros were added to the year list.

 

Finally, the night time temperatures are extremely favourable for some mothy action.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 486 species

 

18/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Scarce Silver-lines 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths 

Ectoedemia heringella 2 [NFY]
Metzneria lappella 1 [NFY]
Phyllonorycter trifasciella 1 [NFY]
Stenoptilia pterodactyla 1 [NFY]

Stenoptilia pterodactyla

Batia lunaris

Cydia fagiglandana

Dichrorampha vancouverana

Ectoedemia heringella

Metzneria lappella

Oak Hook-tip

Phyllonorycter trifasciella

Scarce Silver-lines

Yet another new garden moth!

Another night and another new moth for my garden, and another macro moth to boot! Anyone who knows mothing will know that it gets harder to add new micro moths to the total garden list, but it gets even trickier to add new macros.

Double Lobed was the new macro moth, an expected species here as i've taken it locally in fairly good numbers.

A slight uptick in species overnight too on Wednesday night, with over 50 noted. The warmth was starting to be drawn in, and with lows of 15c by dawn, it was much better. 

Other notables included a nice fresh Mere Wainscot, both Delicate & L-album Wainscot, both used to be primary migrants, but are probably transistory residents now.

A trio of good micros were also potted up and photographed. They were Achroia grisella (The Lesser Wax Moth), Caloptilia honoratella (The first of the first broods, as my March record would have been from last years brood), and the delicately marked Thiodia citrana.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 481 species

 

17/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths 

Double Lobed 1 [NFG]
Mere Wainscot 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Achroia grisella 1 [NFY]
Acrobasis suavella 2 [NFY]
Thiodia citrana 1 [NFY]

Double Lobed

Mere Wainscot

Thiodia citrana

Achroia grisella

Acrobasis suavella

Caloptilia honoratella

Dark Spectacle

Delicate

A new for garden Macro Moth

Tuesday night wasn't particularly warm, hovering at around 12c at the coolest part of the night, but it was calm and dry, and so the trap was switched on at 9:30pm and run all night.

There weren't many moths come the morning of a pretty paltry 32 species, but it did include my first garden record of the Herald, 3 years in the making! A little tatty but very welcome all the same.

Other highlights included the pretty peachy Rosy Footman, two species of Pug (Again a bit worn and probably bedraggled by the sharp showers we've had recently).

The only new macro moth for the year, were a pair of Aroga velocella. An infrequent visitor here in my garden and right little tinkers to photograph with their darting-like movements.

The temperature in the day and the night continued to build as the week went on.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 476 species

 

16/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Haworth's Pug 1 [NFY]
Herald 1 [NFY]
Rosy Footman 1 [NFY]
White-spotted Pug 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Aroga velocella 2 [NFY]

White-spotted Pug

Aroga velocella

Haworth's Pug

Herald

Rosy Footman

 

Turn it off and shut it down! pt2 (Abandon Ship)

Another ridiculous spell of heavy rain happened on Monday night, although it was very warm and stayed above 16 degrees all night.

The rain was just too heavy and the patio flooded once again and I decided to shut thetrap down again as the moths were getting washed away.

I did however pot up two new species for the year, a lovely Reed Leopard, know doubt blown in from the nearby reedbeds and a rather fresh Red Twin-spot Carpet, a late appearance for this species this year.

 

During the day, another late first for the year record, a single Red-belted Clearwing was attracted to it's own lure (MYO). 

The rest of the working week continued to be average, despite the temperature during the day and at night increasing day on day.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 471 species

 

15/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Red Twin-spot Carpet 1 [NFY]
Red-belted Clearwing 1 [NFY] (To MYO Lure)
Reed Leopard 1 [NFY]

Reed Leopard

Red Twin-spot Carpet

Red-belted Clearwing

Latest from the home trap - Autumn already?

A warm night on Sunday night following some rather dramatic sharp showers during the day. 

The huidity was good though and there were plenty of moths in and around the trap come Monday morning.

Highlights were my earliest Rosy Rustic by a month (maybe a worrying highlight) Autumn is just around the corner apparently!

Tawny Wave was also great to get again, they had a really good year last year with over 10 specimens, this is the first for the year, and later than expected.

 

An Ephestia was retained that looked a bit odd (maybe a worn Vitula biviella).

During the daytime, an Nemapogon koenigi was attracted to the HYL lure.

The weather has really hotted up now, and is currently 22 degrees at 10am.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 468 species

 

14/07/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Dingy Footman 1 [NFY]
Rosy Rustic 1 [NFY]
Tawny Wave 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Phyllocnistis sp 1 (probably xenia) (TBC) [NFY]
Plutella porrectella 1 [NFY]
Prays fraxinella 1 [NFY]
Tischeria ekebladella 1 [NFY]

Tischeria ekebladella

Dingy Footman

Heart & Club

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Nemapogon koenigi

Phyllocnistis sp

Plutella porrectella

Prays fraxinella

Rosy Rustic

Tawny Wave