A car full of cones..

 ..has yielded no emergences so far from any Pine feeding Tortrix moths.

The large box full of Scots Pine, Norway Spruce, Cedar of Lebanon and Larch cones, have been in my car for 3 weeks now, to see what may or may not emerge from them.

So far, nothing, but it is early days yet, and possible species such as Cydia conicolana, Cydia illutana and Cydia strobilella are only just coming on the wing.

I've also had some pheremone lures out for illutana & pactolana, with no luck yet.

 

So you can imagine my shock when, as I was watering some Rose bushes at work (Because things are starting to wilt after a drought-like April) I noticed something crawling on the ground next to a Norway Spruce cone, directly under a rather large Norway Spruce tree where the Rose bushes were.

 

I first thought it was a beetle, as it glinted in the hazy sunshine. A scrabble for a pot in my pocket and as soon as I got closer I could see it was one of the species I was hoping to see, Cydia strobilella.

 

This is only my 3rd record, with 2 individuals on the 8th of May 2016 in the far West of the County of Hertfordshire, this time i'm in the far East of the County.

 

A tricky little moth to photograph being quite small and pale, with extremely delicate markings.

 

Bishop's Stortford, East Hertfordshire 

 

Cydia strobilella