Dingy Shears & Others

A few new species on the list this week. Most exciting thing was a Small Skipper butterfly (Thymelicus sylvestris) that stopped on the lavender for a while, but was too fast to get a decent photo. It was my first new butterfly species in three years. The hot weather early in the week certainly was good for butterflies. The Dingy Shears moth (Apterogenum ypsillon) appeared in the swimming pool and got fished out more or less unscathed - a species that so far didn’t get into my moth trap. Finally at least 2 meters high, I belatedly spotted a couple of Rosebay Willowherb plants (Chamaenerion angustifolium) that are established by the fence at the back of one of the borders.

#885 Dingy Shears (Apterogenum ypsillon)

#887 Rosebay Willowherb (Chamaenerion angustifolium)

Four-barred Major (Oxycera rara, #884)

Looking superficially like a squat, little hoverfly, this male soldier fly is new for the garden. It is supposed to be found in damp places and near ponds, so it’s fitting that I rescued it from the paddling pool, where it was probably trying to cool off.

Heatwave Moths Part II

Another warm and fine night for moths on Friday night, with 33 different spoecies caught, including five new ones for the list. Star of the show, for rarity value perhaps rather than looks, was a Waved Black (Parascotia fuliginaria), whose larvae live on rotten wood & fungi, and which is not often recording in Gliucestershire. Pale Prominent, looking much like a bunch of dead leaves was also a good catch.

#880 Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina)

#881 Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)

#882 Maple Button (Acleris forsskaleana)

#883 Waved Black (Parascotia fuliginaria)

#879 Large Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe quadrifasiata)

#804 Least Carpet (Idaea rusticata)

#750 Oak Hook-tip (Watsonalla binaria)

#606 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)

Speckled Bush Cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima)

This Speckled Bush Cricket nymph was perched up on the Golden Rod flowers. They are more active at night and around dusk than in full daytime (2.00 pm in this case), but this one didn’t seem bothered about being out in the sunshine.

Heatwave Moths

On Saturday morning I had a bumper haul of 90 moths of 35 different types in and around the moth trap, thanks to a still, warm and cloudy night. This included no fewer than nine Elephant Hawk-moths and three new species: Chinese Character (Cilix glaucata), Large Tabby (Aglossa pinguinalis) and Clay (Mythimna ferrago). Seems the good weather is here to stay for a while, so it looks good for more mothing this week. A few moths below including the Tabby, Clay and three types of Ermine moth.

#658 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)

#877 Large Tabby (Aglossa pinguinalis)

#878 Clay (Mythimna ferrago) (right)

#790 Bird-cherry Ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella)

#635 "Apple" Ermine (Yponomeuta sp.)

#811 Thistle Ermine (Myelois circumvoluta)

#639 Heterotoma planicornis

This bug with its distinctive large/flat antenna segment lives in low vegetation such as nettles and eats plant matter, but also small insects like mites and aphids. Heterotoma planicornis hatches in May and lives for one season, over-wintering as an egg. It is quite common all across England and has also been introduced to North America and New Zealand.

Moth Trapping Wednesday

As well as the hawk-moths I posted earlier, there was a good selection of other moths including Brown Rustic and Hook-streak Grass Veneer, both of which were new ones for my garden. In total 52 moths of 25 different species. Some of the highlights below…

#774 Garden Pebble (Evergestis forficalis)

#200 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

#875 Hook-streak Grass-veneer (Crambus lathoniellus)

#596 Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita)

#783 Miller (Acronicta leporina)

#611 Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi)

#731 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria)

#873 Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)

Fasciation in Feverfew

While looking at bugs I noticed that one of the Feverfew flowers (lower centre in the photo) is fasciated. This mutation, which in this case elongates the flower, can be genetic or caused by an insect-borne infection. While I have found a few other cases of similar mutations in Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) flowers on the internet, there’s no additional information on what causes this particular mutation.

Midsummer Hawk-moths

Three Elephant Hawk-moths in the moth trap and a fabulous Privet Hawk-moth on the fence nearby were the highlights from last night. Privet hawk-moth was a new species for the garden.

#872 Privet Hawkmoth (Sphinx ligustri)

#767 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor)

Azure Damselfly

I don’t get many dragonflies in the garden, so it’s always good to snap one - often a bit of a challenge using a phone. Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) is not so heavily tied to water as most species, so turns up here from time to time. This one is catching some evening sun on my potato plants.

There’s also a Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) zipping around the garden this evening; another of the more regular dragonflies I get. But there’s not much hope of capturing that on my phone.

Varied Carpet Beetle

This one is doing no harm, looking for pollen on a flower, but the Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci, #871) is not something you want too much in your house. In the natural habitat the adults lay their eggs in birds nests and similar dry places with a supply of suitable food: animal and plant fibres, dead insects, dry druit, etc for the hatched larvae. In the house they can infest carpets, ventilation systems and cupboards storing food or clothes to the point they can do serious damage if not spotted first.

Field Poppy (Papaver rhoeas, #870)

This field poppy sprouted up on the edge of one of the borders, adding a nice splash of colour for a day or two. Mostly we get self-seeded yellow welsh poppies and ornamental “opium” poppies, so it was a change to find one of the traditional native red ones!

June Moths

The moth trap was quite well filled the other morning; moth numbers starting to build. The only new moth was a Clouded Brindle (Apamea epomidion), a single-generation moth that flies between May-July, and apparently does not come to light that frequently. Aside from this there was quite a nice selection of other moths, plus a shiny Whirligig Beetle (presumed Gyrinus substriatus). These beetles are usually found spinning around on the surface of ponds, but they do fly between water sources and can be attracted to light.

#868 Clouded Brindle (Apamea epomidion)

#247 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha)

#763 Cypress Carpet (Thera cupressata)

#768 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)

#809 Scorched Carpet (Ligdia adustata)

#869 Whirligig Beetle (Gyrinus substriatus)

Dryad's Saddle

This large fungus was growing off a hidden tree root right in the middle of the path at my local nature reserve. It is a Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus squamosus). The fruiting body of these fungi is always on the dead wood of a deciduous tree, either up a tree stump or growing out of a tree root just underground, like this one. They appears quite early in the season, in late spring to summer, but quickly decay and are eaten by fly larvae.

Apple Ermine Moths

When you catch the adults in the moth trap there are a few species of Ermine Moth that are virtually indistinguishable from each other, but you can reliably tell the species apart by the host for their caterpillars. One of my Apple trees has a few tents/cocoons of these Apple Ermine Moth caterpillars (Yponomeuta malinellus). There are not too many of them and apparently they are relatively harmless to the tree or the fruit, so I’m happy to leave the caterpillars undisturbed.

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

This Red Clover came up in the paving close to the back door, and is new species for the garden (#866). Maybe I’ll try to move it to my lawn instead, where we already have plenty of the white version. It might feel at home in my (very small) “wild meadow” and I’m sure the bees will like it.

Woolly Aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum, #863)

Not wholly welcome, but one of the apple trees has a minor infestation of these Woolly Aphids (Eriosoma lanigerum). At first I thought it was mildew, but inside the while sticky wool there are lots of dark-coloured aphids. The colony was attended by some Harlequin Ladybirds, so hopefully natural predation can keep the aphid population under control.

New Crane Fly - Tipula fascipennis

This Cranefly, Tipula fascipennis (#867) is a species flying in May-June. It has a rather plain, black-tipped body, and on this photo it doesn’t show that well, but if you look closely enough there is a pattern of dark & opaque white towards the tip of the wings. Along with many craneflies its larvae live in damp grass / turf.

Jubilee Moths

It looks like it might be a bit wet for the rest of the weekend, but last night was dry and there were a few moths in the trap this morning. Common White Wave (Cabera pusaria) was a new species, while this Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata) was a well marked individual. Nothing red, white & blue though!

#865 Common White Wave (Cabera pusaria)

#632 Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata)

#782 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata)

Signal Fly - Platystoma seminationis (#864 )

This chubby fly with pale spotted dark wings is signal fly, Platystoma seminationis. It comes to flowers, but in this case was walking slowly over the leaves of a sunflower plant.