Leylandii: What is it Good For?

Well, it turns out that my neighbour’s not very attractive (IMO) non-native Thuja hedge is good for these two non-native Mediterranean moths! Blair's Shoulder-knot (Lithophane leautieri, #763) was first observed in UK in 1951 and is now established over most of lowland UK. It flies in one generation Sept-Nov; this being the first one I’ve recorded. Cypress Carpet (Thera cupressata) arrived in 1984 and so far its main range in UK only extends as far North as Birmingham. If has two generations, one in May-June and another in August-September.

#970 Blair's Shoulder-knot (Lithophane leautieri)

#763 Cypress Carpet (Thera cupressata)

Old Lady (Mormo maura, #960)

I caught a couple of these in the moth trap at the weekend. Old Lady moths don’t often come to light, but were probably attracted by rotting figs and grapes courtesy of my neighbours’ fruit trees, and found the moth trap a comfortable place to hide up for the day. These are quite big moths, around 6 cm wingspan, that fly for one generation in July-August.

#960 Old Lady (Mormo maura)

Cote d'Azur Bugs

I’m currently on holiday in France, so here are some garden insects from the Var. I brought my moth trap, but failed to catch anything more than a handful of micros. The largest insect that was attracted to the light was a largish lacewing fly, Chrysope italienne. Meanwhile a local jumping spider, Menemerus semilimbatus, was eating one of the few mall moths that came. Ameles spallanzani is a small species of praying mantis. All of the above are largely Mediterranean species.

Ameles spallanzani

Chrysope italienne

Menemerus semilimbatus

More July Moths

I posted some of the “macro” moths earlier - here are some of the smaller moths, including a few new species.

#633 Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella)

#817 Rosy Tabby (Endotricha flammealis)

#882 Maple Button (Acleris forsskaleana)

#954 Obscure sp. (Oegoconia sp)

#955 Ash-bark Knot-horn (Euzophera pinguis)

#956 London Dowd (Blastobasis lacticolella)

July Moths

Caught a really great selection of beautiful moths during the week, when we got our first dry and wind-free night for a while. There are a lots of different species flying at the moment, so here’s a selection of the 40 different species caught.(Second post with some micros to follow).

#546 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa)

#687 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)

#747 Pebble Prominent (Notodonta ziczac)

#850 Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula)

#796 Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca)

#259 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)

#797 Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina)

#881 Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)

V-Pug & Dusky Pearl

I managed to unpack the moth trap before the rain started this morning and picked up a couple of new moths. The V-Pug is a fairly common species, with two generations in spring and then summer. It gets its name from the black “v”s on the wings. Dusky Pearl is a one-generation June/July micro with a preference for blackthorns

#950 V-Pug (Chloroclystis v-ata)

#951 Dusky Pearl (Udea prunalis)

Varied Coronet & Short-cloaked Moth

Less moths this weekend, probably as there was a bit of a breeze, but there were a couple of smart new June/July flying species, as well as the Privet Hawk-moth posted previously.

The first of these, is a Varied Coronet (Hadena compta, #947). This is a relatively new species to the UK, unknown here until the 1940’s since when it has expanded its range across Southern England, but it is still not very common in Gloucestershire. Its caterpillars eat the seeds of Sweet William and Bladder Campion flowers.

The second new species is the Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella,948), which is a more frequently trapped species. Its larval food-plants include blackthorn, hawthorn and apple.

Chinese Character (Cilix glaucata) and Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana) are both species which hide in plain sight during the day looking a bit like a bird dropping, to hopefully avoid being eaten.

#947 Varied Coronet (Hadena compta)

#948 Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella)

#876 Chinese Character (Cilix glaucata)

#779 Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana)

Privet Hawkmoth (Sphinx ligustri)

This weekend’s spectacular hawkmoth is this very fine Privet Hawkmoth. The UK’s largest resident hawkmoth, it flies in June/July. It’s caterpillars feed on Privet, Lilac, Holly or Ash.

#872 Privet Hawkmoth (Sphinx ligustri)

Small Insects attracted to Light

Especially in the summer moths, there are often a lot of small insects in the light trap along with the moths. Sadly these are mostly quite short-lived insects and are often dead or dying when you check the trap in the morning.

Water Veneer moths live only a couple of days. In June/July the winged males gather in large swarms to mate and are drawn to light. Females come in winged and flightless forms. These moths are aquatic, the males and flightless females mate at thew water’s surface, while the larvae live in slow-moving water where they feed on pond weed. the moths do fly quite far from water, so despite being quite far from any large pond or river I still caught 35 individuals at the weekend. The waterboatmen and long-horned caddisflies are also aquatic species that venture quite far from water and are attracted to light. The two caddisflies are both long-horned, which has a morph with patterned wings and a rarer one with plain ones.

The leaf-hoppers, close relatives of grasshoppers, are from closer afield in the nearby trees. There are a lot of similar looking leaf-hopper species and I was unable to find a good match in order to identify them. As well as these there were a few aphids and midges found their way into the trap.

#675 Water Veneer (Acentria ephemerella)

Waterboatman sp.

#618 Long-horned Caddisfly (Mystacides longicornis)

Leaf-hopper sp.

Midsummer Moths

Four new moths in and around the trap on Sunday morning out of a total of 40 species, showing that there’s still plenty of new ones to catch - especially at this time of the year. All of these fly in a single generation in the summer.

Maiden’s Blush is a species favouring Oak woodlands, while Small Emerald is quite restricted in range on the chalk/limestone areas of southern England where its larval food-plant is Traveller’s Joy (Clematis vitalba). Blue-bordered Carpet and Common Groundling are fairly common and widespread in England, food-plants are Hawthorn & Blackthorn.

#939 Maiden's Blush (Cyclophora punctaria)

#940 Small Emerald (Hemistola chrysoprasaria)

#941 Blue-bordered Carpet (Plemyria rubiginata)

#942 Common Groundling (Teleiodes vulgella)

Pink Elephants

One of each species of Elephant Hawk-moth in the trap this morning. Always a very welcome catch.

#767 Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor)

#600 Small Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila porcellus)

First Big Moth Catch of the Year

A lot of moths today, 95 individuals of 35 species, including lots of waves, pugs, grass moths and other micros to sort out (which took me a while). Amongst it all, three new species taking my garden count to 936.

#613 Barred Yellow (Cidaria fulvata)

#81 Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula)

#757 Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata)

#762 Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata)

#782 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata)

#934 Dwarf Cream Wave (Idaea fuscovenosa)

#935 Ringed China-mark (Parapoynx stratiotata)

#936 Parachronistis albiceps

Light and Dark Arches

Dark Arches is one of the commonest moths in the moth trap during the summer, but its light-coloured relative is less common and its believed less attracted to light. As such, this Light Arches moth, with its very fine mohawk, was a new garden species (#930). Both are grassland species, their caterpillars living on grass stems and roots.

#930 Light Arches (Apamea lithoxylaea)

#247 Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha)

Blood-vein & Buff Tip

Blood-vein (Timandra comae, #929) was a new species for the list; a pretty moth with a red line and pink border to the wing, its larval food-plants are docks & sorrel. Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) is a regular summertime looking like a snapped-off birch twig. Narrow-winged Grey (Eudonia angustea) is normally an autumn flier, but a few, like this one, emerge earlier. Small Magpie moth (Anania hortulata) is a common moth in June/July too, especially around nettles.

#929 Blood-vein (Timandra comae)

#612 Buff Tip (Phalera bucephala)

#219 Small Magpie Moth (Anania hortulata)

#694 Narrow-winged Grey (Eudonia angustea)

Cockchafers & Moths

It’s always nice to catch cockchafer beetles; two in the moth trap this morning. Not a big catch of moths again, but several species caught for the fist time this year, as the season moves on.

#526 Common Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)

#611 Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi)

#659 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)

#673 Iron Prominent (Notodonta dromedarius)

#676 Coronet (Craniophora ligustri)

#749 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)

Mid-May Moths

A few more moths this weekend, but not yet a big catch. Puss Moth is always a welcome visitor, and this is only my second Silver Cloud, which is a local specialty only really found along the Severn Valley in UK, for some reason. Female Muslin Moths are white and often found flying in the daytime, while the males and dark like this one and strictly nocturnal. Meanwhile the last moth is a rather beaten-up looking Clouded-bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata), actually my first of this springtime species.

#746 Puss Moth (Cerura vinula)

#855 Silver Cloud (Egira conspicillaris)

#745 Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica)

#923 Clouded-bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata)

Not Exactly Brimming

A dry, calm night over the weekend was not enough to get the moths flying. Only 10 moths of 7 species caught, including these two favourites. Getting impatient, but it’s still early in the season, especially this year where Spring is quite cool.

#741 Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria)

#606 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)

The Autumn Shift

There’s a change-around in the moths with some autumn species coming to the fore, though there are still plenty of Large Yellow Underwings to catch. Beaded Chestnut and Lunar Underwing both fly in September-October, as does the Deep-brown Dart, a new not-so-common moth for the list. Whereas the Chestnut can appear any time during the winter from October onwards.

#707 Beaded Chestnut (Agrochola lychnidis)

#913 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii)

#912 Deep-brown Dart (Aporophyla lutulenta)

#685 Lunar Underwing (Omphaloscelis lunosa)

Frosted Orange & Red Underwing

Two very smart new moths in the trap this morning, among the other moths, which included now fewer than 37 Large Yellow Underwings. The caterpillars of Frosted Orange (#909) live inside the stems of plants such as thistle and foxglove. Red Underwing (#908) with a 7cm wingspan is one of UK’s larger moths, with a bright red underwing when its wings are open. Its larval food-plants are poplar and willow.

#909 Frosted Orange (Gortyna flavago)

#908 Red Underwing (Catocala nupta)

September 1st Moths

It starts to get colder overnight, and there are fewer moths, especially fewer small moths, and less variety. More interesting moths today included a Chinese Character on the window by the trap and a Burnished Brass.

#876 Chinese Character (Cilix glaucata)

#788 Burnished Brass (Diachrysia chrysitis)

#682 Square-spot Rustic (Xestia xanthographa)

#761 Small Square-spot (Diarsia rubi)