New species fining down a bit?

Still fairly busy as we headed into the middle of July here in my garden, though less variety was noticeable and infact the catch felt almost August in feeling with lots of Dusky Thorns and Mouse Moths.

Bucculatrix thoracella returned after a 3 year hiatus, in all fairness being so small, these micros often get missed. 

Another Gelechia scotinella was very welcome. Formerely a very rare species, it seems to be doing quite well locally in east cambs. 

From the larger moth front, an absolutely cracking male Oak Eggar really blew me away, it was also so fresh. The most noteworthy part about it, was that the last time I saw a male, was in 2006! My debut full mothing year, whereby I took a photo of it next to two females.

A dark Scrobipalpa species was retained, which will probably turn out to be a dark ocellatella.

The warm weather continued but whilst numbers remained high, species were dwindling. 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 554 species

11/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Yellow-tail 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Bucculatrix thoracella 1 [NFY]
Carpatolechia fugivitella 1 [NFY]
Scrobipalpa sp 1 (TBC)

Yellow-tail

Bucculatrix thoracella

Gelechia scotinella

Oak Eggar Male

Scrobipalpa sp

 

 

Waaaarrrrmmm! Busy Trap!

After having a night off on the 9th, it was time to fire up the trap once more. 

 

With highs of 30 degrees and lows of around 21 degrees, the trap, house wall and fences were covered in moths, far too many to list down, so again the focus was on new species or different forms.

 

Excitement during the day was finding two tiny white moths flying around inside my newly deployed Phyllocnistis citrella lure, I ran inside and potted them both up.

After taking photographs of them, it became apparent that they weren't citrella at all, but most probably saligna (Although there are 3 other species they could be, including the newly discovered asiatica).

So the citrella lure will attract other Phyllocnistis species in the genus I guess.

 

Overnight there were two new species of micro moth for the garden, Gynnidomorpha vectisana/minimana (A completely new moth for me and one that needs dissecting to separate) & Mompha sturnipennella (A species I am familiar with from trapping on chalk grassland in Hertfordshire.

 

Those two species make it to the 900 species for the garden milestone. 

 

There were also some other scarce micros in attendance, such as Gypsonoma minutana and Oxypteryx wilkella, the latter not seen since 2022.

 

The first of probably many Jersey Tigers also came to the light overnight.

 

A very good night with a lot of sleep lost! 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 551 species

10/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Canary-shouldered Thorn 1 [NFY]
Jersey Tiger 1 [NFY]
Vapourer Moth 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Bactra furfurana 1 [NFY]
Gynnidomorpha vectisana minimana 1 [NFG]
Gypsonoma minutana 1 [NFY]
Limnaecia phragmitella 1 [NFY]
Mompha sturnipennella 1 [NFG]
Oncocera semirubella 1 [NFY]
Oxypteryx wilkella 1 [NFY]
Phyllocnistis sp 2 (TBC)
Ypsolopha scabrella 1 [NFY]

Ypsolopha scabrella

Bactra furfurana

Bucculatrix bechsteinella

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Common Rustic

Garden Dart

Gynnidomorpha vectisana/minimana

Gypsonoma minutana

Jersey Tiger

Mompha sturnipennella

Oxypteryx wilkella

Vapourer Moth

A few more moths as conditions stagnate

The 8th of July was still in the cooler blip, by cooler I mean it was still 24 degrees and 14c at night, hardly bad at all, but the catch was 1/2 of what it was 4 days previous.

Still, it was an improvement on the paltry 6th with 5 new species for the year, the best was the rather local Assara terebrella, a pine feeder.

The first of the Tree-lichen Beauties also arrived, I thought this was ridiculously early, but apparently not, with the same date in 2023 and the 11th in 2022 as the first dates for those years. 

Things started hotting up once more! 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 540 species

08/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Maple Pug 1 [NFY]
Tree-lichen Beauty 2 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Aproaerema anthyllidella 1 [NFY]
Assara terebrella 1 [NFY]
Elachista stabilella 1 [NFY]
Coleophora sp 1 (TBC)

Tree-lichen Beauty

Acleris variegana

Agonopterix subpropinquella

Aproaerema anthyllidella

Assara terebrella

Coleophora sp

Elachista stabilella

Maple Pug

 

Cooler but no cold, less moths

On the 6th of July there was a real drop in species and numbers of moths, with cooler conditions throughout the day and night, and with a north breeze blowing into the garden (being north facing).

But it was well worth the effort of getting up at 4am, as there was a tiny non-descript moth on one of the outer egg trays that I didn't initially recognise.

A quick fumble with a glass tube and it was safely retained for a better look.

The moth turned out to be Ypsolopha vittella, a first for the garden and the 8th species of Ypsolopha to be recorded here.

 

A few other select species were photographed, including a smart Southern Wainscot, and  a nice form of Common Rustic.

 

The blip wasn't too last long, as 3 days later we were reaching the high 20's/low 30's once more, coupled with muggy nights.

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 535 species

06/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Micro Moths

Ypsolopha vittella 1 [NFG]

Ypsolopha vittella

Common Rustic

Dingy Footman

Southern Wainscot

 

Hornet Moth!

I had another excellent catch on the 4th of July.

Rewind to the daytime, and when I got home from work, I did the lure bucket trap rounds and saw a large yellow moth buzzing around inside one of them. It was to be a garden first Hornet Moth (In the initial excitment I mis-identified it as a Lunar).

An excellent garden record and the 9th Clearwing species to be recorded in my garden, even better was that overnight I had two Hornets arrive at my trap, so it was nice to pop them side by side, showing how different they really are.

 

A year first Engrailed ended up on the bottom of my shoe sadly, i'm usually so careful walking around the patio! It was a moth I didn't get at all last year, and thought I might miss out on one this year (As they are a more prolific species in Spring generally). 

 

Best macro moth overnight was a really pale Garden Dart. It certainly got the heart beating for something a bit rarer, but still.. it is an uncommon moth here. 

Backed up by a cracking form of Cloaked Minor for a year first and the rather large and again scarce Phoenix, with just one previous garden record in 2023.

 

On the tiddler front, a scale perfect Acleris aspersana was the best, with another moth I missed in the spring, the second brood of Argyrotaenia ljungiana.

 

10 new species was very good indeed.

 

The warm spell continued into early July.

 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 534 species

04/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Cloaked Minor 1 [NFY]
Engrailed 1 [NFY]
Garden Dart 1 [NFY]
Hornet Moth 1 [NFG]
Phoenix 1 [NFY]
Small Fan-footed Wave 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acleris aspersana 1 [NFY]
Argyresthia goedartella 2 [NFY]
Argyrotaenia ljungiana 1 [NFY]
Blastobasis adustella 1 [NFY]

Small Fan-footed Wave

Acleris aspersana

Acompsia cinerella

Argyrotaenia ljungiana

Cloaked Minor

Garden Dart

Hornet Moth

Hornet Moth and Hornet

Phoenix

Sallow Kitten

 

From the garden moth trap

On the first of July, the trap was absolutely buzzing with insect life of all kinds, moths included.

With highs of 30 degrees and the temperature still 22 degrees at midnight, it was a very muggy night indeed.

The garden must have done over 100 species, a record number of times this has happened this year, but tiredness prevailed and just listing the new species was enough. 

 

Photographing moths in the heat is extremely hard, the hardest challenge of all. 

  

3 new species of micro moth were new for the garden! 

 

They were... 

 

Anacampsis blattariella/populella expected eventually. Specimen wasn't retained as it made a bid for freedom, so i'll have to aggregate it.

 

Aproaerema taeniolella, the only one of three similar species that can be differentiated by the white line underneath it's forewings, i've had the other pair before.

 

Pammene aurita, a surprise to the LUN lure (inteneded for the Lunar Hornet Moth) overnight. Still no Lunar Hornet Moth which is a shame, i'll carry on trying for the remainer of July.

 

Dewick's Plusia & Maiden's Blush returned 

 

A small dark Pug species was retained. 

 

Moth garden list for 2025 stands at 524 species

01/07/25 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet 1 [NFY]
Dingy Footman 1 [NFY]
Dusky Thorn 1 [NFY]
Mere Wainscot 1 [NFY]

Micro Moths

Acrobasis repandana 1 [NFY]
Anacampsis blattariella/populella 1 [NFG]
Aproaerema taeniolella 1 [NFG]
Pammene aurita 1 [NFG] (To LUN Lure)
Pammene regiana 1 [NFY]
Rhyacionia buoliana 1 [NFY]

White-spotted Pug

Acrobasis repandana

Acrobasis suavella

Anacampsis blattariella populella

Aproaerema taeniolella

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet

Dewick's Plusia

Dingy Footman

Dusky Thorn

Pammene aurita

Pammene regiana

Rosy Minor