Back to garden mothing after a few cool nights

Slightly warmer last night (But only just) with lows of 10.5 degrees, still a bit below ideal temperatures for August.

The previous 2 or 3 nights it dipped to 8 degrees and just wasn't worth trapping.

Well i'm glad I decided to get the light back on last night.

Around 80 moths were recorded, half of which were made up with 30 odd Scrobipalpa ocellatella and 20 odd Bryotropha domestica, crazy numbers.

The remaining 35 species were made up of 1's, 2's and 3's. 

But, amongst those moths, were some real crackers.

Lets run through the photos of the species that I took.

Two grass moths are regular here now, both Agriphila geniculea & Agriphila tristella are common enough, with the odd Agriphila straminella amongst them.

Chinese Character, first of the 2nd broods which I rarely see.

A very photogenic mint Cochylis dubitana was good to see, never common and discernible by it's black thorax and white head & frons (In atricapitana, the facial areas are all black).

Moving onto the biggest shock, a confirmed Coleophora clypeiferella, a first for me and pretty rare in Cambs (with just 2 previous county records in 2012) ''The adult moths have an unusual sclerotised plate on the top of the abdomen containing small spines, which it is believed is used to help break out of the pupal cocoon''. These were evident when the moth was spread out.

It is a nationally Scarce A species.

Gypsy Moth turned up the day after hanging it's target lure in the garden. 2 turned up yesterday and one today. The lure has now been packed away.

I get these to the trap at night as well.

Homoeosoma nebulella was the next best micro moth, a second record for the garden after a I took one on the 2nd of July.

Both were retained incase of the similar (but smaller and coastal) nimbella, but i'm pretty confident both of mine are nebulella.

 

Marbled Clover, what a stunning moth. This is the 3rd this year and I actually managed to coax it to open it's wings briefly to show it's black and buff chequered hindwings, always pleasing to see and a Breckland speciality.

 

Nemapogon cloacella, unbelievably this isn't common here, whereas granella is common! From past experience granella has been non-existent and cloacella abundant, well.... not in my garden!

Tawny-barred Angle & Yellow-barred Brindle, both 2nd broods now on the wing in the garden, the latter so smart and my son was suitably impressed by it (Being is favourite colour). 

And lastly, a classic Yponomeuta rorrella amongst the other 3 aggregate Yponomeuta species (evonymella seems to have dried up here now).

After that lot, I need a well deserved cup of tea.

Happy mothing and hopefully the traps will get busier as the night time temperatures tick up, night on night.

Moth garden list for 2022 stands at 592 species

07/08/22 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

 

Macro Moths

 

Gypsy Moth 2 [NFY]

Chinese Character 1

Marbled Clover 1

Tawny-barred Angle 1

Yellow-barred Brindle 1

Micro Moths

Coleophora clypeiferella 1 [NEW!]

Agriphila geniculea 3

Agriphila tristella 6

Cochylis dubitana 1

Homoeosoma nebulella 1

Nemapogon cloacella 1

Pyrausta despicata 1

Yponomeuta rorrella 1

 

Agriphila geniculea

Agriphila tristella

Cochylis dubitana showing head detail

Cochylis dubitana

Coleophora clypeiferella showing the sclerotised plate

Coleophora clypeiferella

Gypsy Moth

Homoeosoma nebulella

Marbled Clover

Pyrausta despicata

Tawny-barred Angle

Yellow-barred Brindle

Yponomeuta rorrella