Monday Night Moffs

A continued theme of new moths every night continued with Monday nights catch.

 

Before the trap was lit, and when I returned from work I checked the lure bucket traps which are hanging around my garden, nothing in all of them, apart from one, where there were 3 moths inside!

The FUN or 'Grapholita funebrana' lure had struck gold. Two examples of the target species were fluttering around inside (I always bring the bucket inside now and shut the door to avoid bottom lip wobble) there was also a third species which looked most unusual.

 

It superficially resembles a species i've had here before, a very rare species and thought to some, as being a subspecies of fasciana (But my question is why have I only caught these in May) Pammene fasciana flies much later, and this species, the tentative Pammene herrichiana, never seems to fly past June.

I've since had another one which I netted at dusk. One specimen has been retained and the other let go, as they are clearly the same species.

That was pretty darn exciting and it wasn't even 5pm!

The trap wasn't too bad overnight either, with a new garden tortrix moth, the pretty (and blooming tiny) Cydia cosmophorana, a moth i've seen locally but never in my garden before.

Gold Spot lived up to it's name, such a cracking looking moth and what certainly impressed my boy.

Whilst scouring the garden for moths at stupid o' clock I noticed a mint Eyed Hawk-moth sitting in-between the fence and the shed, a gap no bigger than a foot, and probably 25ft away from the trap! Another big hit with my son.

The weather continues to be warm, infact quite muggy at times under thick cloud, and then the cloud just vanishes and we are left with a clear moon-lit night, far from ideal.

 

Moth garden list for 2024 stands at 189 species

 

13/05/24 - Back Garden - Fordham - East Cambridgeshire - Actinic Trap

Macro Moths

Eyed Hawk-moth 1 [NFY]
Gold Spot 1 [NFY]
Brimstone Moth 1
Chinese Character 2
Common Pug 1
Common Swift 1
Coronet 1
Figure of Eighty 1
Green Carpet 1
Light Brocade 1
Lime Hawk-moth 1
Marbled Minor 4
Oak-tree Pug 1
Orange Footman 1
Pale Tussock 2
Poplar Grey 1
Puss Moth
Rustic Shoulder-knot 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 5
Swallow Prominent 1
Treble Lines 2
Turnip Moth 2
White Ermine 1
Willow Beauty 1
Yellow-barred Brindle 1

Micro Moths

Cydia cosmophorana 1 [NFG]
Grapholita funebrana 2 [NFY] (to FUN lure)
Pammene herrichiana (probably) 1 [NFY] (to FUN lure)
Argyresthia trifasciata 1
Epiblema scutulana 1
Epiphyas postvittana 5
Evergestis forficalis 1
Plutella xylostella 2
Pseudoswammerdamia combinella 1

Cydia cosmophorana

Eyed Hawk-moth

Gold Spot

Grapholita funebrana

Pammene herrichiana?

Pseudoswammerdamia combinella