More garden moths - 30 June/01July

A cloudy night with the temperature holding up at 14 degrees C.

Excluding a few escapees and a very worn noctuid which the expert told me to ignore, I ended up with 72 moths of 33 species. I needed UKmothID to reidentify a micro to give me the second of two new species for the garden.

The one I got right was Limnaecia phragmitella a tiny wetland moth which may have come from either Arrow Valley Lake or Ipsley Alders.

Limnaecia phragmitella

The other one was a pretty little tortrix which I have been told is Gypsonoma oppressana, which the books say is locally distributed in the UK. The caterpillar feeds on poplar so it is not such an unexpected arrival on the garden list.

Gypsonoma oppressana

The remainder included the following which were new for the year: Yellow-tail, Silver Y, Smoky Wainscot, Clouded Silver, Ruby Tiger, Single-dotted Wave, Lozotaeniodes formosana, and Blastodacna hellerella/atra. The last species named is an either/or which can only be identified under a microscope.

Yellow-tail (the underside view is the most useful for identification)

Silver Y

Smoky Wainscot

Clouded Silver

Ruby Tiger

Single-dotted Wave

Lozotaeniodes formosana

Blastodacna hellerella (confirmed by gen det)

The Silver Y is a common migrant, while the rest are presumably resident locally. While I was minding the trap last night, at least two large pale moths which I suspected were Light Emeralds fluttered around the fence but did not settle. I wonder how many other moths miss the trap.

The full list was as follows:

Bird-cherry Ermine 5, Blastodacna ag (nfy) 1, Crassa unitella 1, Limnaecia phragmitella (nfg) 1, Cnephasia ag 1, Red-barred Tortrix 1, Clepsis consimilana 1, Lozotaeniodes formosana (nfy) 1, Cydia striana 1, Gypsonoma oppressana (nfg) 1, Codling Moth 3, Phycita roberella 1, Eudonia lacustrata 1, Eudonia mercurella 1, Crambus pascuella 7, Garden Grass-veneer 7, Single-dotted Wave (nfy) 1, Treble Brown Spot 1, Riband Wave 3, Clouded Silver (nfy) 1, Yellow-tail (nfy) 1, Ruby Tiger (nfy) 1, Common Footman 2, Silver Y (nfy) 2, Coronet 1, Uncertain 5, Dark Arches 2, Dun-Bar 1, Smoky Wainscot (nfy) 3, Heart and Dart 11, Flame 1, Large Yellow Underwing 1, Double Square Spot 1.