Epic moth session part 2 - The best of the rest

 Right, so here we go again. The really good stuff caught last night is written up in the previous post, but the remainder was not too shabby.

I'll start with a couple of moths which deserve to be moved to the front of the queue for several reasons. They both look great, and they were nearly garden ticks. The first is a moth I saw in our bathroom in 2015, and is therefore on my "wildlife of the garden" list from before I bought a moth trap. Small Phoenix has kept me waiting since then to qualify for this blog.

Small Phoenix

This species can vary a bit in the pattern of its markings. The 2015 was a classic pattern, but last night's moth looked much more similar to a moth called Phoenix, an example of which I caught in 2018. Fortunately the Small Phoenix was erm...smaller than a Phoenix would be.

The second moth to elbow its way to the front was a species I see regularly at Morton Bagot, but have only seen once in the garden (2018), and on that occasion it evaded my camera. The Blood-vein is also an especially pretty beast.

Blood-vein

So having dealt with those two, I'll list the rest in the order in which I found them. 

I can rarely resist checking the moths which are attracted to the light of the utility room and kitchen once the trap is switched on, and one of the first to appear cut a distinctive shape. I did not catch an Oak Hook-tip last year, so that made it particularly special.

Oak Hook-tip

The second moth I detained was a Mouse Moth. This is a rather unassuming species, and in fact the one caught was rather worn, so I'm showing the second (which I found in the trap during the morning).

Mouse Moth

Actually, this very fresh individual looked a bit odd , as they normally show two tiny black dots on the outer wing, not a single heart shaped one. However, I couldn't find anything else in the book which matched my photo, so I decided it was just natural variation. I may get it checked.

The third "new for the year" moth from the evening was a Lesser Broad-bodied Yellow Underwing. This is a pretty common species, and I should catch plenty more before the end of the month. Unfortunately, by morning it was determined to fly off and was quivering its wings as I took the photo.

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Cut to this morning and the excitement of turning over egg-boxes to see what I'd caught. New for the year were: Rhyacionia pinicolana (one previous record - last year), Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix, Lime-speck Pug (second record - first was last year), and finally Common Carpet (only previously recorded in 2018).

Rhyacionia pincolana (a rather faded one)

Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix

Lime-speck Pug

Common Carpet

So lets talk about numbers. Way out in front (as intimated in Part 1) was Water Veneer with 62 examples. The next six were:

Crassa unitella - nine, 

Eudonia lacustrata - seven

Large Yellow Underwing - seven

Dusky Thorn - seven

Shuttle-shaped Dart - seven

Flame Shoulder - six

Also well represented were Cloaked Minor - five, Garden Grass Veneer (just four), and Light Brown Apple Moth - four.

Out of the remainder of the grand total of 54 species of moths recorded, Limnaecia phragmitella was only the second record, and one of two Knot Grass was unexpectedly large.

I tend not to mention other insects caught, but one beetle was so enormous that I can't resist showing it.

Thanks to Lloyd Evans for putting a name to it.

A female Lesser Stag Beetle

PS: During the evening I found the moth identified without my glasses in the bathroom last night as a Mother of Pearl was actually a Willow Beauty. Another trip to Specsavers could be required. Also in the bathroom was a micro Ypsolopha scabrella. Its probably pushing it to suggest that that too had been there since the night before.

Ypsolopha scabrella

Also, I had left the trap out overnight to allow the last two moths to escape, but was concerned to see one still in it this morning. The reason soon became clear, it had died. One upside (though not from the moth's point of view) was that it was a Common Rustic ag (either Common Rustic or Lesser Common Rustic), this means I can arrange to have it examined under a microscope so that at least one of this aggregated species will have been identified for certain.

Lesser Common Rustic

Update: The recorder has confirmed the deceased moth's identity as a Lesser Common Rustic. This species is less common, but equally widespread, as the Common Rustic. Ironically I have never had a Common Rustic die unexpectedly, so although most of my Common Rustic ags are probably Common Rustics, I cannot prove that is the case.

This was the first Lesser Common Rustic to have been confirmed for SP06.