It was always going to be a good one, and within an hour the trap was full of insects. A lot of them were the doomed backswimmers (Water-boatmen I suppose), and seeing their plight always makes me feel a bit sick if I'm honest. The same can be said for the micro Water Veneer. Its strategy of a massive emergence of males on a warm night is no doubt very effective, but 62 of them found their way into my trap, and they were all dead by morning. Perhaps, like the May-fly, they are only programmed to survive one night as an adult.
Fortunately the remaining moths survive well, and my total as I write stands at 180 moths of 54 species. These included six that were new for the garden, and a further nine which were new for the year.
Two of the new ones were macros; a Pine Carpet and an Olive. The former is scarcer in Warwickshire than its relative the Grey Pine Carpet, and I was glad to receive confirmation that it was indeed that species.
 |
| Pine Carpet |
The key feature is the V shaped indentation along the top (inner) edge of the darker orange band across its wings. Grey Pine Carpet does not show that.
The Olive is a fairly distinctive moth, but I still only realised it was something new as I reviewed my photographs. Its food plants include Poplars, so it shouldn't be too big a surprise.
 |
| Olive |
It seems to be a rather worn individual.
The four micros included the best looking moth of the night; Ypsolopha sequella, (its an absolute stunner, but only 9mm long). However, it was a giant compared to two of the other three. A pair of Apple Leaf Miners were making babies on the window pane, and the female is no doubt now preparing to lay her eggs into one of the leaves of our huge apple tree. I almost didn't realise they were moths at first glance as they measure a dinky 4mm in length.
 |
| Ypsolopha sequella |
 |
| Apple Leaf Miner |
The third tiny moth was a member of the Gracillariidae family, most of which are characterised by super long front legs which give them a perching position rather like a miniature rocket due to be launched skywards. At around 6 mm long I was afraid it might be unidentifiable, but I came up with the name Aspilapteryx tringipennella and my on-line expert confirmed it.
 |
| Aspilapteryx tringipennella |
Last, and also least, of the new ones was a grass moth called Agriphila inquinatella. As micros go, we are back in the land of the giants; 12mm. I initially thought it was something else (Agriphila geniculea), but it looked subtly different.
 |
| Agriphila inquinatella |
Actually I wasn't at all sure about it, but my phone a friend concurred. This moth is supposed to be fairly common, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if I've been overlooking them.
I was going to carry on about all the other moths caught but that would make this post too long, so it will be a case of .....to be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment