Monday June 7 - moth confusion

 It's now Tuesday June 8 and I just finished sorting out last night's moths. In case you're wondering, I have deliberately titled this post for Monday because that's when the trap went out, so that's the date the moths are recorded as being present. I haven't lost it completely. 

Or perhaps I have, because I made a right mess of trying to get fellow moth-ers to verify some of my more confusing moths. In particular a rather unexciting moth resting on the door of the downstairs loo. (I should explain that I haul the trap into the utility room before dawn and then return to bed for a couple of hours. By the time I return several have always escaped and are awaiting recapture). Anyway, the moth shown looked rather like a moth called, appropriately enough, the Uncertain. But it was a bit early in the year for them to be flying about, only a couple of weeks, but enough. Exhibit A below, taken on the toilet door.

Exhibit A

When I started going through the trap I found a couple of Vine's Rustics, they are similar to Uncertains, but are paler and greyer. It is also right in the middle of their normal flight period. On rephotographing the "Uncertain" in better light I noticed it looked paler, more Vine's Rustic-like. I give you Exhibit B.

Exhibit B

I had a plan. I would Tweet the two images of the Uncertain/Vine's Rustic to @UkMothidentification for his opinion, making it clear they were two images of the same moth. What could possibly go wrong?

The answer is that I Tweeted images of two different moths and stated they were the same moth. The interloper was one of the definite Vine's Rustics, Exhibit C.

Exhibit C

I don't know what the experts thought on viewing the two images (Exhibits A and C), but the answer I got back was Vine's Rustic. 

I actually only caught 20 moths, but the last of those (discovered several hours later) was new for the garden. The Cypress Tip Moth Argyresthia cupressella is tiny, but to my relief is identifiable from photographs.

Cypress Tip Moth

This moth is actually adventive. This means it is a foreign species co-opted onto the British list after escaping from imported plants and then spreading in the wild. It's real home is North America.

The full list was:

Cypress Tip Moth 1 (nfg),   Coleophora ag 2 (nfy),    Light Brown Apple Moth 3,     Codling Moth 2 (nfy),  Common Pug 1,    Ochreous Pug 1,    Common Marbled Carpet 1,    Orange Footman 2 (nfy),

Vine's Rustic 3,     Treble Lines 1    Heart and Dart 3.

Friday night looks like being warm, which will mean lots of moths. How will I cope?