Thursday June 16 - An excellent night's mothing

 With temperatures starting to soar, last night I felt obliged to put the trap out. I'm glad I did.

Actually it got no warmer than 11 degrees overnight, but the difference from earlier in the week was the relative lack of wind and mugginess of the evening.

The upshot was a total currently standing at 64 moths of 38 species, and because I've done less this year that translated into 21 moths new for the year.

Better still, two of those were also lifers/garden ticks. They were Cream-bordered Green Pea, and Marbled White Spot.

Like a little leaf

Cream-bordered Green Pea - definitely a moth

Despite being pretty small, the C-B Green Pea is a macro moth. Until 2018 they were rare enough in Warwickshire to be worth a mention in the Annual Moth Report (currently taking a break from annual publication), but by 2019 it was dropped as it was starting to colonise.

I've put two photos in because it needs to be distinguished from the micro Green Oak Tortrix which holds its body flat, not the little tent shape which the C-B Green Pea presents.

I had been on the look-out for this species since I started trapping, so it was an instant thrill when I turned the egg-box over and spotted it.

The second new moth had a different progression onto the list. 

Marbled White Spot

When I first spotted the Marbled White Spot fluttering against the windows of the utility room, trying to escape, I assumed it was a Marbled Minor ag. It was about the same size, and even once I'd caught it I recorded it as such. Fortunately, I did think it looked a bit funny, so when I went started to review my photos this morning I double checked to see if there was anything else it could be. 

So with a new tick in the bag I had a quick check of the available literature. Moths of Warwickshire in 2004 described it as scarce and local, with most recent records at Oversley Wood. The more recent Moth of the West Midlands (which excludes Warks) suggested it was a fairly common resident, so I guess it may be on the increase.

The best of the rest was a beautiful Barred Yellow which were my first since 2018, and a Freyer's Pug which was only my third, and the first since 2019.

Barred Yellow

The full list of year-ticks was Willow Beauty, Large Yellow Underwing, Freyer's Pug, Variegated Golden Tortrix (four), Green Pug (two), Common Wainscot (two), Cream-bordered Green Pea, Marbled White Spot, Ptycholoma lecheana, Codling Moth (two), Aleimma loeflingiana, Snout, Uncertain (two), Poplar Grey, Heart and Club, Eudonia mercurella, White Satin Moth, Barred Yellow, Riband Wave, and Clepsis consimilana.

Just to demonstrate that not all "brown" Pugs look the same, I have placed the Freyer's Pug, one of the largest, next to a Double-striped Pug which was among the also rans and is one of the smallest.

Freyer's Pug (left) and Double-striped Pug

These two were among a handful of moths discovered to be still in the utility room when I switched the light on during Thursday evening. They have now been safely released.