Mothing 2012!

[goosey]

Well, after all these years why haven't we got a mothing thread .
So here we are, just for those lovely mothing finds, stories and piccies. Please, please join in!

Members which have been here a few years or more will know I am a bit of a moth-er, well in the spring and summer months anyway. I don't trap (haven't got one - if there was a place I could hire one I would be up for that but I doubt my neighbours would be impressed, they have enough to put up with their eccentric neighbour flashing (the camera ) well into the night) but can be found most evening for a few hours with a torch, step ladder and camera on the look out for the little beauties in the garden. The garden/ glorified yard is tiny, we live in town and in a terrace so even though I plant and do everything poss' to attract moths, butterflies and other insects I am limited to my environment really.
I also register my finds on Back Barden Moths aiming to find more than 100 species every year.

I have had a few finds this year, Double striped Pugs this last week, very common in my garden and about the only pug I can confidently ID and the Plume moth Emmelina monodactyla which is one of the few moths which can be seen 12 months of the year. Today I found an Angle shades but I will get back to you about that ( I know you can hardly contain yourselves ).
Usually though it is the middle to the end o fApril when mothing kicks off in the garden.

I thought that Chris Butterworth was a possible moth ally after something he said on another thread, but alas no, actually his answer was almost panic stricken at the thought .

So if you are out and find some of the day flying moths or any from your garden or allotment, tell us, because I will be telling you if you wan't to know or not .

[goosey]

I was so pleased to see this recently emerged Angle shades - Phlogophora meticulosa on the wall this morning. I had no idea the pupa was there, and looking at the remains in a gap between the bricks it looks so much smaller than what came out of it.
When I spotted it the wings hadn't unfurled, but five minutes later they were almost 100% open. Not long after this the wings were flipped above the body where they stayed like that for almost an hour before brought down in to the rest position.
Mothing has begun .

11.55. When I first spotted it.



12.05. Almost fully unfurled.



12.07. Held above the body to dry out.



12.56. Fully dry and not long before flying off some where less exposed.

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Goosey,

Excellent timing with the Angle Shades :-)

I do realise that these are not what you were on about, but I thought I'd finally dump some of the shots that I prepared a while back on WATW nevertheless, just to get your topic started ;o)






... ahw duh ... maximum exceeded ... oh well, they're off-topic anyway

That's all I have time for today.

If you wish I'll try and dump any European Moths I encounter this year in this topic, but don't expect me to try and find any names myself - I'll just throw them at you "for ID" so you may practice - okay ?

Cheers, Arp

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Goosey,

Just remembered that a week or so ago I pointed the camera at a little moth that had brought itself to relative safety, evacuating a rotting log that I turned over.

Shady brush, so hopeless for my camera really - one with, one without flash, both useless

Lonnekermeer near Hengelo, Netherlands; March 23rd 2012. Wingspan some 15mm (or slightly more?).

Any ideas?

Cheers, Arp

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Hi Goosey,

Just remembered that a week or so ago I pointed the camera at a little moth that had brought itself to relative safety, evacuating a rotting log that I turned over.

Shady brush, so hopeless for my camera really - one with, one without flash, both useless

Lonnekermeer near Hengelo, Netherlands; March 23rd 2012. Wingspan some 15mm (or slightly more?).

Any ideas?

Cheers, Arp

Its a Pug!!!! , do you know how notoriously difficult Pugs are to ID, and there are loads of them all variable and colour being of no help at all .

The only thing is that there aren't so many on the wing in March, thats the good news, the bad is, that the moth I think is a possible isn't around until May.

White-spotted Pug - Eupithecia tripunctaria is what I was thinking of but I would take that with a pinch of salt and just put it down as a Pug Sp. (Geometridae Larentiinae)

The Indonesian moths are lovely aren't they, similar to some of the European moths but just that bit more exotic, easy to see though which of the European moths they are related to.
It is lovely to have them oin the gallery.

[Drosera]

Found in a toilet in Wales.

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by goosey

Its a Pug!!!!

You failed to specify that I couldn't offer those for ID

White-spotted Pug - Eupithecia tripunctaria is what I was thinking of...

Close, close - much closer than I would ever get ... but the admin on waarneming.nl seems to think it should be Eupithecia abbreviata (Brindled Pug), which seems to correlate with the time of year rather nicely (as noted by yourself tripunctaria seems to be due a tad later).

@Drosera: Aren't Hawk-moths just gorgeous? Nice find!
Cheers, Arp

P.S. Do caterpillars count as "Moths" too?

[Drosera]

One more from me.

[goosey]

So far mothing in the garden has been very slow, but that isn't surprising but very soon things should perk up. Also I am finding moth larvae thank goodness.

Today a welcome return of a species I see every year - a lovely little day flying micro moth an Esperia sulphurella.

[goosey]

I still haven't found much of interest by way of moths in the garden, more Esperia sulphurella and thats about it which I have been able to ID straight off, though we have had a few passing in the evening. But things have started to come into flower and I have palnted the annuals so it might not be too long .

I was out and about today and saw my first longhorn moths od the year. I had checked out one place where I often see hundreds and hundreds this time of year with no luck. I looked in another place which is usually alive with them and low and behold yes, Adela reaumurella's. Not many, only about 10 but they have started to emerge, these wonderful dayflying micro moths which dance in the air with the light catching the metalic sheen to their wings, and amazingly long antennae. I always see them around/on hawthorn.

This is a male with its hairy head, but females were present too.

[goosey]

I could scream! All this time on and mothing is soooo slow.
I go out every evening and see a macro moths out and about in the street but even when they have come into the front garden never stayed long enough for me to get an ID or a photo.

The back garden has proved a little better, just micro moths though.
There have been 3 Esperia sulphurella's I have seen during the day at any one time and I have recorded 18 sightings of these. My best visitors were the long horns I mentioned in the last post Adela reaumurella's. On the 7th May I saw one female followed by a male and female on the 11th.

As the weather improves and more and more of my moth attracting flowers come into flower, with bated breath I say more should arrive!

Here is my total sad list of moths which have visited the garden in 2012.
This time last year I had recorded 19 species.

The number at the front is the Bradley and Fletcher reference number.
Each moth having its own number and is used in many British Lepidoptera sources a very useful and time saving system (and I just wish the the world of Mycology worked on the same system ).


1524 Emmelina monodactyla - Plume moth
647 Hofmannophila pseudospretella Brown House-moth
649 Esperia sulphurella
483 Epermenia chaerophyllella
130 Incurvaria masculella
314 Leucospilapteryx omissella
150 Adela reaumurella
648 Endrosis sarcitrella - White-shouldered house moth
1862 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata - Double-striped pug
2306 Phlogophora meticulosa - Angle shades

Moth images for 2012 can be seen here on the My wildlife friendly garden website gallery.
http://mywildlifefriendlygarden.zenfolio.com/p637767413

[goosey]

I am seeing a few more moths and species now, the highlight being a pair of small elephant hawk-moths which have been around most evenings for a week.
last night saw the arrival of Silver Y's, just three but they were most welcome. On a hot night other years it hasn't been unusual to have 15-20 in at the same time.
Another nice visitor has been a Lychnis. I saw this two nights ago and it was raining quite hard.



I have noticed this other years some moths like Large yellow underwings are not perturbed by wind and rain.

I am still onlyup to 25 species now, this time last year I was on 49 .

I think the major reason for such low sightings are bats, they are around physically hunting very low over the garden and around the honeysuckle, some times I can actually feel the draught over my head when they pass. It is wonderful to have bats around but I do wish they would hunt else where .

[goosey]

Finally things are on the up, last night I had 15 species in the garden, no brand new species for the garden but afew new for 2012. Other moths flew over or I lost sight of before I could visually ID them or get a photo.

1035 Acleris bergmanniana
985 Cacoecimorpha pronubana - Carnation Tortrix
1010 Ditula angustiorana_ Red-barred tortrix
2322 Apamea lithoxylaea - light arches
1742 Camptogramma bilineata - Yellow shell
2492 Herminia grisealis - Small fan-foot
2107 Noctua pronuba - Large Yellow Underwing
2441 Autographa gamma - Silver Y
1728 Xanthorhoe fluctuata - Garden carpet
1707 Idaea seriata - Small dusty wave
1702 Idaea biselata - Small Fan-footed Wave
1862 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata - Double-striped pug
1083 Hedya nubiferana - Marbled Orchard Tortrix


+ 2 unidentified


I was chuffed on the 14th when a Hummingbird hawk moth (day flying moth)was in for quite a while feeding.



Last night there was another hawk-moth around one of the large ones, its funny as I often know they are around because I hear them before I see them, the wings must beat very loudly. But I couldn't locate it in the honeysuckle, then when I did it flew off - argh!!!!

I am upto 38 species now that is 18 macro and 20 micro moths withe a few to be ID's.

I try to get photo's of everything, even poor images can help with an ID, but it isn't easy to spot them some prefer the underside of a lef others prefer the top, some hover when they feed, some are continuously on the go from plant to plant, some like garden carpet almost skim the ground. Luckily the Noctuids tend to stay put and aren't so bothered by me and the camera. Not all moths like the light , some are off at first sight of the torch or flash.

[goosey]

Things are continuing to improve, once the Buddleias flower I am hoping for a influx. At the moment its thank goodness for the Lavender, Lobelia and the remains of the honeysuckle. Having a look around on the shed and walls usually throws up some sleeping moths, usually Geometers like pugs and waves.

I have now recorded 53 species in the garden for 2012.

Here are some images from this week.

[goosey]

I have had an interesting few days, moth sightings and species are on the up, I am now on 58 species and a few new to the garden completely including an Engrailed and these two.............


I found what I thought were a couple of inconspicuous micro moths and when I added them to my data base on Back Garden Moths had messages back about them.

I thought it was a Yponomeuta sp but didn't know which and put it up for ID as there are a few which look similar. But it turns out it is a Ethmia terminella and was told that UK Moths (a brilliant resource for moth entusiasts) are needing images of this moth so I have just submitted them, whether they will be used or not I don't know.





This is a Blastobasis phycidella, when I submitted this one I was told to give the details to a moth recorder here in NL. I don't know any though and don't belong to a group so I have given the details and images to waarneming .nl . It turns out this is a rare species and on the red list.

[goosey]

There were a few nice finds yesterday (16 moths 14 species), and two totally new species for me.
(I am trying to find a way of uploading my 2012 species list so you can see the whole lot, but when I try it all gets shuffled )

This is a new micro to the garden, absolutely tiny, a Batia lunaris.




One I have had previous years but it was the first time I have seen one this year, Axylia putris - The Flame.



The larvae of the Brown-tail - Euproctis chrysorrhoea are meant to be pests because the hairs cause skin irritation, why anyone would want to touch them in the first place I don't know. Often they are seen in webs containing large numbers of the larvae but I get them in the garden and I have never had more than 4 in the hawthorn. This year we had larvae and when they disappeared I hunted for the pupae so I could keep an eye on them but couldn't find any.
So yesterday I was so surprised to see this newly emerged brown-tail moth on the shed, straight out of the cocoon. The stupid thing is I noticed the cocoon weeks ago behind the hawthorn and though it was leaf stuck to the shed with cobwebs on
This is the first adult I have ever seen in the garden . Funny that, I often find larvae but never see an adult before or after.

[goosey]

The last three nights mothing has been so disappointing and one a total wash-out.
I thought things were on the up on Friday too with two hawk-moths visiting, an Elephant HM (totally new to the garden although we have had plenty of Small elephant HM over the last couple of years) and a Pine HM, the piccies were rubbish but at least Ihave something as proof , more than can be said for a beautiful Burished brass - that one was my fault. It was on the Vipers Bugloss with some silver Y's and being the same shape and size with the smae sort of feeding manner I ignored it for one, and one my torch caught the golden wings it was too late it was off like a shot.
There was a pair of Laxostega sticticalis which crawled out of the Red Valerian and on to the window - they were a nice surprise. large micro moths which I have never seen before.

A little bit of excitement yesterday with a potential moth, when I found this while pulling some spent Campanula flowers out and there it was. I think I must have damaged it and cause the hole when I pulled the flowers away. It looks similar to the Brown-tail moth I found on the shed last week but on the other side of the shed. IF i hadn't damaged it it may have been easier to say it is or isn't.

[Suzanne B]

I've only just realised that there is a specific mothing thread while I was looking at the above cocoon of yours in the gallery and it brought me here! .
Today I found a similar cocoon on my watering can , no photos as my camera died on me but I'll get one tomorrow if its still there. I thought it was a spider cocoon (if they have them ) so didn't delay in putting it at the far end of the allotment. I'll go and retrieve it tomorrow
Anyway, I digress, I have a moth for id please. I haven't had chance to look myself yet and know that as there are some keen mothers () on here I'd let you have a look first.


I disturbed it whilst strimming and was surprised to see what a beautiful moth it was. It looked quite iridescent.
Any ideas please?

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Suzanne B

I've only just realised that there is a specific mothing thread while I was looking at the above cocoon of yours in the gallery and it brought me here! .
Today I found a similar cocoon on my watering can , no photos as my camera died on me but I'll get one tomorrow if its still there. I thought it was a spider cocoon (if they have them ) so didn't delay in putting it at the far end of the allotment. I'll go and retrieve it tomorrow
Anyway, I digress, I have a moth for id please. I haven't had chance to look myself yet and know that as there are some keen mothers () on here I'd let you have a look first.


I disturbed it whilst strimming and was surprised to see what a beautiful moth it was. It looked quite iridescent.
Any ideas please?

What a nice find! it is a Burnished Brass - Diachrysia chrysitis, just what I mentioned missing getting a piccie of in the last post!
You are right about the iridescent look, in the dark and in flight they just shimmer like gold (or perhaps that should be burnished brass ) - lovely moths .

[Suzanne B]

Well I never, how odd, what a coincidence and how bizarre!
(wonder if it was the same one? ........probably not )
I hardly ever see moths really, probably as my eyes aren't tuned in for them and I'm mostly up the allotment or out and about in daylight hours . But this one however was a lovely find and an absolute beauty.
Thanks for the quick id and I'm glad I now know what moth you were on about in your post.

[goosey]

Moths seen around the garden are still at an all time low. I have used too wet, too cold, too windy too early and the right plants not in flower as possibly reasons. Now I have four Buddleias, Lythrum and phlox in flower, the lavender and Vipers bugloss just coming to an end and the the Eupatorium with in days of flowering lack of food and larvaal plants are not a reason.

I am seeing moths, don't get me wrong but I am totally flumxed by the situation.

The good news is I have plenty of young larvae around, still lots on the Red campion eating the seeds (see post Unsure) I don't know where the last lot went off to pupate though.
There are also pug larvae, and angleshades seen recently.

Last night was another abysmal night with regards to moths, but there was a bit of excitement .
I saw a Silver Y acting very erratically, the way white butterflies do when they are looking for somewhere to egg lay.
My instinct was right and it started to lay eggs, one at a time at great speed with no thought or preference to plants, I could hardly keep up with it. It laid eggs on Eupatorium, Phlox, lavender, Monarda, honeysuckle and even an empty cluster of red campion seed heads.
I took a picture but you can't see much detail, if I hadn't seen it being laid here I would never have spotted it on the underside of a Marvel of Peru leaf.



Here is my list of moth species seen in the garden in 2012 up to now. Database
The date is the first time they were seen and the purple 'new' indicates this is the first time I have seen them in the garden since I started mothing in 2007.

[Suzanne B]

Originally Posted by goosey

A little bit of excitement yesterday with a potential moth, when I found this while pulling some spent Campanula flowers out and there it was. I think I must have damaged it and cause the hole when I pulled the flowers away. It looks similar to the Brown-tail moth I found on the shed last week but on the other side of the shed. IF i hadn't damaged it it may have been easier to say it is or isn't.

Originally Posted by Suzanne B

Today I found a similar cocoon on my watering can , no photos as my camera died on me but I'll get one tomorrow if its still there. I thought it was a spider cocoon (if they have them ) so didn't delay in putting it at the far end of the allotment. I'll go and retrieve it tomorrow

This is the one I was on about yesterday, is this a moth cocoon as well?

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Suzanne B

This is the one I was on about yesterday, is this a moth cocoon as well?

I think (hope ) that it is a moth cocoon, some do have these hairy type. If it is there is a chance it is a Lymantrid species.

Have you noticed any change?

[Suzanne B]

Unfortunately not, I haven't been up as it's rained the last two days, hopefully I'll get up tomorrow. What sort of time scale do they remain in cocoons? (just wondering if I'll be in time.)

[Suzanne B]

Originally Posted by goosey

I think (hope ) that it is a moth cocoon, some do have these hairy type. If it is there is a chance it is a Lymantrid species.

Have you noticed any change?

I went up yesterday and it was still there and looked like this

It doesn't look much different to me, what do you think?