Having Kittens

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GasMacc1
Posts: 175
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:10 am

Having Kittens

Post by GasMacc1 »

Having Kittens:

On Sunday night, I found the moth in Picture 1 in the trap (in Tytherington, Macclesfield).

Initially, I guessed it was a Sallow Kitten (mainly because I remember getting one a couple of years ago !), but I thought I’d better work through the books to make sure. The more I read, the more the doubts crept in. Was it really a Poplar Kitten ? The dark central cross-band is actually on the blackish side of grey, so was it even an Alder Kitten ?

To cut to the chase, I’ve finally settled on Poplar Kitten.

I ruled out Alder Kitten, as its cross-band is supposed to be “pinched” at the leading edge, spreading “almost to the trailing corner”. In my Picture 1, the cross-band is of roughly uniform width. I looked back through my records, and found that an Alder Kitten had come to the trap in my garden in June 2016. My photo of it (Picture 2) shows the cross-band feature of the Alder Kitten quite clearly.

Even though Waring and Townsend lists Sallow Kitten as “Common”, whereas Poplar and Alder are “Local”, there are three distinguishing characteristics of Poplar Kitten which have led me to make the ID: the gentle curve of the outer edge of the central cross-band, the thick, black outline in the leading half of that edge, and the forewing length of 16-22mm.

These characteristics contrast with the Sallow Kitten that I recorded later in June 2016, (Picture 3). The irregular outer edge of the central cross-band, and the lack of a thick black outline can be seen in the photo.

The moth on Sunday night had a forewing length just over 18mm. Whilst that is right at the top of the range for the Sallow Kitten, it’s plum in the middle for the Poplar Kitten.

So, I’ve set out my rationale for Poplar Kitten. I’d be grateful for confirmation !

Picture 1: Poplar Kitten ?
Picture 1: Poplar Kitten ?
Picture 2: Alder Kitten (4th June 2016)
Picture 2: Alder Kitten (4th June 2016)
Picture 3: Sallow Kitten (22nd June 2016)
Picture 3: Sallow Kitten (22nd June 2016)
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Greg
Posts: 1508
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:10 am
Location: Davenham Nr Northwich

Re: Having Kittens

Post by Greg »

Good Morning,

The Poplar Kitten is larger and more robust than the Sallow Kitten, also the black outer edge of cross band is bolder and gently curved, whereas the Sallow Kitten is irregular and faintly outlined in black.
So yes, I agree, yours is a Poplar Kitten.

Regards,
Greg

GasMacc1
Posts: 175
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:10 am

Re: Having Kittens

Post by GasMacc1 »

Thanks very much, Greg.

melbellingham
Posts: 834
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:00 pm
Location: Great Sutton, Cheshire. Mapmate.

Re: Having Kittens

Post by melbellingham »

Hi,

Your post shows that you have obviously taken the trouble to double check the identification of your moth. Like most recorders these days you have a trusted copy of Waring, Townsend and Lewington.

Please don’t take this reply as a criticism as it is not, but I would like to add the following, which might help recorders not familiar with the status and distribution catagories.

You had considered the status of each of your possible species, and made reference to ‘common’ and ‘local’ catagories, which is part of the process of identification. However, for anyone new to mothing, it is worth mentioning that the status catagories of the species are ‘National Catagories’ and not ‘County Catagories’.

When I first started mothing, I almost expected to catch all of the species that were listed as ‘Common’, but sadly 16 years later, I still haven’t seen many of them.

A ‘Common’ moth is one that has been recorded in over 300 10km squares since 1 Jan 1960.
A ‘Local’ moth is one that has been recorded from 101-300 10km squares since 1 Jan 1960.

This means that a moth can be classed as ‘Common, but might not be recorded often in a County, or might not even be recorded in a County at all.

Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) is ‘Common’ and has over 18,800 records on my out of date Mapmate database, whereas Heart and Club (Agrotis clavis), also classed as ‘Common’, has 69 records, and I'm still waiting for one to turn up in my garden.

Mel.

GasMacc1
Posts: 175
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:10 am

Re: Having Kittens

Post by GasMacc1 »

Yes, that's a very good point, Mel, thanks.

I often try to get more of a county-view by looking on the Cheshire Moths site: http://www.cheshiremothcharts.com

For the current week, over the last twenty years, I noticed that Poplar Kitten and Sallow Kitten were tied at 14 records each, which underlines the point you are making !

In fact, I suppose there are great variations even within the county, so I sometimes drill down into the records to see whether a particular species is mainly recorded in west or east.

And, even though there may be few (or no) records of a particular species, there's always the possibility that one might visit your trap !

stevehind
Posts: 2908
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:44 am
Location: Higher Poynton, Cheshire

Re: Having Kittens

Post by stevehind »

Steve Holmes and I are working with Gary Hedges from the Tanyptera Trust to produce a set of 2km distribution maps for all the moths of Cheshire. Each map will also include the number of records on the database and a brief summary of the species status in the county, so hopefully once this is available it should give everyone more of an idea about the status of the moths in Cheshire.

Regards,
Steve

SteveH
Posts: 2072
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:50 am
Location: Elton, Cheshire

Re: Having Kittens

Post by SteveH »

Phew !

I just completed my initial overview of the first pass of all the 1,400+ maps; they do look good and will hopefully make life easier in instances which brought about this thread.

I'm not sure how long it will be before they become available on-line but either Steve Hind or I will let you know when, and where to find them.

Cheers,
Steve

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