Higher Poynton Garden

[stevehind]

Higher Poynton Garden:

Mothing has been good here in my Higher Poynton garden since the weather improved and in the last eleven nights in May, with a few daytime sightings, I’ve clocked up 539 moths of 92 species. The highlights have been only my second ever Lime-speck Pug and Waved Umber; two Seraphim on 30th (only two previous records); new record annual totals for Nematopogon schwarziellus (7), Tinea trinotella (10) and Agonopterix propinquella (3). Also high numbers of Coleophora albicosta (6) and Green Carpet (7).

Regards
Steve

[SteveH]

Elton Garden:

We echo the scale of recent improvement Steve talks about too. Since the warmer nights have been with us, trapping sessions have been considerably better. So much so, that the 69 species we recorded up to the end of May made it our 4th best year to that point on record - though still a mile away from last years 104.

last night brought in our first Lime Hawk-moth of the year amongst a total of 23 species - one of which is the unidentified micro pictured below. I've poured over books and have come up blank - though I've a nagging feeling I should know what it is! Its about 4.5-5mm long, is more black than the photo suggests and is in fact glossy too. It also has a pair of tiny tufts (seen as the dark marks in the photo).

Cheers,
Steve

[stevehind]

Hi Steve,

Have a look at Spuleria flavicaput. It's apparently diurnal, flying in the mornings, yet I've never seen one in flight. I've had just the three in my garden trap over the years and my trap is next to a large hawthorn hedge, which S.flavicaput feeds on. I reckon it's probably more common than we think but just doesn't often come to light. It's usually larger than your specimen but I reckon that's what it is.

I do well for Ingrailed Clay (Diarsia mendica) and they have been flying in the garden for a few nights now. They are variable in their markings although I don't recall seeing one with the stigma as white as this one before.

Regards,
Steve

[SteveH]

Thanks Steve,

That certainly looks like the boy.

Unsurprisingly, new for the garden. I'd glossed over it in Parenti, never having heard of it! I've also never seen an Ingrailed Clay (Diarsia mendica) looking like that either.

Cheers,
Steve

[stevehind]

Last night was my best so far this month with 157 moths of 66 species and at last a few micro's to look through (27 species). Highlights were two Little Emeralds and a Clouded Brindle.

Regards,
Steve

[stevehind]

85 species in the trap on 27th June 2012 including this Eupoecilia angustana (see below) which I tend to think of as a moorland species as I used to find it flying over the heather, although I have occasionally caught it in the garden before, where I think it's feeding on Marjoram.

Other highlights were Dingy Shell, Scorched Wing & Bordered White.

A cooler and breezy night last night kept the numbers down yet I did manage a fresh Green Arches.

Regards,
Steve

[SteveH]

I can echo Steve's comments about things starting to turn for the better, since our Elton trap has also produced by far the best catches of the year in the last week, and micros appear to have woken up again with c.20 species each night we trapped.

Unfortunately, there wasn't too much to shout about from the selection of c.75 species, though additional Tachystola acroxantha brought this years total for the species to a record 15.

Cheers,
Steve

[stevehind]

Golden Plusia (Polychrysia moneta) at Higher Poynton 12.7.2012

Sophronia semicostella at Higher Poynton 14.7.2012

Phylloporia bistrigella mine at Higher Poynton 4.7.2012

Higher Poynton Garden Records:

The Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula) has been spreading through Cheshire ever since Ian Landucci caught the first in his garden actinic trap at Mouldsworth in 2001, so I was pleased when it finally appeared in my garden trap on 4th July. I was not so pleased when it flew before I was able to photograph it but was glad that we had recently removed it from the list of species requiring photos before acceptance. I also managed to add a new micro-moth to the garden list the same day when I noticed a leaf mine of Phylloporia bistrigella on the Downy Birch. I potted up the seedling a few years back when it appeared between the cracks in my drive and only planted it out last autumn. I grew it on for the purpose of attracting a few leaf-miners, as they much prefer Downy to Silver Birch. My intention is to keep it coppiced and prevent it growing too tall. It had already proved a success when I found mines of Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella on it last autumn.

I have also found a couple of new Coleophoridae in the garden during the past three weeks, C.saxicolella on 28th June and C.striatipennella on 5th July. That’s 21 species now from the Coleophoridae family but with 54 on the county list there’s still plenty to go at.

The garden’s 350th species of macro-moth arrived on 12th July when a Golden Plusia (Polychrysia moneta) paid me a visit. I’m not sure whether it was the same individual, or more likely another, that I caught three days later but here’s hoping the species is on the increase after low numbers in recent years.

The Sophronia semicostella which arrived on 14th July appears to be the first county record for over a century !

Regards,

Steve

[stevehind]

Psoricoptera gibbosella was new for the garden last night. There is a good colony a couple of miles away in Wigwam Wood, Poynton. I had a dozen in the trap on 11th August 2011, otherwise the only county records are from the Witton Flashes, Northwich - 1985/1990.

Regards,
Steve

[stevehind]

Eana osseana was added to the garden list last night, the first record for the Cheshire VC58 part of SJ98 for over sixty years. I found it several years ago at Cobden Edge Quarry, Mellor but that's in VC57 - Derbyshire.

Regards,
Steve

[stevehind]

Grapholita funebrana, the Plum Fruit Moth, is a species which I have only taken at light once before. This one, a female, arrived on 13th August. I guess it originated from next doors Damson tree, which after bumper crops these past few years is barren this year. Presumably the moth population crashes after such barren years. It will be interesting to see if numbers of Codling Moth Cydia pomonella crash next year, as my apple trees are also virtually devoid of fruit after such a poor spring.

Regards,
Steve

[stevehind]

Anyone with Scot's Pine nearby should look out for this little chap Ocnerostoma friesei, which was in my garden trap on 15th August. It appears to be only the third county record and the only known site for it in Cheshire is at Stake Side in the Goyt Valley.

Regards,
Steve

[SteveH]

Hi Steve,

I had something here on 18th August which looked very much like Ocnerostoma friesei too, but its stance put me off ...... it was 'standing tall' on its front legs - (if you can be tall when you are that tiny!) - and was seemingly too small - I'd have estimated a wingspan of only just over 6mm at best. To the naked eye it looked a tad smaller than L.clerkella. Ocnerostoma friesei are said to be 8mm at least ...... I could find nothing else though ..... is there anything else it might have been?

Cheers,
Steve

[stevehind]

Hi Steve,

Do you mean resting like an Argyresthia, although even a worn dilectella would be too big?

Opostega salaciella is small and plain, yet the posture is wrong. Did it have any eyecaps?

Regards,
Steve

[SteveH]

Hi Steve,

No, not head down, but head up - not so much as Caloptilia though - more like a Phyllonorycter. Didn't notice eye caps. The stance of Opostega isn't so bad, but it wasn't white, but grey (worn?)

Cheers,
Steve

[stevehind]

A worn Heath Rustic, only the third site record and an early Large Wainscot were in the trap on 24th August.

Regards,
Steve

[stevehind]

Higher Poynton Garden:

Nettle-tap Moths Anthophila fabriciana have been common in my garden since mid-August, where they have been nectaring, especially on the flowers of Tansy Tanacetum vulgare, during the afternoon and early evening. The highest daily count being 36 on 17th September 2012. Numbers are now down to single individuals, as the Tansy flowers are fading. A few have found their way into the moth trap; I had four on 15th August but this could be because the trap is placed next to the patch of Tansy. On Saturday I glanced across at a nearby Ragwort Senecio jacobaea, thinking it was another Nettle-tap and needed a double take when I realised instead it was an Apple Leaf Skeletoniser Choreutis pariana. My only previous garden record was of one in the trap during 2003.

Regards,
Steve