Winterton mothing

Saturday 19th August was the night of the Norfolk Moth Survey event at Winterton.  I went along hoping for some good moths but the conditions were quite breezy so not ideal.  We still had a good time though.  There were no new moths for me (actually Stuart showed me leafmines of Sandhill Midget Phyllonorycter quinqueguttella which I've not seen before, but I don't count leafmines, especially vacated ones) but we recorded a few interesting species.

We'd hoped for some migrants and did indeed have a nice haul of 5 Scarce Bordered Straws, a species I'd only seen once before - but some variety on the migrant front would have been nice.  There were 6 White-points and a Diamond-back Moth but I'd been hoping for something a bit more interesting.

Scarce Bordered Straws, Winterton, 19th August

There were plenty of highlights though, including Hook-tipped Grass-veneer Platytes alpinella, Long-legged Tabby Synaphe punctalis, 13 Chevrons, 2 Peacock Moths, 6 White-line Darts, Coast Dart, 15 Archer's Darts, 10 True Lover's Knots, Dotted Clay, 2 Gold Spots and 2 Red Underwings.

Long-legged Tabby Synaphe punctalis, Winterton, 19th August

Chevron, Winterton, 19th August

White-line Dart, Winterton, 19th August

Coast Dart, Winterton, 19th August

Dotted Clay (male, gen det), Winterton, 19th August

Red Underwing, Winterton, 19th August

The other moths included Brown Birch Slender Parornix betulae, Birch Ermel Swammerdamia caesiella, Dull Red Groundling Bryotropha senectella, 2 Dusky Groundlings Aroga velocella, Pointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatella, Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis corylana, Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana, 2 Birch Marbles Apotomis betuletana, 2 Small Birch Bells Epinotia ramella, Marbled Piercer Cydia splendana, Pearl Veneer Agriphila straminella, Common Grass-veneer Agriphila tristella, 42 Barred Grass-veneers Agriphila inquinatella, 3 Pearl Grass-veneers Catoptria pinella, 3 Ground-moss Greys Eudonia truncicolella, 2 Small Greys Eudonia mercurella, Heather Knot-horn Pempelia palumbella, 2 Scalloped Hook-tips, 3 Pebble Hook-tips, 2 Small Fan-footed Waves, 5 Narrow-winged Pugs, 3 Double-striped Pugs, Yellow-barred Brindle, 2 Canary-shouldered Thorns, Willow Beauty, 2 Light Emeralds, Poplar Hawk-moth, Iron Prominent, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Swallow Prominent, 2 Coxcomb Prominents, Garden Tiger, 2 Shuttle-shaped Darts, 16 Flame Shoulders, 20 Large Yellow Underwings, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, 26 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, 14 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, 5 Six-striped Rustics, Nutmeg, 2 Cabbage Moths, 3 Common Wainscots, 10 Straw Underwings, Angle Shades, 5 Dark Arches, Rosy Rustic, Vine's Rustic, Pale Mottled Willow and 2 Burnished Brasses.

Birch Ermel Swammerdamia caesiella (female, gen det), Winterton, 19th August

Pointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatella (male, gen det confirmed by Jon Clifton), Winterton, 19th August

The only caddisflies I noted were 3 Limnephilus marmoratus.  This weevil proved to be a new species for me, Hypera zoilus.

Hypera zoilus, Winterton, 19th August

I was uncertain about the ID of this leafhopper - it resembled Mocydiopsis attenuata but the length of the final abdominal segment seemed a good match for the photo on British Bugs of Mocydiopsis parvicauda.  That species normally lacks the dark spot in the clavus which this one had but the text in the website implied that it could possibly have the dark spot sometimes.  So I contacted Tony Irwin, an old friend and county recorder for leafhoppers among other things.  He noted a resemblance to Mocydiopsis intermedia, a species not recorded in Britain, but he was at pains to point out that it would probably turn out to be less exciting.  He later examined the insect for me and confirmed that it was Mocydiopsis attenuata - so not quite as exciting as a new species for Britain but perhaps still the best record of the night as Tony thinks it was new for the vice county.

Mocydiopsis attenuata (gen det by Tony Irwin), Winterton, 19th August