Cydia servillana, 3rd for Norfolk

After the previous day's productive wander round the Cathedral Meadows I returned a little later in the evening on Saturday 19th May, and it was very worthwhile.  The clear highlight was a new moth for me, and a rare one at that, Sallow-shoot Piercer Cydia servillana.  This "Nationally Scarce" species has ony twice been recorded in Norfolk, at Dersingham in 2011 and Aldeby in 2017, so opposite ends of the county with mine now being right in the middle.  It was quite a distinctive-looking moth with beautiful pale blue reflections at the base and tips of the wings.

Sallow-shoot Piercer Cydia servillana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

I netted 3 moths that at first I thought were Dichrorampha species, most likely Dichrorampha plumbana like the one I'd seen the day before, but they all proved to be Pea Moths Cydia nigricana.  I've only seen one of these before and had the same experience of thinking it was Dichrorampha at first.  Maybe I will learn for next time...

Pea Moth Cydia nigricana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

There were quite a few Carrion Moths Monopis weaverella netted and among them a single Skin Moth Monopis laevigella.

Carrion Moth Monopis weaverella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

Skin Moth Monopis laevigella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

Other moths included Horse-Chestnut Leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella, 8 Cocksfoot Moths Glyphipterix simpliciella, Little Ermine Swammerdamia pyrella, Black-headed Conch Cochylis atricapitana, Dark-barred Tortrix Syndemis musculana, 3 Red Twin-spot Carpets, 5 Green Carpets and Small Yellow Underwing.

Little Ermine Swammerdamia pyrella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

What at first I thought were going to be hoverflies turned out to be Face Flies Musca autumnalis.  I'm sure I must have seen these before but these were the first ones I've photographed and confirmed.  (Uptdate August 2019 - I probably have seen Face Flies before but these weren't they... I now think they were in fact Tachina fera.)

 Tachina fera, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

I eventually managed to name this beetle, a new one for me, Choleva agilis.  [2023 edit - clearly this was not Choleva agilis and I have no idea why I thought it was! (it was my early days of beetle identification...)  It's an Anaspis, frontalis probably.]

(not) Choleva agilis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

This soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans was with it.

Cantharis nigricans, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

A Shieldbug nymph turned out to be "just" a Forest Bug (Red-legged Shieldbug).  An early/mid instar I think.

Forest Bug (Red-legged Shieldbug) early-mid instar nymph, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

I have found keying out Andrena bees harder this year than I remember them being last year.  This one confused me at first but I eventually identified it as Buffish Mining Bee Andrena nigroaenea.  I couldn't see the ridges on the frons from above but on tilting the insect a bit they became visible.  A Buff-tailed Bumblebee was the only other bee I identified.

Buffish Mining Bee Andrena nigroaenea, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th May

At home I found a Common Clothes Moth Tinola bisselliella, new for the year.

Common Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella, North Elmham, 19th May

The only moths new for the year in the trap that night were these 2 Buff-tips - high up on my list of favourite moths.

Buff-tips, North Elmham, 19th May

Otherwise it was a pretty poor showing with just Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, Green Carpet, Common Pug, Scalloped Hazel, White Ermine, Muslin Moth, Shuttle-shaped Dart, 3 Flame Shoulders, 2 Nut-tree Tussocks and a Cockchafer.

Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, North Elmham, 19th May

A Mottled Pug was new for the year the following night but there wasn't much else: 3 Common Pugs, Poplar Hawk-moth, Lesser Swallow Prominent (so worn I had to gen det it to identify it), 3 White Ermines, 3 Muslin Moths, Heart and Dart, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Hebrew Character and Spectacle.

Mottled Pug, North Elmham, 20th May

Coleophora City

The most numerous moth in the trap on Sunday 28th May was Buff Rush Case-bearer Coleophora caespititiella - there were 20 of them.  Lurking among them was another Coleophora, slightly different in appearance.  This one proved to be Wood-rush Case-bearer Coleophora otidipennella, a new one for the house, and indeed for the 10k square.  There are fewer than 20 records in Norfolk and apart from one at Holme all come from either the Brecks or the Broads, so good to get one well outside its recorded range.

Buff Rush Case-bearer Coleophora caespititiella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 28th May

Wood-rush Case-bearer Coleophora otidipennella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 28th May

The following moths were new for the year here: Skin Moth Monopis laevigella, Yellow-spot Tortrix Pseudargyrotoza conwagana, Crescent Bell Epinotia bilunana, Marsh Grey Eudonia pallida, Small Seraphim, Ingrailed Clay and Setaceous Hebrew Character.

Skin Moth Monopis laevigella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 28th May

Yellow-spot Tortrix Pseudargyrotoza conwagana, North Elmham, 28th May

Crescent Bell Epinotia bilunana, North Elmham, 28th May

Small Seraphim, North Elmham, 28th May

Ingrailed Clay, North Elmham, 28th May

Other moths were Ribwort Slender Aspilapteryx tringipennella, 2 Light Brown Apple Moths Epiphyas postvittana, 2 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, Rush Marble Bactra lancealana, Yellow-faced Bell Notocelia cynosbatella, 2 Triple-blotched Bells Notocelia trimaculana, 2 Hook-streaked Grass-Veneers Crambus lathoniellus, Meadow Grey Scoparia pyralella, Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis, Garden Pebble Evergestis forficalis, 3 Small Magpies Anania hortulata, Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, 2 False Cacao Moths Ephestia unicolorella, Chalk Knot-horn Phycitodes maritima, 5 Common Swifts, Blood-vein, Red Twin-spot Carpet, 6 Silver-ground Carpets, Garden Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, 7 Green Carpets, 2 Small Rivulets, 3 Mottled Pugs, 3 Common Pugs, Brown Silver-line, 3 Scorched Wings, Pale Oak Beauty, 5 Light Emeralds, Pale Tussock, Orange Footman, White Ermine, 2 Buff Ermines, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Flame Shoulder, Small Square-spot, Nutmeg, Shears, Bright-line Brown-eye, 2 Brown Rustics, 11 Treble Lines, 2 Straw Dots and Small Fan-foot.

dark form of Common Marble Celypha lacunana (male, gen det), North Elmham, 28th May

Shears - also darker than normal (male, gen det), North Elmham, 28th May

Triple-blotched Bell Notocelia trimaculana, North Elmham, 28th May

There was a variety of by-catch too including the Mayflies Pond Olive Cloeon dipterum and Pale Evening Dun Procloeon bifidum, the caddisflies Cyrnus flavidus, Hydropsyche siltalai, Hydropsyche pellucidula (new for the year), Glyphotaelius pellucidus and Limnephilus lunatus (new for the year).   Two beetles too - a Harlequin Ladybird and the soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans, the latter my first positively identified here.

sub-imago Pale Evening Dun Proloeon bifidum, North Elmham, 28th May

Cantharis nigricans, North Elmham, 28th May

Ancylis badiana

I spent much of Friday 5th May birding in the Fens but picked up a few non-birds along the way.  One of a number of Coniopterix Waxflies at Methwold Lode defied identification to species level.  A Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana was easier.  A family of Otters along the River Wissey just west of the beet factory were fun to watch.

Otters, Wissington, 5th May

Further along this path were Orange-tip, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshells, with Brimstones seen at a number of places later on.  I also found this spider which I initially thought looked very distinctive with a turquoise abdomen.  But looking at the photos I realised that the large round turquoise thing at the end of it was in fact an egg sac, so the spider itself wasn't so distinctive.  Might be identifiable though - but not my me at the moment.

unidentified spider, west of Wissington, 5th May

Back closer to home a new bee for me, Flavous Nomad Bee Nomada flava was on the verge at Ryburgh.

Flavous Nomad Bee Nomada flava, Ryburgh, 5th May

This Cereal Leaf Beetle Oulema melanopus/rufocyanea agg. was at home.

Cereal Leaf Beetle Oulema sp., North Elmham, 5th May

A Roe Deer on the patch was looking photogenic...

Roe Deer, Bittering, 5th May

The moth trap that night produced my first Eyed Hawk-moth and Nutmeg of the year, along with Streaked Flat-body Depressaria chaerophylli, Common Flat-body Agonopterix heracliana, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Flame Shoulder, 3 Hebrew Characters and 2 Common Earwigs.

Eyed Hawk-moth, North Elmham, 5th May

Nutmeg, North Elmham, 5th May

Found a Parsnip Moth Depressaria radiella at Ryburgh the following evening before another poor night's moth trapping at home - Brown-spot Flat-body Agonopterix alstromeriana and Flame Carpet were new for the year but Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, 3 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and Clouded-bordered Brindle were the only other moths.

Flane Carpet, North Elmham, 6th May

James Emerson had been to Hills and Holes at Hockham on Saturday and seen a couple of Ancylis badiana, a very smart tortrix moth that I've not seen before.  The forewing markings looked quite chestnut-brown which piqued my interest as Ancylis unculana is said to be distinguished from badiana by have chestnut-brown forewing markings.  Indeed I couldn't find any references which stated any other distinguishing features.  Yet looking at photos of both species I was pretty sure James was correct with his ID - for example the clean creamy surround to the dorsal blotch which was obvious in James' photos was consistently present on images of badiana whereas on all the images I could find of unculuna this was heavily marked with greyish.  Anyway, a site I had been planning to revisit soon, a good chance of a smart new moth, plus a desire to fully resolve an interesting ID conundrum made for an easy decision as to what to do on Sunday afternoon.

So, Dave and I rocked up to Hills and Holes and very soon found lots of insects including 23 Common Rollers Ancylis badiana.  The extent of chestnut colouration varied quite a lot - some were pretty much textbook individuals while others were much more chestnutty.  None looked like online images of unculana though, and for that matter none showed the terminal marks of the third similar species, Ancylis paludana.  I was already confident badiana was the correct ID and now I was even more sure, but just to leave no stone unturned I retained a couple of the more chestnutty coloured ones for gen detting.  The genitalia were, of course, consistent with badiana, apparently wrong for unculana (though the differences don't seem to be huge) (I can't find out what paludana is meant to be like, so that species was only ruled out on external features).

Common Rollers Ancylis badiana, Hills and Holes, 7th May

Other moths seen were 60 Plain Golds Micropterix calthella, Oak Carl Tischeria ekebladella, 2 Green Long-horns Adela reaumurella, Cocksfoot Moth Glyphipterix simpliciella and 4 Grey Gorse Piercers Cydia ulicetana. One female Adela looked really golden-bronze, indeed identical to the individual I posted about the other day which I'd quite unconvincingly concluded must be cuprella.  This time though there were no sallows in the immediate vicinity - surely this wasn't cuprella.  The genitalia were the same as the last one, apparently unlike the published image I had seen of reaumurella, but I still couldn't find any images of cuprella to compare to.  Then I realised that I'd been looking at the reaumurella image wrong - there are two pairs of stick-like appendages joined at the top and on my insects all four appendages were the same length.  The image of reaumurella made it look like one pair was much shorter than the other, but looking at it again I realised the two pairs had been separated so although the tips of one pair fell short of the other they were (probably) the same length.  So both of mine might be reaumurella after all, and despite them not looking green I think that's what they probably both were.

probable Green Long-horn Adela reaumurella, Hills and Holes, 7th May

lots of Plain Golds Micropterix calthella on sedge, Hills and Holes, 7th May

Bugs here included Harpocera thoracica and Red-and-black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata.

Harpocera thoracica, Hills and Holes, 7th May

Red-and-black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata, Hills and Holes, 7th May

I keyed this beetle out to Cantharis nigricans but subsequently wondered if I may have made a mistake and it should be Cantharis pellucida having seen Dave's similar insect (from elsewhere) identified as the lattter.  I re-found the specimen and checked the elytra hair again as this seems to be the critical point in the key - "Elytra almost covered with close-set very short pubescence, along with more scattered longer hair" for nigricans and "not as above" for pellucida (there are further species for both but the following couplets key out to nigricans or pellucida).  The elytra are covered with close-set pubescence, though whether that is very short or not is debatable.  There are also some scattered hairs protruding more than the downy hairs and at least some of them are clearly longer than the flatter downy hairs.  So I think I was right - oe else the key is misleading.

Cantharis nigricans, Hills and Holes, 7th May

An intersting selection of Ladybirds included Kidney-spot Ladybird, 7-spot Ladybird, four 14-spot Ladybirds and an 18-spot Ladybird - the latter apparently my first ever.

18-spot Ladybird, Hills and Holes, 7th May

14-spot Ladybirds, Hills and Holes, 7th May

There were half a dozen small shiny round black beetles one of which I retained to identify - but not being sure what family it's in that might take a while.  As I'm already getting behind I think I'll park it for now and come back to it later.

Dave pointed out this Cranefly and I agreed it looked distinctive.  I don't have a key or anything like that for these so please shout if I'm wrong, but I think it's Tipular varipennis, a new one for me.

Tipula varipennis, Hills and Holes, 7th May

Just four moths that night: Scalloped Hazel, Flame Shoulder, Hebrew Character and Early Grey.