A good mimic

Last Thursday I went for a walk with Vitty at Kelling Heath.  I was hoping to find some moths, especially Eriocrania as I know there are a number of those occurring there.  Not successful in that respect - just found 2 Feathered Brights Incurvaria masculella, 3 Green Long-horns Adela reaumurella and 5 Grey Gorse Piercers Cydia ulicetana. A few butterflies included a nice Green Hairstreak.

We also went to East Ruston Old Vicarage gardens.  Wasn't expecting anything in particular there but found Green Long-horn Adela reaumurella and Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana. Also my first Speckled Wood of the year among the butterflies.  The caddisfly Limnephilus auricula was resting on my car as we returned to the car park.

Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella, East Ruston Old Vicarage gardens, 12th May

Speckled Wood, East Ruston Old Vicarage gardens, 12th May

The moth catch at home that night included 3 new for the year: Garden Carpet, Oak-tree Pug and Marbled Brown.

Garden Carpet, North Elmham, 12th May

Oak-tree Pug, North Elmham, 12th May

Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 12th May

Also Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, 2 Streamers, Common Pug, 4 Muslin Moths, Least Black Arches, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Powdered Quaker and 4 Hebrew Characters.  Caddisflies consisted of Glyphotaelius pellucidus and Limnephilus auricula.

Muslin Moth, North Elmham, 12th May

Next day was poor for moths, though Brimstone Moth was new for the year.  Just Shuttle-shaped Dart and 4 Hebrew Characters.

Brimstone Moth, North Elmham, 13th May

Saturday was no better: Muslin Moth, 2 Hebrew Characters and the caddisfly Limnephilus auricula.

On Sunday I took advantage of some bright weather to pop to the local patch where the birding was poor, the mothing was non-existant but I fared much better with other insects along one small stretch of hedgerow.  First up were a couple of Common Carder Bees, one of them in particular almost glowing orange on its thorax.

Common Carder Bee, Bittering, 15th May

Next up was a hoverfly that looked distinctly similar to the Carder Bees (a mimic, so no coincidence).  A large and distinctive hoverfly with bright orange hairs on the thorax, I was pretty sure it was a species I hadn't identified before.  So it proved, it was Criorhina berberina.

Criorhina berberina, Bittering, 15th May

Sat on the same leaf was a pale lacewing, the first of at least half a dozen in the area.  I retained two slightly different-looking examples for checking and both turned out to be Hemerobius lutescens, a new species for me.

Brown Lacewings Hemerobius lutescens, Bittering, 15th May

One more hoverfly proved to be one I had seen before: Helophilus pendulus.

Helophilus pendulus, Bittering, 15th May

Best of the moths that night was a Small Phoenix, my first here.

Small Phoenix, North Elmham, 15th May

Other moths were Garden Carpet, Streamer, Brimstone Moth, Chocolate-tip, 3 Cinnabars, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Powdered Quaker and Hebrew Character.  Limnephilus auricula was the only caddisfly.

I thought this small beetle was a weevil at first but it turns out to be a non-weevil Salpingus ruficollis, the first one I've identified.

Salpingus ruficollis, North Elmham, 15th May