47 species of Coleophora and 638 individuals before I find the commonest of them all

Among 59 species of moth on 28th June were 3 new for the year: Dark Neb Bryotropha affinis, Brown-barred Tortrix Epagoge grotiana and Small Emerald.

Dark Neb Bryotropha affinis, North Elmham, 28th June

Brown-barred Tortrix Epagoge grotiana, North Elmham, 28th June

Small Emerald, North Elmham, 28th June

The other 56 were Little Dwarf Elachista canapennella, 4 Brown House Moths Hofmannophila pseudospretella, 3 Common Yellow Conches Agapeta hamana, Large Fruit-tree Tortrix Archips podana, 3 Large Ivy Tortrixes Lozotaenia forsterana, Grey Tortrix Cnephasia stephensiana, Flax Tortrix Cnephasia asseclana, Yellow Oak Button Aleimma loeflingiana, 6 Barred Marbles Celypha striana, 10 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, Marbled Orchard Tortrix Hedya nubiferana, Red Piercer Lathronympha strigana, 12 Garden Grass-veneers Chrysoteuchia culmella, Inlaid Grass-veneer Crambus pascuella, Satin Grass-veneer Crambus perlella, Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis, Little Grey Eudonia lacustrata, Small Grey Eudonia mercurella, Rosy Tabby Endotricha flammealis, Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, White Plume Pterophorus pentadactyla, Ghost Moth, Buff Arches, 2 Small Fan-footed Waves, 4 Dwarf Cream Waves, 9 Single-dotted Waves, Treble Brown Spot, 7 Riband Waves, Large Twin-spot Carpet, Garden Carpet, Shaded Broad-bar, 2 Barred Straws, Foxglove Pug, Clouded Border, Brimstone Moth, 2 Willow Beauties, 3 Engraileds, Common White Wave, 4 Common Footmen, 11 Buff Ermines, 3 Ingrailed Clays, 4 Double Square-spots, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, 2 Common Wainscots, Brown Rustic, Dark Arches, 11 Uncertains, Rustic, Burnished Brass, Spectacle, 2 Beautiful Hook-tips, 2 Straw Dots, 2 Snouts and Fan-foot.

Next day I had two clearwing pheremone lures out - both attracted things that were new for the garden year list but neither were clearwings, or indeed moths.  The Yellow-legged Clearwing lure attracted the mirid bug Phylus coryli and the Currant Clearwing lure attracted the hoverfly Eupeodes corollae.

Phylus coryli, North Elmham, 29th June

Eupeodes corollae, North Elmham, 29th June

That night brought nearly 250 moths of 85 species including several new for the year.  One of these was completely new for me, but very much overdue.  For the last few years I have attempted to identify nearly every Coleophora I've caught, which for the majority of species requires microscopic examination (a few species are distinctive enough to identify in the field, but not many).  I had already identified 638 individual Coleophora and these have covered 47 different species, but there was one big glaring gap in the list - the one species that is said to be the commonest of them all!  How could I get through all those Coleophora of all those species and still not find the one I'm theoretically most likely to find?  Well on 29th June it finally appeared in my trap, the Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella.  It's describes as the commonest British Coleophora, so how come I hadn't had one before?  Well I don't know the answer to that, but here are some ideas. 

1. It's a species that doesn't come to light very often compared to many other species - most Coleophora records relate to their larval cases as relatively few moth-recorders both identifying adults, so the species' relative abundance is mainly determined by larval records whereas my personal records are mainly of adults that have come to light;
2. They just happen to not be common in my immediate vicinity, but are common elsewhere - this may be partly true but unlikely to be the only explanation as I do a fair bit of trapping at a variety of other sites too;
3. They've had a recent run of poor years so I've missed them in the relatively short time that I've been doing microscopy - some evidence to support the idea that this has been a relatively good year in that I went on to trap two more this summer, one more at home and another in the Waveney Valley;
4. They were the commonest species when status descriptions were written but have declined (relatively at least) so that they are not any longer the commonest.  

My guess is that the reality is a combination of some or all of these ideas and probably others I haven't thought of, but this is a good example of how delving into the world of microscopy throws up some interesting questions.

Common Case-bearer Coleophora serratella (female, gen det), North Elmham, 29th June

Other new moths for the year were White-legged Case-bearer Coleophora albitarsella (only my second here and third anywhere), Red-barred Tortrix Ditula angustiorana, Mother of Pearl Pleuroptya ruralis, Gold Triangle Hypsopygia costalis, Peach Blossom, Blue-bordered Carpet, Cloaked Minor and Common Rustic.

White-legged Case-bearer Coleophora albitarsella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 29th June

Gold Triangle Hypsopygia costalis, North Elmham, 29th June

Peach Blossom, North Elmham, 29th June

Blue-bordered Carpet, North Elmham, 29th June

Cloaked Minor, North Elmham, 29th June

Common Rustic (male, gen det), North Elmham, 29th June

The rest of the moths were Diamond-back Plutella xylostella, Brown House Moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella, Burdock Neb Metzneria lappella, 2 London Dowds Blastobasis lacticolella, 3 Common Yellow Conches Agapeta hamana, 3 Large Ivy Tortrixes Lozotaenia forsterana, Flax Tortrix Cnephasia asseclana, Light Grey Tortrix Cnephasia incertana, 2 Green Oak Tortrixes Tortrix viridana, 2 Barred Marbles Celypha striana, 5 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, 2 Plum Tortrixes Hedya pruniana, 6 Marbled Orchard Tortrixes Hedya nubiferana, 2 Triangle-marked Rollers Ancylis achatana, Crescent Bell Epinotia bilunana, Bramble Shoot Notocelia uddmanniana, Hoary Bell Eucosma cana, Many-plume Moth Alucit hexadactyla, 32 Garden Grass-veneers Chrysoteuchia culmella, Inlaid Grass-veneer Crambus pascuella, 2 Satin Grass-veneers Crambus perlella, Meadow Grey Scoparia pyralella, 6 Common Greys Scoparia ambigualis, 5 Little Greys Eudonia lacustrata, Small Grey Eudonia mercurella, 7 Small Magpies Anania hortulata, Elder Pearl Anania coronata, Rosy Tabby Endotricha flammealis, Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, 2 White Plumes Pterophorus pentadactyla, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Ghost Moth, 2 Common Emeralds, 8 Small Fan-footed Waves, 3 Dwarf Cream Waves, Small Dusty Wave, 8 Single-dotted Waves, 2 Treble Brown Spots, 9 Riband Waves, Large Twin-spot Carpet, 3 Barred Straws, Barred Yellow, Sandy Carpet, 2 V-Pugs, 2 Green Pugs, Double-striped Pug, 3 Brimstone Moths, Early Thorn, Swallow-tailed Moth, 2 Mottled Beauties, 2 Engraileds, Common White Wave, 2 Clouded Silvers, Elephant Hawk-moth, 4 Rosy Footmen, Dingy Footman, 7 Common Footmen, 2 Buff Ermines, Short-cloaked Moth, Heart and Club, 3 Flames, Flame Shoulder, 2 Double Square-spots, 2 Bright-line Brown-eyes, 4 Smoky Wainscots, 3 Brown Rustics, 4 Dark Arches, Middle-barred Minor, 17 Uncertains, Rustic, Mottled Rustic, 6 Burnished Brasses, 4 Beautiful Hook-tips, 2 Straw Dots, 15 Snouts and 2 Fan-foots.

Other insects included two new species for me, the mirid bug Phoenicocoris obscurellus and the barkfly Mesopsocus immunis.  There was also a Common Earwig, the caddisflies Limnephilus auricula and Limnephilus lunatus and a Common Frog.

Phoenicocoris obscurellus, North Elmham, 29th June

Mesopsocus immunis (male, gen det), North Elmham, 29th June