Satellite, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November
The only other moth I found was a London Dowd Blastobasis lacticolella resting in some Gorse. The Broom wasn't as productive as it can be, but there was a Broom Psyllid Arytaina genistae. As is often the case, the Oak trunks produced a better variety including the springtail Orchesella cincta, Great Four-spot Treerunner Dromius quadrimaculatus (a beetle), Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis and White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger.
Orchesella cincta, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November
Great Four-spot Treerunner Dromius quadrimaculatus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November
I also found a bug which at the time I identified as my first Anthocoris confusus. However I subsequently recorded more Anthocoris along here and when I was figuring out the next one that I realised I was mis-reading the description of one of the features, and it turned out to be nemoralis. Now there's no reason to assume I made the same mistake when examining the confusus, but as none of the subsequent examples so far have been confusus I'm left feeling less than 100% sure that I didn't make a mistake. So I am deleting this record until such time as I find another.
There was one lifer for which I'm still ok with the ID though, not that it's a group that I have much experience with - a Variegated Oak Aphild Lachnus roboris.
Variegated Oak Aphid Lachnus roboris, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November
The moths in the garden trap that night were 3 Narrow-winged Greys Eudonia angustea, White-point, 2 Sprawlers, 2 Green-brindled Crescents, 2 Chestnuts and Yellow-line Quaker.
The following night there was Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana, 2 Pale November Moths, a female November Moth agg., 2 Feathered Thorns, 2 Mottled Umbers, Sprawler, Chestnut, 3 Yellow-line Quakers and the caddisflies 4 Limnephilus lunatus and Limnephilus flavicornis.
Mottled Umber, North Elmham, 9th November
Just 4 Feathered Thorns and a Setaceous Hebrew Character the following night. Next day there was a Common Mompha Mompha epilobiella in my hall, and in the trap Diamond-back Plutella xylostella, Rusty Oak Button Acleris ferrugana, Sprawler, Chestnut and 2 Yellow-line Quakers.
Rusty Oak Button Acleris ferrugana (male, gen det), North Elmham, 11th November
The Mottled Umber shown above was, I would say, at the Scarce Umber end of the scale - the sort that could reasonably be confused with Scarce Umber. In fact I checked the genitalia just to make sure. Three nights later there were some real Scarce Umbers - 3 no less. I've never caught 3 in one night before and with a blank year in 2017 these were my first since 2016.
Scarce Umbers, North Elmham, 12th November
Other things that night were 2 Light Brown Apple-moths Epiphyas postvittana, December Moth, November Moth, Pale November Moth and Satellite.
The following night there was November Moth, Yellow-line Quaker, the caddisfly Limnephilus lunatus and a Common Wasp.
The 14th was another quiet night for moths with just 2 December Moths, 3 Feathered Thorns and Setaceous Hebrew Character. There were also 2 caddisflies Limnephilus lunatus and, for the first time in a while, a fresh emergence of leafhoppers. All were similar yellow leafhoppers which normally prove to be either one of the two Fagocyba species (usually cruenta) or one of the several Edwardsiana species. A couple of these had cloudier apexes of their wings compared to the others so I wondered if two species might be involved, but in fact although two species were involved, the variation in the cloudiness of the wing tips was all within a single species. They consisted of 1 Fagacyba carri and 6 Fagocyba cruenta.
Fagocyba carri (male, gen det), North Elmham, 12th November
Fagocyba cruenta (3 males, gen det), North Elmham, 12th November
Next day there were 2 Light Brown Apple-moths Epiphyas postvittana, Ashy Button Acleris sparsana, 3 December Moths, probable November Moth, Mottled Umber, White-point, Sprawler, the caddisfly Limnephilus lunatus, Black Sexton Beetle Nicrophorus humator and 2 more Fagocyba cruenta.
On 16th I had another after-dark look round the meadows with the head-torch. This leafmine appears to belong to Common Oak Pigmy Stigmella roborella. The larva was in there but motionless and I'm not convinced it was alive.
leafmine of Common Oak Pigmy Stigmella roborella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November
The only adult moth I could find was a Winter Moth, my fisrt of the winter.
Winter Moth, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November
There were also 3 of the barkflies Ectopsocus briggsi, the beetle Great Four-spot Treerunner Dromius quadrimaculatus, 3 7-spot Ladybirds Coccinella septempunctata, and a Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber.
Ectopsocus briggsi, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November
Two different Oak trunks had these odd ant-like insects on. It was clear enough that they weren't actually ants but apart from assuming they were some kind of hymenoptera I couldn't figure out what they were. I tweeted some photos and received a response from Simon Knott who confirmed they were gall wasps of the family Cynipidae, likely to be Biorhiza pallida agamic female. Looking into that and comparing with the specimens it looks bang-on, so my first Oak Apple Gall Wasps Biorhiza pallida.
Oak Apple Gall Wasps Biorhiza pallida, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November
A particularly fine set of fungi was this Sulphur Knight. I had a pretty good idea about what these were already but James Emerson has been brilliant helping me with fungus IDs lately - always very much appreciated. These looked a little more lemony-yellow in life (albeit only in torchlight) than they do in the photos.
Sulphur Knight, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November
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