Description


A diary of my mothing activity covering highlights and photos from my moth trapping activities. Mainly Norfolk (UK), occasionally beyond. I may mention other wildlife sightings here, especially insects, but for birds see my birding diary.

Thursday 8 April 2021

Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Noctuids (Noctuidae) part 12: Mythimna Wainscots and allies

NOCTUIDS (NOCTUIDAE) (continued)


Striped Wainscot Mythimna pudorina - None.  I've never caught this species locally but David Knight catches them regularly less than a mile away so I must be in with a chance of having one round here sometime, at the meadows (where good habitat is probably closer) if not here in the garden.


Brown-line Bright Eye Mythimna conigera - 2019 was my best year for this species here with 26 caught between 18th June (my earliest ever) and 28th July, double the average annual tally here.  A more typical 15 here between 23rd June and 1st August 2020.  Elsewhere one next door on 7th August 2019 (my latest ever), 2 at the meadows, 1 at Brancaster and 2 at Weybourne.

Brown-line Bright Eye, North Elmham, 18th June 2019


Brown-line Bright Eye, North Elmham, 23rd June 2020


Brown-line Bright Eye, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th July 2020



Common Wainscot Mythimna pallens - Totals of 42 caught in the garden between 24th May and 24th September 2019 and 139 between 18th May (my earliest ever) and 8th September 2020.  2019 was my worst year ever and 2020 was close to my best (and included a record count of 20 on 12th August).  Elsewhere recorded next door, 7 at the meadows, one at Swanton Great Wood, 3 at Whitwell Street, one at Weybourne and 2 in Cornwall.  I don't think the colour of the hindwing is as clear-cut a feature as it's sometimes taken to be in separating challenging examples of Common/Smoky Wainscot - when the forewing is ambiguous the hindwing sometimes seems to be too and I've had genitalically-confirmed Common Wainscots with distinctly dusky hindwings.  I do sometimes doubt myself with certain examples from this pair and sometimes resort to gen detting the odd one to make sure I'm on the right track.

Common Wainscot, North Elmham, 24th May 2019


female Common Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th September 2020


male Common Wainscot, North Elmham, 8th September 2020



Smoky Wainscot Mythimna impura - At least 80 here between 23rd June and 1st August 2019 though possibly slightly more as not counted on a couple of nights.  Even allowing for a few more on those nights this was my worst year here until 2020 when just 53 between 15th June and 20th August.  I average around 94 a year.  Elsewhere 25 at the meadows over 7 nights, 2 at Bintree Wood, 2 at Brancaster, 6 at Weybourne, about 20 at Hellesdon and my latest ever in Cornwall on 9th October 2020.

Smoky Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th June 2019


male Smoky Wainscot, North Elmham, 30th June 2019 (this one bearing a resemblance to Southern Wainscot, but I gen detted to make sure)


Smoky Wainscot, North Elmham, 18th June 2020


Smoky Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 23rd June 2020



Southern Wainscot Mythimna straminea - Singles in my garden on 22nd July 2019 and 24th July 2020, the first times I've caught this species here.  Also one at Weybourne on 5th July 2019, 2 at Hellesdon on 14th July 2019 and one at Bintree Wood the same night as at home, 24th July 2020.



Southern Wainscot, North Elmham, 22nd July 2019



Delicate Mythimna vitellina - None.  I've never caught this species here, or indeed anywhere in Norfolk, but it's a reasonably regular migrant and sometimes crops up inland, so hopefully I'll get one here someday.  Quite surprising that I didn't catch any in Cornwall in early October 2020 as when I stayed at the same cottage for the same week in 2018 I caught a total of 106 there (and these were believed to be locally-bred individuals, at least in part).


White-point Mythimna albipuncta - 8 trapped in the garden between 22nd May and 12th September 2019 and 30 here between 3rd June and 7th September 2020.  The latter was my best year so far (I average about 13 a year) and included a record count of 5 on 8th August.  Elsewhere 2 next door, one at the meadows and one at Row Heath (West Runton) in 2019 but surprisingly since it was such a good year, none anywhere else in 2020.

White-point, North Elmham, 22nd May 2019


White-point, North Elmham, 12th September 2019


White-point, North Elmham, 4th August 2020



Clay Mythimna ferrago - Totals of 50 caught in the garden between 15th June and 29th July 2019 and 20 between 19th June and 31st July 2020.  I average about 53 a year here and 2020's total was my worst in the 6 years I've been here.  Elsewhere 7 at the meadows (on 4 nights), one at Bintree Wood, one at Brancaster and about 10 at Weybourne.

Clay, North Elmham, 19th June 2020


Clay, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 23rd June 2020



Shore Wainscot Mythimna litoralis - One at Brancaster on 2nd July 2020.  This species is unlikely to turn up here although there is a record from Hindolveston so you never know.

Shore Wainscot, Brancaster, 2nd July 2020



L-album Wainscot Mythimna l-album - One at Tresidder (Cornwall) on 8th October 2020.  I'd caught 19 there in the same week in 2018 so that wasn't very good really!


Shoulder-striped Wainscot Leucania comma - Just 3 trapped here, between 14th and 26th June 2019 and 4 between 31st May and 11th June 2020.  That's now 4 out of 6 years that I've only caught 3-4 but the other 2 years produced far more (29 in 2015 and 15 in 2017).

Shoulder-striped Wainscot, North Elmham, 30th May 2019



Flame Wainscot Senta flammea - One at Sculthorpe Moor on 26th April.  I've never recorded this species locally but it does occur in the Wensum Valley (as this one was) so could potentially rock up round here somewhere - probably more likely at the meadows where there is Common Reed growing close by than here in my garden.


Flame Wainscot, Sculthorpe Moor, 26th April


Next page: more Noctuidae


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