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.
Showing posts with label Coast Dart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coast Dart. Show all posts

Tuesday, 3 October 2017

Winterton mothing

Saturday 19th August was the night of the Norfolk Moth Survey event at Winterton.  I went along hoping for some good moths but the conditions were quite breezy so not ideal.  We still had a good time though.  There were no new moths for me (actually Stuart showed me leafmines of Sandhill Midget Phyllonorycter quinqueguttella which I've not seen before, but I don't count leafmines, especially vacated ones) but we recorded a few interesting species.

We'd hoped for some migrants and did indeed have a nice haul of 5 Scarce Bordered Straws, a species I'd only seen once before - but some variety on the migrant front would have been nice.  There were 6 White-points and a Diamond-back Moth but I'd been hoping for something a bit more interesting.


Scarce Bordered Straws, Winterton, 19th August


There were plenty of highlights though, including Hook-tipped Grass-veneer Platytes alpinella, Long-legged Tabby Synaphe punctalis, 13 Chevrons, 2 Peacock Moths, 6 White-line Darts, Coast Dart, 15 Archer's Darts, 10 True Lover's Knots, Dotted Clay, 2 Gold Spots and 2 Red Underwings.

Long-legged Tabby Synaphe punctalis, Winterton, 19th August


Chevron, Winterton, 19th August


White-line Dart, Winterton, 19th August


Coast Dart, Winterton, 19th August


Dotted Clay (male, gen det), Winterton, 19th August


Red Underwing, Winterton, 19th August


The other moths included Brown Birch Slender Parornix betulae, Birch Ermel Swammerdamia caesiella, Dull Red Groundling Bryotropha senectella, 2 Dusky Groundlings Aroga velocella, Pointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatella, Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis corylana, Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana, 2 Birch Marbles Apotomis betuletana, 2 Small Birch Bells Epinotia ramella, Marbled Piercer Cydia splendana, Pearl Veneer Agriphila straminella, Common Grass-veneer Agriphila tristella, 42 Barred Grass-veneers Agriphila inquinatella, 3 Pearl Grass-veneers Catoptria pinella, 3 Ground-moss Greys Eudonia truncicolella, 2 Small Greys Eudonia mercurella, Heather Knot-horn Pempelia palumbella, 2 Scalloped Hook-tips, 3 Pebble Hook-tips, 2 Small Fan-footed Waves, 5 Narrow-winged Pugs, 3 Double-striped Pugs, Yellow-barred Brindle, 2 Canary-shouldered Thorns, Willow Beauty, 2 Light Emeralds, Poplar Hawk-moth, Iron Prominent, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Swallow Prominent, 2 Coxcomb Prominents, Garden Tiger, 2 Shuttle-shaped Darts, 16 Flame Shoulders, 20 Large Yellow Underwings, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, 26 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, 14 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, 5 Six-striped Rustics, Nutmeg, 2 Cabbage Moths, 3 Common Wainscots, 10 Straw Underwings, Angle Shades, 5 Dark Arches, Rosy Rustic, Vine's Rustic, Pale Mottled Willow and 2 Burnished Brasses.

Birch Ermel Swammerdamia caesiella (female, gen det), Winterton, 19th August


Pointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatella (male, gen det confirmed by Jon Clifton), Winterton, 19th August


The only caddisflies I noted were 3 Limnephilus marmoratus.  This weevil proved to be a new species for me, Hypera zoilus.

Hypera zoilus, Winterton, 19th August


I was uncertain about the ID of this leafhopper - it resembled Mocydiopsis attenuata but the length of the final abdominal segment seemed a good match for the photo on British Bugs of Mocydiopsis parvicauda.  That species normally lacks the dark spot in the clavus which this one had but the text in the website implied that it could possibly have the dark spot sometimes.  So I contacted Tony Irwin, an old friend and county recorder for leafhoppers among other things.  He noted a resemblance to Mocydiopsis intermedia, a species not recorded in Britain, but he was at pains to point out that it would probably turn out to be less exciting.  He later examined the insect for me and confirmed that it was Mocydiopsis attenuata - so not quite as exciting as a new species for Britain but perhaps still the best record of the night as Tony thinks it was new for the vice county.


Mocydiopsis attenuata (gen det by Tony Irwin), Winterton, 19th August

Friday, 18 September 2015

North Denes

Last Saturday saw a Norfolk Moth Survey event at the North Denes, Great Yarmouth.  With it being such a good year for migrants and reasonable condtions forecast this was an opportunity not to miss.  As it turned out, it wasn't so good for migrants as we'd hoped for.  Maybe we packed up too early (a bit before midnight), but the number of migrant species recorded were lower than hoped: Silver Y, Dark Sword-grass, Small Mottled Willow and, a first for me, Scarce Bordered Straw.  Stuck in one of Jim's famously semi-opaque pots photographing the latter was a challenge... Someone get him some new pots!

Scarce Bordered Straw, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


Another victim of Jim's pots was this Coast Dart, another lifer for me.

Coast Dart, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


A couple of micro species were good.  Agate Knot-horn Nyctegretis lineana is a proposed Red Data Book species, in Norfolk known only from the south-east of the county.

Agate Knot-horn Nyctegretis lineana, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


The other interesting micro was Sea-holly Flat-body Agonopterix cnicella.  We found quite a few of these - I reckon there must have been at least 10 - which is remarkable for such a scarce species, especially as they're supposed to fly in June-July!  Most were quite worn so it's not entirely clear whether these represent a second generation or are set to over-winter as some other Agonopterix species do.



Sea-holly Flat-bodies Agonopterix cnicella (males, gen det), Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


Looking through a hand-lens in the field we could see the diffuse dark area adjacent to the white spots but it wasn't until I looked through the microscope that I detected another external feature that appears to be distinctive.  All four individuals that I retained showed a few rusty-red scales adjacent to the white ones, and also in a diagonal line extending back from the base of the wing.  Never seen that on heracliana so maybe a useful ID pointer?  Not sure if it's consistent though - I can't detect it in some of the photos online.

Sea-holly Flat-body Agonopterix cnicella (close-up of discal region of top individual above), Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


Other notable micros were Large Groundling Teleiopsis diffinis, Desert Groundling Bryotropha desertella and 8 White-streak Grass-veneers Agriphila latistria.

Large Groundling Teleiopsis diffinis, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


 Desert Groundling Bryotropha desertella (female, gen det), Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


The best of the other macros were 2 Yellow Belles and 3 Archer's Darts.  The other moths I saw were 4 Light Brown Apple Moths Epiphyas postvittana, 3 Elbow-stripe Grass-veneers Agriphila geniculea, Common Carpet, 8 Large Yellow Underwings, Lesser Yellow Underwing, 2 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, Small Square-spot, 4 Square-spot Rustics, Straw Underwing, 2 Cloaked Minors and Snout.

Straw Underwing, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana (male), Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September


A couple of bug lifers for me too: Chorosoma schillingi and Lucerne Bug Adelphocoris lineolatus.

Lucerne Bug Adelphocoris lineolatus, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September



Chorosoma schillingi, Great Yarmouth North Denes, 12th September