Tens of thousands of moths

On Saturday morning I was up at Titchwell birding and swimming in Diamond-back Moths Plutella xylostella.  OK, perhaps that's an exaggeration, but there really were a lot of them.  They were everywhere, but some places were thick with them - you could see maybe 50-100 in some small patches of vegetation with more appearing if the vegetation was disturbed.  I put down 1000 in my records but that really was a very conservative estimate - just of the moths I'd seen.  I couldn't possibly guess how many were actually there.  Tens of thousands obviously, hundreds of thousands probably, millions mabye?  I wouldn't be surprised.

Not much else of lepidopteran note - a Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana and 2 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana were the only other moths I saw in the misty murk.  A Scorpion Fly proved to be Panorpa germanica (gen det).

Next I headed to Dersingham Bog.  I thought there might be fewer moths here with it being further inland, or at least further from a north/east facing coast.  But there were loads of Diamond-back Moths Plutella xylostella here too.  The heath itself was quite windswept and there weren't many here (although still kicking up a few every few steps) but in the shelter of the woodland above the heath there were hundreds.  I didn't spend long here and didn't cover that much ground, but even so I must have easily seen 500.

I managed a few other moths too: 2 Green Long-horns Adela reaumurella, Brassy Tortrix Eulia ministrana, Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis and 3 Common Heaths.

Common Heaths, Dersingham Bog, 4th June

A leafhopper turned out to be Chamaepsylla hartigii, a first for me.  A wildflower tick for me here too, which I might not have noticed if it wasn't for the display board telling me about it.  Cranberry.  The flowers aren't exactly tiny and they're bright pink, yet they were strangely hard to see even when looking down on them.  I must have walked past them before, here at least if not elsewhere.

I wish I'd spent longer trying to get a decent photo of an amazing insect that I found on a log pile close to where I parked.  Turned out none of my photos of it were in focus, which is a bit disappointing.  It was obviously an Ichneumon wasp, but what an Ichneumon!  It was a monster!  An absolute beast!  Off the top of my head I can't think of another insect I have ever seen anywhere in the world as long as this.  The body was probably well over an inch long, the antennae about as long on top and then the ovipositor!  Wow!  I believe it's something called Ephialtes manifestator.

Ephialtes manifestator, Dersingham Bog, 4th June

But good as this was, top trump goes to a hoverfly.  A large and very distinctive hoverfly that I was pretty sure I hadn't ever seen before.  Turns out it was Sericomyia lappona, a species with a relatively restricted range in Norfolk.  Looks like it occurs only in west and north-west Norfolk, and given its preference of boggy habitat I would hazard a guess that Dersingham Bog might be the best place to see it in this county.

Sericomyia lappona, Dersingham Bog, 4th June

To the untrained eye this Hoverfly looks even more distinctive, but alas there are 2-3 similar species and the quality of my photos is not high enough for me to be 100% certain of its ID.  Probably Helophilus pendulus.  Not a greatly significant record even if the ID was clinched (either way).

Helophilus sp., probably Helophilus pendulus, Dersingham Bog, 4th June

My next stop was a little further inland, a footpath close to the Babingley River just south of West Newton.  I've been meaning to explore this path for ages.  The path starts running down the edge of a crop field on one side and on the other, a strip of low vegetation, a dyke and then a hedgerow.  It goes on like this for maybe a third of a mile before crossing a sheepfield and then running alongside the river itself.  I only got as far as the sheepfield.  Being a bit further inland I didn't expect especially huge number of Diamond-backs, although with the numbers I'd seen elsewhere I knew it would hold a good few.  Well, it was spectacular.  I have never seen anything like it.  As soon as I opened my car door a cloud of Diamond-back Moths got up beside me.  But this was only the start - they continued all the way down the path.  Counting them was impossible but I was keen to document how many there were so set about to estiamte numbers as accurately (but conservatively) as possible.  To give you an idea, a single stinging-nettle held about 20 - and that was just the ones I could see without disturbing it.  There were a lot of stinging nettles, and a lot of other plants with moths on.  In just one small section in front of me I could see hundreds, and that went on for pretty much the whole footpath.  A very conservative estimate for just this small stretch of footpath was 10-15,000 Diamond-back Moths.

With so many moths present it was hard to pick out any that were different, but I did manage a few.  Best was a new moth for me, and a very attractive one too - White-barred Gold Micropterix aruncella.  They're not hugely rare (indeed my second followed a couple of days later) but a first is always exciting, especially when they're so stunning.

White-barred Gold Micropterix aruncella, Babingley River near West Newton, 4th June

I also found 5 Cocksfoot Moths Glyphipterix simpliciella, a Common Marble Celypha lacunana and a Drinker caterpillar, but an interesting-looking small Plume moth sadly evaded my net.  Bugs included a number of Hairy Shieldbugs and the striking Cercopis vulnerata.

Hairy Shieldbugs, Babingley River near West Newton, 4th June

Cercopis vulnerata, Babingley River near West Newton, 4th June

Dragonflies included at least 20 Azure Damselflies and about 3 Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Azure Damselfly, Babingley River near West Newton, 4th June

Next stop was Roydon Common where I was to join the Norfolk Moth Survey for an evening's trapping.  I got there early - a lot early - with Dave so as to give ourselves plenty of time to look for day-flying moths before the trapping started.  A good time was had, with thousands more Diamond-back Moths, but I'll save the details for my next post...

Scotland moths (well, an Earwig anyway)

I didn't do a post covering my last night before heading off on hols, but that was because there were hardly any moths: White-shouldered House-moth Endrosis sarcitrella, Common Swift, 2 Green Carpets, Small Square-spot and Hebrew Character.

Saturday night was spent at my parents' in Keswick.  On arrival I hand-caught a Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla in their front garden but it was a cold wet night so I didn't expect much in the trap.  On the other hand it was cloudy, and there were breaks in the rain, so I did hope for more than big fat zero.  But that's exactly what I found in the trap at dawn.  The night was saved by a nice Small Phoenix on the wall along with a Nut-tree Tussock.

I chose a holiday cottage in Braemar partly because the garden looked good for moths.  Sadly I couldn't choose weather that was good for moths and after a night with temperatures that had already dropped to 4 degrees a couple of hours before dusk it wasn't a huge surprise to find absolutely no moths in the trap on Sunday night.

The rest of the four-night stay was dominated by wind, rain and very cold night-time temperatures - on the last morning at dawn my car thermometer recorded minus 2.5 degrees!  Tuesday night produced the only moth in the trap - a single Garden Carpet.  Potentially more interesting was an earwig in the trap... all the earwigs I have ever attempted to identify in the past have proven to be Common Earwigs but this one was much smaller.  A Lesser Earwig perhaps, but most pictures show males and I think this one is a female.  If it is a Lesser Earwig then it would appear to be a noteworthy record - the distribution map in the new insects book doesn't show them extending up anywhere near so far north though the National Biodiversity Network map shows a few dots on the map for Scotland including up the Aberdeenshire coast, so it doesn't seem unfeasible that the species is present here too.  However, I would like to know for sure if this is the correct ID or not - does anyone know how to do Earwigs?  I have the specimen if it helps!

unidentified Earwig, Braemar, 2nd June

Garden Carpet, Braemar, 2nd June

Wednesday afternoon was relatively warm and sunny (between the heavy showers and despite the brisk breeze) and Vitty and I had a walk up from Linn of Dee.  I managed to find a few moths including 2-3 Common Heaths.  

Common Heath, Linn of Dee, 3rd June

Quite a few largish moths which seemed to have a bit of colour on them whizzed around the heather but I couldn't get near them with the net and they remained unidentified.  Vitty saw one moth land and I managed to catch it - whether it was the same as the others or not I have no idea, but this one was an Early Thorn.  I could conceive that the others were too, but odd to see them flying in the daytime like this if they were.  

Early Thorn, Linn of Dee, 3rd June

I also netted a Narrow-winged Pug and a Heather Tortrix Argyrotaenia ljungiana.

Narrow-winged Pug, Linn of Dee, 3rd June

Heather Tortrix Argyrotaenia ljungiana, Linn of Dee, 3rd June

Back in the car park at dusk I netted another Early Thorn, which turned out to be my last moth of the holiday.

The only other insect-news from the holiday were Stoneflies... a whole order of insects that I had not previously encountered.  One or two species do occur in Norfolk but most like fast-running rivers with rocky banks which isn't really the sort of habitat one comes across in Norfolk very often.  In Scotland I found two (probably a whole load more in flight, but two that I got a good look at).  One at Linn of Dee and the other at Balmoral, which appear to be Common Small Yellow Sally Siphonoperla torrentium.  There are a couple of other similar species apparently, and I've no idea how similar, so perhaps this ID should be regarded as tentative.

probable Common Small Yellow Sally Siphonoperla torrentium, Braemar, 2nd June