Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Noctuids (Noctuidae) part 8: Chestnuts and allies, Pale Pinion and Shoulder-knots

NOCTUIDS (NOCTUIDAE) (continued)


Beaded Chestnut Agrochola lychnidis - Totals of 37 caught here between 20th September and 5th November 2019 and 24 between 18th September and 19th October 2020, my worst years yet (although the 2020 total was reduced by me being away for a few nights in early October).  Plotting my annual totals here gives me a smooth downward curve from the 84 here in 2014.  Elsewhere 79 over 7 nights in Cornwall in early October 2020 and 2 at the meadows on 8th November 2020.

Beaded Chestnut, North Elmham, 18th September 2020

Beaded Chestnuts, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November 2020

Brown-spot Pinion Agrochola litura - Singles in the garden on 3 consecutive nights 2nd to 4th October 2019.  I caught 30 of these in 2014 but in the 5 years since then I've only caught 19 in total; 2020 was my first year without catching any at all.

Brown-spot Pinion, North Elmham, 2nd October 2019

Flounced Chestnut Agrochola helvola - None.  I first saw this species in 2017 and that remains the only one I've caught here.


Red-line Quaker Agrochola lota - Totals of 10 in the garden between 2nd October and 2nd November 2019 and 24 between 22nd September (my earliest ever) and 7th November 2020.  I've averaged about 11 a year here and 2020's total was my highest ever, and included my best count of 4 on 20th October.

Red-line Quaker, North Elmham, 2nd October 2019

Yellow-line Quaker Agrochola macilenta - Totals of 22 in the garden between 14th October and 27th November 2019, the last being my latest ever, and 17 between 17th October and 15th November 2020.  These totals were a fair bit below the average annual total of over 35.  Singles seen at the meadows on 5 dates from 4th October 2019.

Yellow-line Quaker, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th October 2019

Brick Agrochola circellaris - None here in 2019 but 5 between 2nd and 13th November 2020.  I've had poor years before (e.g. just one in 2016) but 2019 was my first complete blank.  I've caught up to 12 here in a year, averaging at 5.  Elsewhere 9 at the meadows on 4 dates (mostly on Ivy) including 5 on 4th October 2019. 

Bricks, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th October 2019

Brick, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 28th September 2020

Brick, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th October 2020

Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa - Totals of 360 caught in my garden between 10th September and 14th October 2019 and 348 between 8th September and 20th October 2020, both over my average annual tally of 282.  Elsewhere 316 in Cornwall in the first week of October (including 92 at our Tresidder cottage on 8th October).  Incredibly, I haven't managed to find this species at the meadows yet.

Lunar Underwing, Tresidder (Cornwall), 7th October 2020

Chestnut Conistra vaccinii - My best years for this species at home with 58 up to 27th March  2019 and then 17 from 1st October to the year end, 27 up to 10th April 2020 and then 66 from 29th September to the year end (including a record 8 on 16th October).  The totals of 75 and 93 compare with an average annual total of less than 60.  At the meadows recorded on 12 nights with a total of 24.  The record at home on 29th September 2020 and 4 at the meadows the same night were my earliest autumn records ever.  So far 2021 is shaping up to be another excellent year for this species.

Chestnut, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd March 2019

Chestnut, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd April 2019

Chestnut, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th October 2019

Chestnut, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th March 2020

Chestnuts, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 29th September 2020 (the second being a confirmed male)

Dark Chestnut Conistra ligula - 5 caught in the garden in the first winter period of 2019, up to 23rd February, then 4 in the autumn between 21st October and 24th November followed by one on 13th February 2020.  5 between 2nd October (my earliest ever) and 21st December 2020.  I average just under 7 a year here.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 4th October 2019 and one in Cornwall in October 2020.  I find some Conistra quite difficult to be certain about and so dissect a few of the trickier individuals to confirm - the results suggest I'm being over-cautious as my suspected ID nearly always proves right, but I do occasionally get it wrong and sometimes think these are over-simplified, especially with worn examples.

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 22nd February 2019

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th October 2019

female Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 13th February 2020

female Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 2nd October 2020

male Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 16th October 2020

male Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 21st December 2020

Dotted Chestnut Conistra rubiginea - None at home in either year.  This species has very recently colonised Norfolk and is still spreading - I caught my first here in 2016 and a second in 2018.  Elsewhere one at Cranwich Heath on 14th March 2020.

Dotted Chestnut, Cranwich Heath, 14th March 2020

Tawny Pinion Lithophane semibrunnea - None.  This is a scarce species and I've never seen one, but it's pretty widespread so I remain optimistic that one will land in my trap sometime.


Pale Pinion Lithophane socia - Singles in my garden on 26th March 2019 (my earliest ever record) and 1st April 2020.  The 2019 individual had one wing very much shorter than the other.  This species isn't quite annual here though I average one a year.

Pale Pinion, North Elmham, 26th March 2019

Pale Pinion, North Elmham, 1st April 2020

Grey Shoulder-knot Lithophane ornitopus - singles caught in my garden on 17th October and 4th November 2019 and 18th October 2020.  1-2 a year is normal though numbers have varied from 0 to 4.

Grey Shoulder-knot, North Elmham, 17th October 2019

Grey Shoulder-knot, North Elmham, 4th November 2019

Grey Shoulder-knot, North Elmham, 18th October 2020

Blair's Shoulder-knot Lithophane leautieri - One trapped in the garden on 28th October 2019.  This recent colonist seemed to be going from strength to strength at the time I moved here and I caught 22 in my first autumn (2014).  Since then it slumped - I caught 4 in each of the next 2 years, 3 in 2017 and none in 2018 or 2020.  A temporary dip, as in the usual peak-and-trough cycle of insect populations, or a long-term trend signalling the end of a temporary colonisation?  Time will tell, but I suspect the former.

Blair's Shoulder-knot, North Elmham, 28th October 2019

Next page: more Noctuidae

Southern Bell, the last new moth of the year

My last night moth-trapping before I went away for the first 3 weeks or so of November proved to be a good finale to the season.  The main highlight was a tortrix that I didn't immediately recognise.  It soon proved to be a Southern Bell Crocidosema plebejana, a relatively new arrival to Britain that has only been recorded in Norfolk about 5 times previously.  A lifer for me and my last new moth at home this year (bringing my garden moth list up to 786).

Southern Bell  Crocidosema plebejana (female, gen det), North Elmham, 31st October

I would miss the main flight period for December Moth (which, despite its name, is November) so it was good to get my first for the year in just before I went away.

December Moth, North Elmham, 31st October

I resumed trapping at home after an excellent trip to Oman on 21st November, catching a single Sprawler.  No moths the next night but a caddisfly: Limnephilus lunatus.  The following night there were 3 moths: a December Moth, a November Moth agg. and a Sprawler.  That was it until 2nd December when this Winter Moth turned up.

Winter Moth, North Elmham, 2nd December

Over the next few days there were 2 December Moths and 3 Winter Moths on 3rd, December Moth on 4th, 2 December Moths, Winter Moth and Mottled Umber on 5th and Mottled Umber on 6th.  Then there was another lull in activity broken only by single Mottled Umbers on 10th and 12th.

The lull ended on the night of 20th December when 3 species of moth and 1 caddisfly appeared, including my first ever December Pale Brindled Beauty.  This species normally appears in January and February but there are quite a few records in December - not here until now though.  The others were 2 Winter Moth, Mottled Umber and Limnephilus lunatus.

Pale Brindled Beauty, North Elmham, 20th December

Next day there was less variety but December Moth, a record count of 5 Mottled Umbers and my second record of Micropterna sequax (caddisfly).

Micropterna sequax (male), North Elmham, 21st December

The following night there was Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana, December Moth, Winter Moth and a Dark Chestnut.

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 22nd December

There were no moths the following night but a Minotaur Beetle in the bottom of the trap was my first here this year.

Minotaur Beetle, North Elmham, 23rd December

The year ended with Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla and Chestnut on 30th and a single Chestnut on New Year's Eve.

I ended up with a total of 578 species of moth in my garden in 2017 (291 micros, 287 macros) - quite a long way short of 2016 (when I recorded 627 species), confirming what we all knew, which was that it was quite a poor year.  If you take away the 7 species I only recorded in 2017 by using clearwing lures (which I didn't use in 2016) it was 56 species (9%) down on 2016.

Among the 578 were 66 that were new for the garden.  I only need another 14 needed to bring the garden list up to 800, surely within reach for 2018, before the end of my 4th year here maybe...?  I only had 60 new moths for Norfolk in 2017 - I don't have comparable data for previous years but this must be a long way down on any previous year since I started mothing seriously.  No surprise there of course - the more you see the harder it is to find new species (unless you go twitching moths which I have no plans to start doing).

It was a good year for me personally in getting to grips with other groups though.  In the garden I recorded 8 species of mayfly, 37 bugs (21 heteropteran & 16 homopteran), 2 barklice 15 lacewings, 48 beetles and 39 caddisflies.  Among them were two firsts for Norfolk, both Waxflies (which come under lacewings), Coniopteryx esbenpeterseni and Semidalis pseudouncinata.

First new beetle of 2017 - Cercyon unipunctatus

Thursday night was disappointing with just Early Moth and Pale Brindled Beauty, though this Ophion obscuratus was my first inchneumonid wasp of the year.

Ophion obscuratus, North Elmham, 16th February

On Friday I spent the day in the Brecks where a number of insects were evident.  Most were unidentified flies and I was a little surprised not to see my first butterfly of the spring given the warmth and frequent sunny spells.  I saw a bee briefly but didn't manage to catch it or see it at rest.  I did manage to catch one of several small beetles flying around a copse, and eventually identified it as a new speices for me, Cercyon unipunctatus.  I haven't managed to identify the ticks it was carrying though...

Cercyon unipunctatus, Brecks, 17th February

Satirday night produced my first Tufted Button Acleris cristana for the year along with 3 Pale Brindled Beauties and a Chestnut.

Tufted Button Acleris cristana, North Elmham, 17th February

Last night there were 3 Pale Brindled Beauties and my first Dark Chestnut of the year.  The latter species flies in autumn through to late winter/early spring and I usually see quite a few - for example 6 at home in 2014/15 and 17 at home in 2015/16.  However this season I hadn't seen any and as it's already past the latest winter date I recorded them in 2015 or 2016 I thought I'd missed it for this season.

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 18th February

Today I had a quick wander round Beetley Common where I actually managed to identify a fungus for a change - Birch Polypore.  There were some more tiny bracket (?) fungi on a fallen branch very much like the ones I saw at Felbrigg during the week and which I still haven't managed to identify.  Also I noticed a lot of silver birches with what looked like orange rust on one side.  I'm not quite certain but I think it's something called Trentepohlia (the genus - there are several similar species) which, despite its very orange colour, are apparently types of green algae (Chlorophyta).

I also found a couple of woodlice beneath some bark.  I checked loads of woodlice using the FSC key last year and nearly all of them (in fact it might have been all of them) turned out to be Common Rough Woodlouse.  One of the two today was black and big and looked pretty much like many of the Common Rough Woodlouse I've seen before but the other was more colourful and much smaller.  I took it home to check, optimistic that it might be something new.  No, turned out to be a Common Rough Woodlouse too - presumably a young one?

Common Rough Woodlouse, Beetley Common, 19th February

Dark Chestnut before the snow

Seems I forgot to post this having drafted it a fortnight or so ago...

Since my last post I had 2 Early Moths (one each on 10th and 11th).  On 13th I drove home from work in 1.5 degrees of cold and woke up to snow falling.  I didn't expect anything in the trap but there was this Dark Chestnut.

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 13th January

The snow did put a stop to moth activity though and I didn't record any more moths until this week. 

Winter (Moth) is upon us: 573 for the year and up to date

17th November saw what will probably prove to be my last new moth for the year, a Winter Moth.  It brings the garden year-list up to 573 species (310 macros, 263 micros) which I reckon isn't too shabby a total.

Winter Moth, North Elmham, 17th November

A Yellow-line Quaker was the only other moth that night and the following three evenings saw just single moths each night: December Moth, Dark Chestnut and another Dark Chestnut.

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 19th November

Then the cold northerly gales on 21st November killed the dying season and I got my first nil return of the winter period, followed by more over the next couple of nights.

A Winter Moth on 24th November got things back on track, with Winter Moth and Dark Chestnut on 25th, Feathered Thorn and Dark Chestnut on 26th and December Moth, Winter Moth and Mottled Umber on 27th.

Winter Moth, North Elmham, 24th November

Then back to nil returns until last night, bringing me up to date at last.