Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Tortrix Moths (Tortricidae) (Part 12: Drills and Piercers I (Dichrorampha to Cydia))

TORTRIX MOTHS (TORTRICIDAE) (continued)


Lead-coloured Drill Dichrorampha plumbana - Found at the meadows on 27th May and 20th June 2020.  None in 2019 and I've not found this species at home yet, probably because it doesn't seem to come to light very readily (nearly all of my records have been netted during the afternoon).

male Lead-coloured Drill Dichrorampha plumbana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 27th May 2020

male Lead-coloured Drill Dichrorampha plumbana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th June 2020

Dingy Drill Dichrorampha sedetana - None.  I've never seen this one but although there aren't many records in Norfolk the same was true of plumbana and aeratana when I started finding them.


Obscure Drill Dichrorampha aeratana - Found at the meadows on 25th and 27th May 2020.  None in 2019 and like plumbana I've not recorded this species at home and have only found it during the afternoons/evenings.

male Obscure Drill Dichrorampha aeratana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 25th May 2020

male Obscure Drill Dichrorampha aeratana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 27th May 2020

Sharp-winged Drill Dichrorampha acuminatana - Caught in the garden on 8th August (2) and 23rd August 2019, my first here in 3 years (though I'd had 1-3 in each of 2014 to 2016).  3 again in 2020 with one on 8th May and 2 on 10th August  Also recorded next door twice in August 2019.  6 at the meadows were mostly in May, just one in August.

male Sharp-winged Drill Dichrorampha acuminatana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 12th May 2019

male Sharp-winged Drill Dichrorampha acuminatana, North Elmham, 23rd August 2019

male Sharp-winged Drill Dichrorampha acuminatana, North Elmham, 8th May 2020

male Sharp-winged Drill Dichrorampha acuminatana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 27th May 2020

Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana - Trapped in the garden on 23rd July (2) and 5th August 2019.  Like the previous species these were my first here since 2016, but that gap was even more unexpected in light of the 17 I recorded here in 2015-16.  2020 was a real bumper year for this species here, completely unprecedented - I caught 75 between 15th June and 23rd August including 15 on 11th August.  Also 2 at the meadows on 13th July 2019 but despite the large numbers in my garden in 2020 only one at the meadows on the relatively late date of 30th August.  Although the differences in wing-shape between this and the previous species can be reasonably obvious I still find some individuals are confusing and with the additional risk of overlooking some of the scarcer Dichrorampha I resort to checking many by referring to their genitalia.  In fact in 2020 I started to feel more comfortable with them but when the numbers were getting so large and other moth-trappers weren't reporting unusual numbers of this species I started to doubt myself again and resorted to checking  more again.  Fortunately these all proved to be correctly so I quickly reverted to checking a minority of less clear-cut individuals.  However, I still think there is plenty of opportunity to go wrong with these - although I don't think there were any suspected simpliciana that proved to be anything else on dissection there were 3-4 suspected acuminatana that proved to be simliciana on dissection.

male Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 13th July 2019

female Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 23rd July 2019

male Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 5th August 2019

male Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 26th June 2020

male Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 22nd July 2020

female Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 5th August 2020

male Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 7th August 2020

male Round-winged Drill Dichrorampha simpliciana, North Elmham, 10th August 2020

Square-spot Drill Dichrorampha sequana - None.  I've only seen this species at one site in Great Ryburgh (where there were 3 along a verge) but I should imagine it must occur closer to home as well.


Gold-fringed Drill Dichrorampha vancouverana - None.  I haven't seen this species since 2013 and there aren't any records local to here, but there's no reason why it shouldn't turn up round here.


Narrow-blotch Drill Dichrorampha flavidorsana - None.  I'm yet to see this species.  In theory it could occur round here but I haven't got any Tansy on my patch so perhaps not as likely as some of the other species missing from my local area.


Broad-blotch Drill Dichrorampha alpinana - One found resting on some Field Maple at the meadows on 25th May 2020.  I had singles of this species in the garden in 3 consecutive years 2015-2017 but not since.

male Broad-blotch Drill Dichrorampha alpinana, North Elmham, 25th May 2020

Common Drill Dichrorampha petiverella - None.  Despite seeing 10 at 3 sites in 2013 I haven't seen this species since.  It's not far away but I haven't yet seen it in the North Elmham area.


Silver-lined Drill Dichrorampha plumbagana - None.  This species seems to be cropping up more often recently so I am optimistic that I will find one locally before too long.


Pea Moth Cydia nigricana - 3 at the meadows on 22nd-25th May 2019 and 2 there on 8th May 2020.  I've not seen this at home yet but that's not surprising for a species mainly found in the afternoons rather than being attracted to light, though I did get one come to light at Bintree Wood on 13th June 2020 so it's not impossible!

female Pea Moth Cydia nigricana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd May 2019

female Pea Moth Cydia nigricana, Bintree Wood, 13th June 2020

Grey Gorse Piercer Cydia ulicetana - None in 2019 (must be one of the commonest moths I didn't see that year) and just 2 in 2020 (one at the meadows on 15th May and one at Frost's Common on 21st May).  I've only ever had one in my garden (2017).

female Grey Gorse Piercer Cydia ulicetana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 15th May 2020

Grey Gorse Piercer Cydia ulicetana, Forst's Common, 21st May 2020

Pine-cone Piercer Cydia conicolana - None.  I've only seen one of these and that wasn't confirmed (someone took it away to gen det but I never heard back about it), so it's a species I'd be keen to see again.  There are no records very close to here though (Keith's 2020 record at Litcham is closest), so not sure what my chances of finding it locally are.  I'd be equally or even more happy to find any of the other scarcer conifer-feeding Cydia round here, the only ones of which I've ever seen anywhere are Norfolk's only Larch Piercer Cydia illutana and the cosmophorana below.


Scarce Pine Piercer Cydia cosmophorana - One at Hills and Holes on 21st May 2020 was the first time I've encountered this species.  There were 5 records in Norfolk in 2020 but only 6 prior to 2020.

female Scarce Pine Piercer Cydia cosmophorana, Hills and Holes, 21st May 2020

Codling Moth Cydia pomonella - 3 in the garden between 9th and 24th July 2019 and 6 between 25th June and 12th August 2020.  I've had between 2 and 8 of these each year since I've lived here.  Elsewhere one at Weybourne on 5th July 2019.


Sallow-shoot Piercer Cydia servillana - One netted at Frost's Common on 21st May 2020, the first moth seen on arrival and the 5th record for Norfolk.  I'm still hoping for a repeat of my 2018 record at the meadows.

Sallow-shoot Piercer Cydia servillana, Frost's Common, 21st May 2020

Next page: more Tortricidae

A new ladybird, more Small Yellow Underwings and a ex-larva correction

A sunny afternoon walk round the Meadows on Friday afternoon was very productive.  I found 3 Small Yellow Underwings (same fields but different places to last time) though I'm still not really happy with my photos - I just can't seem to get things like this fully sharp using my 7D - not sure why.

Small Yellow Underwings, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Other half-decent moths included Hawthorn Bent-wing Bucculatrix bechsteinella, Lead-coloured Drill Dichrorampha plumbana and my first migrant at the meadows, a Silver Y.

Hawthorn Bent-wing Bucculatrix bechsteinella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Lead-coloured Drill Dichrorampha plumbana (male, gen det), North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

I counted at least 32 Cocksfoot Moths Glyphipterix simpliciella but they were everywhere and I expect I'd have found hundreds if not thousands if I'd looked hard enough.  Other moths were Plain Gold Micropterix calthella, Hawthorn Slender Parornix anglicella, 6 Common Nettle-taps Anthophila fabriciana and Red Twin-spot Carpet.

Plain Gold Micropterix calthella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Butterflies consisted of Small White, Green-veined White, 3 Orange-tips, Peacock and Speckled Wood, while my first Azure Damselfly of the year and 5 Large Red Damselflies made up the dragonflies.

Peacock, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

There were 2 Dock Bugs and my first 2 Red-and-black Froghoppers Cercopis vulnerata for the site.  Also a Leptopterna nymph, I suspect dolabrata but I don't think you can rule out ferrugata at this stage (let me know if I'm wrong about that).

Red-and-black Froghoppers Cercopis vulnerata, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Leptopterna sp. nymph, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Two beetles were both completely new species for me.  I've not been doing beetles that require microscopic examination for very long so new beetles are quite a regular feature for me, but one of these was a ladybird, the distinctive examples of which I have been identifying for quite a few years, so a new ladybird is a much more satisfying and exciting find.  It was a 24-spot Ladybird, a species with a scientific name that's way too long: Subcoccinella vigintiquattuorpunctata, though I see some sources transcribe it simply as Subcoccinella 24-punctata.

24-spot Ladybird, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

I don't think it's especially uncommon, but uncommon enough for me not to have noticed it before.  The other new beetle was one that required close examination, indeed I think I may have seen it before and misidentified it even after microscopic examination.  I eventually figured out that it was Polydrusus cervinus, a species that, unlike several other similar species, is not always a metallic green colour.  I was initially put off by its colour, thinking it must be one of the other Polydusus or Phyllobius species but in the end cervinus seemed to be the only species that ticked all the boxes, and it turns out they are quite often this green.  One or two of the other features were quite hard to see too, and I wonder if I may have got these wrong in the past as they're meant to be very common indeed.

Polydrusus cervinus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Hoverflies included another Melanostoma mellinum and a new species for me, Sphaerophoria interrupta.

Sphaerophoria interrupta, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

I found a number of ants on a tree trunk and then swept some more off some nearby Common Vetch.  I was sure they were not one of the two species I'd identified up to now and sure enough they proved to be Negro Ants Formica fusca.  There was also a Common Red Ant Myrmica rubra among them.

Negro Ants Formuca fusca, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Bees included Flavous Nomad Bee Nomada flava, Red-tailed Bumblebee and Common Carder Bees.

Flavous Nomad Bee Nomada flava, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

This spider seems to be Tetragnatha montana I believe...

Tetragnatha montana, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Some nice flowers too, including these Hedgerow Cranesbill and Star-of-Bethlehem.

Hedgerow Cranesbill, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

Star-of-Bethlehem, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th May

A while ago I posted about an algae-covered larva I found at Bittering on 13th April.  I'd initially identified it as either Virgin Bagworm Luffia ferchaultella or White-speckled Bagworm Narycia duplicella, both of which have similar algae-covered larvae.  For reasons that I can no longer recall or fathom, I eventually plumped for the former and recorded it as Luffia ferchaultella.

It soon ate all the algae on the bit of bark I collected it on, so I returned to gather some more and put it in the pot with it.  After a few days it stopped munching and remained still - I wasn't sure if it had died or pupated, but kept it sitting on my desk and checked it daily.  On 19th May I looked again and noticed a change - protruding from the tip of the case were what looked like clear wings.  There was no sign of life though and I wondered if it had died on emergence - I hadn't at that point noticed any live insect in the pot.  I checked a bit harder and was pleased to see a moth sitting still on the bark.  Now Luffia ferchaultella is a parthenogenetic species and only wingless females are known.  This insect had wings, so it wasn't ferchaultella after all - it was Narcycia duplicella.  Anyway a first for me, not only a new species but the first time I've ever successfully reared a moth from a larva.

White-speckled Bagworm Narycia duplicella larva, Bittering, 13th April

White-speckled Bagworm Narycia duplicella reared from the above larva, 19th May