Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Prominents and allies (Notodontidae) - part 1: Kittens, Lobster and Marbled Browns

PROMINENTS, KITTENS and allies (NOTODONTIDAE)


Puss Moth Cerura vinula - One to light at Ceann Chnocain on Mull on 13th June 2019 - a fairly worn greyed example that was almost camouflage as it was spreadeagled on the grey gravelly ground (having arrived unnoticed).  I've had this species in my garden 3 times (2015-16) but hadn't seen it anywhere for 3 years.  None in 2020.

Puss Moth, Ceann Chnocain (Mull), 13th June 2019

Sallow Kitten Furcula furcula - One next door on 8th August 2019 but none in my own garden in either year.  They weren't the first years I've gone without but I've had 7 here since moving in in August 2014.  Elsewhere 2 at Sculthorpe Moor on 26th April 2019 and one at Bintree Wood on 24th July 2020.

Sallow Kitten, Sculthorpe Moor, 26th April 2019

Sallow Kitten, Bintree Wood, 24th July 2020

Alder Kitten Furcula bicuspis - One at Weybourne on 5th July 2019 was only my third ever.  None in 2020.  I've not found this species locally yet but there are a few records so only a matter of time before I do (I hope).

Alder Kitten, Weybourne, 5th July 2019

Poplar Kitten Furcula bifida - None.  I've recorded this species at home in 2015 and 2016 but not since.


Lobster Moth Stauropus fagi - None in 2019 and in 2020 just one at Bintree Wood on 13th June.  I've recorded this species at home 3 times but not since 2016.  It's unusual that I don't see one anywhere though.

Lobster Moth, Bintree Wood, 13th June 2020

Marbled Brown Drymonia dodonaea - 2 trapped in the garden, on 25th May and 19th June 2019 and 3 between 7th and 19th June 2020.  I average 5 a year here - 2019 was my equal-worst year.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 23rd June 2019 and on the same date in 2020, and 3 at Bintree Wood on 13th June 2020.

Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 25th May 2019

Marbled Brown, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 23rd June 2019

Marbled Brown, Bintree Wood, 13th June 2020

Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 19th June 2020

Lunar Marbled Brown Drymonia dodonaea - 7 caught in the garden between 22nd April and 6th May 2019, my best year here (following 3 in 2018, one in 2017 and none in 2015 or 2016).  Elsewhere 5 at the meadows on 22nd April 2019 and 2 at Sculthorpe Moor on 26th April 2019.  I wondered if these increasing numbers were part of a long-term upward trend or a crest of a short-term peak, but the complete absence of any Lunar Marbled Browns at home, the meadows or anywhere else in 2020 proved it was the latter.  A shame as I rather like this species.

Lunar Marbled Browns, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd April 2019

Lunar Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 24th April 2019

Next page: more Notodontidae

First moth-trapping at the meadows

I returned to the Cathedral Meadows early on 4th.  I found six species of moths on the wing: Oak Satin Lift Heliozela sericiella, Common Thorn Midget Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae, 6 Beech Midgets Phyllonorycter maestingella, 4 Horse Chestnut Leaf-miners Cameraria ohridella, Sulphur Tubic Esperia sulphurella and Vetch Piercer Grapholita jungiella.

Sulphur Tubic Esperia sulphurella, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Vetch Piercer Grapholita jungiella, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Oak Satin Lift Heliozela sericiella, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

A variety of other things noted including Muntjac, Large Red Damselfly, Orange-tip, Hemerobius lutescens (a brown lacewing), 3 species of hoverfly (Melanostoma scalares, Syrphus ribesii and one that keys out as Eristalis tenax, looks very much like Eristalis tenax, but lacks any of the 3 characteristics listed in the guide for that species - not sure where I went wrong there or what else it might be!).  Also Small Black Ant Lasius niger, Garden Bumblebee and Common Carder Bees, Kentish Snail and a lifer for me in abundance running through the leaf-litter, Common Fox-spider Alopecosa pulverulenta.

Common Fox-spider Alopecosa pulverulenta, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Garden Bumblebee, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Does anyone know if the species of Oak Gall Wasp can be identified from these galls?

Oak galls, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Back at home a beetle dropped onto my outside window sill next to where I was sitting, so I duly potted it up for examination.  It proved to be my first Onthophagus similis.

Onthophagus similis, North Elmham, 4th May

With cloud forecast from before dusk after a warm sunny day I thought tonight would be a good one to have my first moth trapping session at the meadows.  By the time dusk came the arrival time of the cloud had pushed back to just after dusk, but it was still warm as it got dark and there wasn't much wind, so it promised good.  Sadly the cloud never arrived, at least not before half past midnight, and temperatures soon dropped resulting in a poorer catch than hoped - but not at all bad considering.

The first moth in was this Lunar Marbled Brown - a nice way to begin.

Lunar Marbled Brown, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

One of the next up was this Knot Grass, a species I never used to encounter before I moved to North Elmham in 2014.  I see them every year now but still good to get so soon.

Knot Grass, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Also among the first 5 moths to arrive was this Powdered Quaker, my first this year as I don't get many at home (and never seem to get them for a while after others are reporting them).

Powdered Quaker, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

By now things were really slow, but in the end I did notch up a semi-respectable (given the lack of warmth) 20 species, the others being: Common Oak Purple Dyseriocrania subpurpurella, Parornix sp., Pebble Hook-tip, Frosted Green, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Water Carpet, Small Phoenix, 2 Brindled Pugs, White-pinion Spotted, Iron Prominent, 2 Pebble Prominents, Red Chestnut, 3 Common Quakers, 2 Clouded Drabs, 2 Hebrew Characters, Angle Shades and 3 Nut-tree Tussocks.

Hawthorn Slender Parornix anglicella, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Pebble Hook-tip, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

White-pinion Spotted, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Pebble Prominent, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Red Chestnut, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Nut-tree Tussock, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

There were also 2 Mottled Sedges Glyphotaelius pellucidus (caddisflies) and 2 Black Sexton Beetles.  Nearby there were a couple of White-legged Snake Millipedes and a Common Striped Woodlouse among lots of Common Rough Woodlice.

Black Sexton Beetle, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

Common Rough Woodlouse, Cathedral Meadows, 4th May

I didn't catch much at home that night, though Red Twin-spot Carpet was new for the year here.  The rest were Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, 3 Lesser Swallow Prominents, Swallow Prominent, Muslin Moth and Hebrew Character (also Common Wasp).

A trio of new moths including 9x Pammene giganteana to lure

The night of Tuesday 17th April was an excellent one with two moths in the trap that were completely new to me, Large Birch Purple Eriocrania sangii and Scarce Cosmet Mompha jurassicella.   I think I've seen sangii before but never been 100% certain about its identity previously.  There's been some debate about whether female sangii can be safely identified by reference to its genitalia but I think the consensus seems to be that the combination of the form of the scales on the hindwing and the relative sizes of the sensoria on its abodomenal sclerites is sufficient.

Large Birch Purple Eriocrania sangii (female), North Elmham, 17th April

Scrace Cosmet Monpha jurassicella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 17th April

There was a reasonable selection of other moths too: 3 Common Flat-bodies Agonopterix heracliana, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, 2 Brindled Pugs, 3 Double-striped Pugs, 2 Early Thorns, Brindled Beauty, 4 Common Quakers, Clouded Drab, 3 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and Chestnut.

There were 3 Chrysoperla carnea (green Lacewings) (at least 2 confirmed males and a presumed female).  Interestingly the female was fully green while all the males I've seen so far this year have still had some of their winter brown colour retained.  There were also 2 different brown Lacewings, and surprisingly both proved to be new species for the garden, Hemerobius micans and Wesmaelius nervosus.

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham, 17th April

Wesmaelius nervosus, North Elmham, 17th April

The following day I headed out to the east coast where there were plenty of butterflies on the wing including Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone.

Brimstone, Horsey, 18th April

I think this spider was Pardosa nigriceps, a new one for me.

Pardosa nigriceps, Horsey, 18th April

On the way home I stopped at St Faith's Common where insect-life included a new beetle for me, Hylurgops palliatus.

Hylurgops palliatus, St Faith's Common, 18th April

At Bittering while retrieving some algae covered oak bark to feed my Luffia ferchaultella on (see last post) I unwittingly also retained this tiny creature - but it took mne a while to work out what it is, and I'm still not sure.  I considered it could be an aphid, but I don't think so, or perhaps one of the globular springtails though I haven't seen it spring (and do any of the collembola live on trees anyway?).  A nymph of some kind of bug perhaps?  In the end I think it's most likely to be the larva of a Lacewing, but I'm not entirely sure.  I've seen green lacewing larvae covered in muck before and that was significantly larger (this was only about 1-2 mm long at most).  I guess it could be one of the smaller brown lacewings, although some photos of these show much more elongated creatures, or perhaps even one of the Waxflies?  I'm not entirely clear if all of these cover themselves in material to camouflage themselves or if it's just the larger species?  On the other hand I thought all lacewing larvae were carnivorous yet this is surviving in a pot with only some algae-covered bark for company for 12 days so far and it still seems very healthy, so perhaps it is something else entirely...?  Please let me know if you have any ideas!

unidentified insect, Bittering, 18th April

That night a good selection of moths included 4 that were new for the year: Maple Slender Caloptilia semifascia, Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, Pine Beauty and Nut-tree Tussock. The Pine Beauty was particularly welcome being my first here since 2015.

Maple Slender Caloptilia semifacscia, North Elmham, 18th April

Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, North Elmham, 18th April

Pine Beauty, North Elmham, 18th April

Nut-tree Tussock, North Elmham, 18th April

Other moths caught that night were Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, 4 Brindled Pugs, 2 Double-striped Pugs, 3 Early Thorns, 2 Brindled Beauties, 3 Small Quakers, 5 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs, 7 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and 2 Chestnuts.  There were also 2 Chrysoperla carnea and a Black Sexton Beetle.  A good crop of leafhoppers consisted of 5 Empoasca vitis and, new for the year, Zygina angusta.

Zygina angusta, North Elmham, 18th April

I recently acquired a pheromone lure for the tortrix moth Grapholita lobarzewskii.  Jon had been trialling this in his garden last year and caught Norfolk's first example of this moth previously only known from the south east.  It's too early in the year for a lobarzewskii but I put it out on Thursday 19th April knowing that these lures sometimes attract other species too.  I checked the trap that evening and was delighted to find a tortrix moth inside - not a lobarzewskii of course, but whatever it was looked interesting.  Sure enough it proved to be a new species for me and one that's only been recorded a handful of times in the county, Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana.

Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana, North Elmham, 19th April

My third new moth in as many days - what had until this week been a dire year for moths has suddently started turning more interesting!

That night Streamer and Lunar Marbled Brown were new for the year.

Streamer, North Elmham, 19th April

Lunar Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 19th April

Other moths included 3 Common Flat-bodies Agonopterix heracliana, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, Water Carpet, 4 Brindled Pugs, Double-striped Pug, 2 Early Thorns, 5 Brindled Beauties, 2 Small Quakers, 2 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs, 8 Hebrew Characters and Chestnut.

Next day I put the lobarzewskii lure out again and this time I caught another 2 Early Oak Piercers Pammene giganteana - amazing!

Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana, North Elmham, 20th April

If 3 in 2 days was good, there was more in store... I tried one more time on 21st and when I checked the trap that evening there were another 6 Early Oak Piercers Pammene giganteana in there!  There were only 10 previous records of giganteana in Norfolk so catching 9 in 3 days seems quite remarkable - but such is the power of a pheremone lure for finding things that I'm sure are always around and just not tending to come to light very often and are therefore rarely recorded.  Interestingly Mick Kerr managed to attract a giganteana to the same lure at Sporle near Swaffham too.