Southern Hawker, 2 Speckled Woods, Field Grasshopper, Hornet and Common Carder Bee were among the insects seen at the meadows on the afternoon of 1st September. There was also a new froghopper for me,
Neophilaenus lineatus.
Neophilaenus lineatus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st September
Shaking ash keys produced a few more including Common Green Capsid
Lygocoris pabulinus, a
Common Green Shieldbug, a 7-spot Ladybird, a small black ichneumid that is probably
Gelis agilis and 5 Common Earwigs (including a juvenile which I retained in the hope that I could string it into one of the smaller earwig species - I failed but it was interesting to see it had moulted into an adult by the following day).
Common Green Capsid Lygocoris pabulinus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st September
Common Green Shieldbug, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st September
probable Gelis agilis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st September
Common Earwig, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st-2nd September (before and after moult)
A quick sweep of some Broom also produced a few bits and pieces including another spider that I think was
Xysticus cristatus (another presumed immature female) and two new bugs for me,
Orthotylus concolor, and Broom Psyllid
Arytaina genistae. The latter was to prove very common here, with lots more records over the following months.
Orthotylus concolor, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st September
Broom Psyllid Arytaina genistae, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st September
I remainded out until it got dark and most of the following moths were found in torchlight: 2 White-headed Ermines
Paraswammerdamia albicapitella, 7 Common Marbles
Celypha lacunana, Blood-vein, Green Carpet, Double-striped Pug, 3 Brimstone Moths, 6 Square-spot Rustics,
Angle Shades and 4 Snouts.
That night an
Old Lady was the best moth at home, the only one I recorded last year (and there were none the year before). Other moths were Privet Tortrix
Clepsis consimilana, 2 Garden Rose Tortrixes
Acleris variegana, 2 Common Marbles
Celypha lacunana, 2 Common Grass-veneers
Agriphila tristella, Common Plume
Emmelina monodactyla, 2 Blood-veins, Single-dotted Wave, Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet,
2 Yellow Shells, Light Emerald, 2 Large Yellow Underwings, 4 Lesser Yellow Underwings, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Square-spot Rustic, Common Wainscot, 2 Flounced Rustics and
2 Frosted Oranges.
Old Lady, North Elmham, 1st September
Caddisflies consisted of 2
Hydropsyche pellucidula, 2 Small Silver Sedges
Lepidostoma hirtum, 2
Limnephilus auricula, 8
Limnephilus lunatus and
Limnephilus marmoratus. Other things included the brown lacewing
Hemerobius lutescens, the bug
Phytocoris tiliae, the beetle
Aphodius rufipes, a Hornet and a Common Frog.
Phytocoris tiliae, North Elmham, 1st September
The following night the garden moth trap produced Garden Rose Tortrix
Acleris variegana, Common Grass-veneer
Agriphila tristella, 2 Elbow-stripe Grass-veneers
Agriphila geniculea, Garden Pebble
Evergestis forficalis, Common Plume
Emmelina monodactyla, Chinese Character, Green Carpet, Large Yellow Underwing, 6 Lesser Yellow Underwings, 4 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, 3 Square-spot Rustics, Common Wainscot, Centre-barred Sallow, 4 Flounced Rustics and 2 Straw Dots. Also the mayfly Pond Olive
Cloeon dipterum, 3 caddisflies, all
Limnephilus lunatus and a Hornet.
A walk round the meadows on 3rd didn't end up with many records but some good ones. A Maple Midget
Phyllonorycter acerifoliella was only my second record ever (though slightly disapppointing as I was sure it was my first having completely forgotten about one I apparently saw at Creaking Gate Lake in 2013!).
Maple Midget Phyllonorycter acerifoliella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 3rd September
More unexpected were a number of other small white moths seen in flight. I netted four of them, from two different meadows, and all four were Poplar Bent-wings
Phyllocnistis unipunctella. It's a species I don't see very often (have only ever seen three times) and I wouldn't expect to see such numbers away from poplars. Well in fact there is a stand of poplars about 300m away from the north-east corner of the meadows, about 400m away from the furthest of these moths, so this is presumably where they had all come from.
Poplar Bent-wings Phyllocnistis unipunctella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 3rd September
There was a
Mottled Grasshopper calling, the only record I had of this species at the meadows last year (though I didn't search for grasshoppers very rigorously). There were 2
Chrysoperla carnea (green lacewings) and 2
Valenzuela flavidus (barkflies) on sycamore keys,
Lygus pratensis (a mirid bug) and Harlequin Ladybird in ash keys, and a female
Edwardsiana leafhopper (most likely
Edwardsiana rosae) at some cherry. Also a
Muntjac across the river.
