Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Geometers (Geometridae) - part 12: Underwhelming Beauties and other Ennomins (Peribatodes to Campaea)

GEOMETERS (GEOMETRIDAE) (continued)

I call Willow Beauty and its related species the Underwhelming Beauties because to me the name Beauty is quite wrongly applied to this group.  OK, a fresh Mottled Beauty has some subtle elegance that could, at a stretch, be described as beautiful in a niche sort of way, but compared with the Pine Beauty, Bordered Beauty, Marbled Beauty and even the Brindled Beauties, this group really don't deserve the accolade of Beauty.  Whoever first called these Beauties was either having a laugh, or they had never actually seen a Willow Beauty...


Willow Beauty Peribatodes rhomboidaria - Recorded in the garden on 42 dates between 31st May and 26th August 2019.  At least 57 individuals were involved but as they weren't counted on 10 dates the true total may have been higher.  Even so it was undoubtely a poor year - over the previous 4 years I had averaged 110 per year.  In contrast I caught a record 213 here between 30th May and 21st September 2020.  Elsewhere recorded from next door, 5 at the meadows and one at Bintree Wood.

Willow Beauty, North Elmham, 30th May 2020

Willow Beauty, North Elmham, 4th September 2020

Satin Beauty Deileptenia ribeata - None.  I've not seen this species since 2014 and I've never seen it anywhere closer than Hockering.  In fact it hasn't ever been recorded any closer, so probably not much chance of finding it here.  Away from the Brecks it's found at several scattered woodland locations so there's a chance it might be lurking in a wood near...


Mottled Beauty Alcis repandata - 19 caught here between 4th June and 17th September 2019 and 22 between 17th June and 2nd August 2020, my worst years here so far - my average tally for a year is 32.  Elsewhere 5 at the meadows (4 dates), 8 at Bintree Wood (2 dates), 4 at Weybourne and one on Mull.

Mottled Beauty, Carsaig (Mull), 13th June 2019

Mottled Beauty, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 23rd June 2019

Mottled Beauty, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 27th June 2019

Mottled Beauty, Bintree Wood, 13th June 2020

Mottled Beauty, Bintree Wood, 24th July 2020

Pale Oak Beauty Hypomecis punctinalis - 9 at home between 20th May and 25th June 2019 and 6 between 19th May and 15th June 2020.  9 was my equal highest total (with 2018) and I've never had less than 3.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 31st May 2019 and 3 at Bintree Wood on 13th July 2020.

Pale Oak Beauty, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 31st May 2019

Pale Oak Beauty, North Elmham, 19th May 2020

Engrailed Ectropis crepescularia - Totals of 18 trapped in the garden between 9th March and 21st September 2019 and 7 between 7th July and 22nd August 2020.  18 is average but 7 was my worst annual total to date.  Elsewhere 3 at the meadows, one at Bintree Wood, one at Bodney and one at Weybourne.

Engrailed, North Elmham, 9th March 2019

Engrailed, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 7th July 2019

Brindled White-spot Parectropis similaria - None.  I've never had one of these at home - indeed there are no records from my 10km square - however there are plenty of records only a short distance to the east of here (for example I caught 4 at Bawdeswell Heath one night in 2014).


Grey Birch Aethalura punctulata - One at Sculthorpe Moor on 26th April and 2 at Hills and Holes on 21st May 2020.  I'd only ever seen this species twice before and I've never seen one very locally, but the other guy who traps in my road has caught one so hopefully I'll get one here sometime.

Grey Birch, Sculthorpe Moor, 26th April 2019

Grey Birch, Hills and Holes, 21st May 2020

Common Heath Ematurga atomaria - None.  I've not seen this species any closer than Buxton Heath and there aren't many local records.  Not sure how often this predominantly day-flying species turns up in traps so the odds of getting one here might be quite low.


Bordered White Bupalus piniaria - One caught in the garden on 24th June 2019, my 4th record here and first since 2016.  I also caught one at the meadows the previous night and one on Mull on 13th June 2019.  None at home in 2020 but one at Bintree Wood on 13th June.

Bordered White, Ceann Chnocain (Mull), 13th June 2019

Bordered White, North Elmham, 24th June 2019

Common White Wave Cabera pusarai - My worst years for these at home with 17 between 14th June and 22nd July 2019 and 17 between 27th May and 7th July 2020.  My average annual total is 27.  Elsewhere 2 at the meadows, 4 at Bintree Wood and one on Mull.

Common White Wave, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th August 2019

Common White Wave, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June 2020

Common Wave Cabera exanthemata -Totals here of 17 between 17th June and 25th August 2019 and 13 between 14th June and 22nd August 2020 (average here is 16 a year).  Elsewhere 2 at the meadows and one in Hellesdon.

Common Wave, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th June 2019

Common Wave, North Elmham, 14th June 2020

White-pinion Spotted Lomographa bimaculata - 3 caught in the garden between 25th May and 7th June 2019 and then singles on 21st and 28th May 2020.  There were 7 in 2017 but 1-2 a year is more typical.  Elsewhere one at Hills and Holes on 21st May 2020.

White-pinion Spotted, North Elmham, 25th May 2019

White-pinion Spotted, North Elmham, 21st May 2020

Clouded Silver Lomographa temerata - At least 37 here between 3rd June and 4th August 2019, with 3 nights not counted (but with singles either side the full total probably won't have been much higher).  I'd averaged 68 a year over the previous 4 years so this was a poor year but 19 between 17th June and 29th July 2020 made for my worst year here so far.  Elsewhere 8 at the meadows and 1-2 at Bintree Wood, Hills and Holes, Weybourne and on Mull.

Clouded Silver, Hills and Holes, 21st May 2020

Clouded Silver, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 23rd June 2020

Early Moth Theria primaria - Totals of 23 in the garden between 6th January and 1st March 2019 and 13 between 3rd January (my earliest ever) and 15th February 2020.  15-16 is average.  I've only ever caught this species in my garden, either here or previously at Bawdeswell despite searching for it at the meadows where there is plenty of both of its foodplants.

Early Moth, North Elmham, 3rd January 2020

Light Emerald Campaea margaritaria - Totals of 14 between 27th May and 24th June 2019 and 46 between 13th August and 27th September then 20 between 20th May and 5th June 2020 and 77 between 15th August and 22nd September.  60 in all makes it my worst year so far, only one behind 2018 but well short of the average of 88.  Elsewhere 4 at the meadows, 9 at Whitwell Street, 2 at Swanton Great Wood and 2 at Row Heath (West Runton).

Light Emerald, North Elmham, 27th May 2019

Light Emerald, North Elmham, 20th May 2020

Barred Red Hylaea fasciaria - None.  I've not had this species at home yet, but it has been recorded in my road before and I've had it not all that far away at Bintree Wood.


Yellow Belle Aspitates ochrearia - None.  I've not had this species at home yet, but I've seen it at Bittering and there have been a few records even closer at Worthing.  Most of my records have been day-flyers but I have had it come to light before.


Next page: more Geometridae

dark barred but not Dark-barred

Thursday night was a good night with 10 new moths for the year: Common Marble Celypha lacunana, Rush Marble Bactra lancealana, Hook-streak Grass-veneer Crambus lathoniellus, Small Magpie Anania hortulata, Common Swift, Small Rivulet, Pale Oak Beauty, Common White Wave, Bright-line Brown-eye and Silver Y.

Common Marble Celypha lacunana, North Elmham, 24th May

Rush Marble Bactra lancealana, North Elmham, 24th May

Hook-streak Grass-veneer Crambus lathoniellus, North Elmham, 24th May

Small Magpie Anania hortulata, North Elmham, 24th May

Common Swift, North Elmham, 24th May

Small Rivulet, North Elmham, 24th May

Pale Oak Beauty, North Elmham, 24th May

Common White Wave, North Elmham, 24th May

Bright-line Brown-eye, North Elmham, 24th May

Silver Y, North Elmham, 24th May

Also recorded were Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, Chinese Character, 2 Red Twin-spot Carpets, Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, Garden Carpet, Green Carpet, 5 Mottled Pugs, Brimstone Moth, Poplar Hawk-moth, 2 Pale Prominents, 3 White Ermines, Least Black Arches, Flame Shoulder, 2 Common Wainscots, 6 Treble Lines and Spectacle. Non-moths included the springtail Orchesella cincta, the soldier beetle Cantharis cryptica and the caddisfly Grammotaulius nigropunctatus.

This Red Twin-spot Carpet is one of the darkest-barred examples I've seen, though still recognisable as Red (but I did gen det it just to make sure).  There are a few red scales in a wedge towards the outer half of the dark bar, and a very few on the inner part too, but at a glance it just looks black.  However there are other give-aways that it's Red, such as the lack of indents in this bar (not that that's an entirely reliable feature on its own).

Red Twin-spot Carpet (male, gen det), North Elmham, 24th May

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (male, gen det), North Elmham, 24th May

Orchesella cincta, North Elmham, 24th May

With some excellent help from Keith Kerr I (well, he) managed to identify another spider from the meadows - Anelosimus vittatus.  Thanks Keith!

Anelosimus vittatus, North Elmham, 19th May

Buff-tip new for the year, a new Caddis and a Lacehopper

Still on last Saturday, following previous posts covering Titchwell, Dersingham Bog and Babingley River and Roydon Common, there was a selection of moths in the home trap that night too.  Not as many as there should be in June though - 29 species really isn't a great total for this time of year.  New for the year were Lime-speck Pug, Pale Oak Beauty, Buff-tip and 2 Setaceous Hebrew Characters.

Buff-tip, North Elmham, 4th June

The others were 19 Diamond-back Moths Plutella xylostella, Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, Hook-streaked Grass-Veneer Crambus lathoniellus, Narrow-winged Grey Eudonia angustea, 3 Common Swifts, 2 Silver-ground Carpets, Garden Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, 2 Green Carpets, Foxglove Pug, 3 Common Pugs, Brimstone Moth, 2 Peppered Moths, Poplar Hawkmoth, Iron Prominent, 2 White Ermines, Buff Ermine, Flame, Small Square-spot, Bright-line Brown-eye, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Marbled Minor, 12 Treble Lines and 2 Vine's Rustics.

Marbled Minor (male, gen det), North Elmham, 4th June

Caddisflies included my first identified Limnephilus vittatus and a Glyphotaelius pellucidus.

Limnephilus vittatus, North Elmham, 4th June

Sunday night was very similar - 29 species again.  Only 2 Common Greys Scoparia ambigualis, Common Carpet and Turnip Moth were new for the year for the house.  One of the ambigualis was quite strongly marked and had a lot of brown infilling in the wing-markings - I'd have been tempted to put it down as a Meadow Grey Scoparia pyralella had I not dissected it.

Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis (male, gen det), North Elmham, 5th June

Others were 2 Hawthorn Slenders Parornix anglicella, 30 Diamond-back Moths Plutella xylostella, Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana, Common Marble Celypha lacunana, Hook-streaked Grass-Veneer Crambus lathoniellus, Garden Pebble Evergestis forficalis, Bee Moth Aphomia sociella, 2 Common Swifts, 2 Green Carpets, Mottled Pug, Lime-speck Pug, 2 Common Pugs, Clouded Border, Scalloped Hazel, Pale Oak Beauty, 4 White Ermines, 3 Buff Ermines, Cinnabar, 2 Small Square-spots, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Shears, Bright-line Brown-eye, Lychnis, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Tawny Marbled Minor and 8 Treble Lines.

Hawthorn Slender Parornix anglicella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 5th June

Lime-speck Pug, North Elmham, 5th June

Pale Oak Beauty, North Elmham, 5th June

On Monday I spent my lunchbreak at Syderstone Common where I found another White-barred Gold Micropterix aruncella (following my first ever on Saturday), 5 Diamond-back Moths Plutella xylostella, 12 Grey Gorse Piercers Cydia ulicetana and Cinnabar.  Also this larval case which is apaprently not identifable between Common Oak Case-bearer Coleophora lutipennella and Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora flavipennella.  Can't help noticing that all the images I can find of lutipennella look like this while all the flavipennella look darker, but they aren't supposed to be do-able without breeding them through and then dissecting the moth, so presumably the images I've seen don't represent the full range of variation.

White-barred Gold Micropterix aruncella, Syderstone Common, 6th June

Common/Tipped Oak Case-bearer Coleophora lutipennella/flavipennella, Syderstone Common, 6th June

I'm pretty sure this weevil is an Acorn Weevil Curculio glandium, although other Curculio species are very similar.  I think the shape of the antennal clubs and body pattern in combination clinch the ID, but I'm not clear if that's entirely reliable or not.

apparent Acorn Weevil Curculio glandium, Syderstone Common, 6th June

I was more interested to find this Lacehopper, my first Lacehopper, Tachycixius pilosus.

Tachycixius pilosus, Syderstone Common, 6th June