Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Noctuids (Noctuidae) part 5: Frosted Orange to Rush Wainscot

NOCTUIDS (NOCTUIDAE) (continued)


Frosted Orange Gortyna flavago - Totals of 13 caught in the garden between 21st August and 20th September 2020 and 10 between 22nd August and 15th September 2020, just a little below the average for here.  I very rarely encounter this species anywhere other than at home.

Frosted Orange, North Elmham, 21st August 2019

Frosted Orange, North Elmham, 22nd August 2020

Rosy Rustic Hydraecia micacea - Totals of 14 trapped in the garden between 20th July and 4th October 2019 and 25 between 17th July and 8th November 2020 (the last being my latest ever).  The average annual total here is around 17 but 4 on 30th August 2019 was the first time I've trapped more than 2 together here.  Elsewhere recorded next door on 3 nights, 4 caught at the meadows and 2 in Cornwall.

Rosy Rustic, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th August 2019

Rosy Rustic, North Elmham, 14th August 2020

Butterbur Hydraecia petasitis - Singles caught in the garden on 26th July 2019 and 20th August 2020.  Here is the only place I've ever found this rather scarce species - I had 3 here in 2016 and 3 again in 2018, but none in other years.

Butterbur, North Elmham, 26th July 2019

Butterbur, North Elmham, 20th August 2020 (with Rosy Rustic)

Saltern Ear Amphipoea fucosa - None.  There are quite a few inland records of this species so I never assume my Ear Moths aren't this species and check all of them, but so far no luck.


Ear Moth Amphipoea oculea - Singles trapped in the garden on 23rd and 27th July 2019 and 5th and 8th August 2020 - my worst years here to date.  Numbers fluctuate widely here, with 13 in 2015 the best year.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 4th August 2019 and one there on 18th July 2020.  Another Ear sp. there on 7th August 2020 escaped before I could get it in a pot so I was unable to confirm it - I usually check them all.  They're nearly always male but I caught my first female in 2020.

male Ear Moth, North Elmham, 23rd July 2019

male Ear Moth, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th August 2019

male Ear Moth, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th July 2020

female Ear Moth, North Elmham, 5th August 2020

male Ear Moth, North Elmham, 8th August 2020

Flounced Rustic Luperina testacea - At least 440 caught in the garden between 4th August and 28th September (my latest ever).  I didn't count them on 7 nights so the true total may have been a little higher, but in any case this was my best year so far.  Records are there to be broken though and in 2020 I caught 1,126 between 27th July (my earliest ever) and 17th September, peaking at 94 on 24th August.  Previous annual totals had varied from 164 to 332.  Elsewhere recorded next door (on 3 nights), 4 at the meadows and one at Whitwell Street.

Flounced Rustic, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 3rd September 2019

Flounced Rustic, North Elmham, 27th July 2020

Flounced Rustic, North Elmham, 4th September 2020

Large Wainscot Rhizedra lutosa - I caught 5 in the garden between 25th September and 24th October 2019 and 5 again between 18th September and 9th November 2020 (the last being my latest ever).  Numbers of this species vary considerably with 27 in 2014, 11 in 2017 but only 2-4 in the other 3 other years.  Also one at the meadows on 8th November 2020.

Large Wainscot, North Elmham, 25th September 2019

Large Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November 2020

Bulrush Wainscot Nonagria typhae - None.  I've only caught this species here once, in 2016.


Fen Wainscot Arenostoia phragmitidis - After my first blank year for this species at home in 2019 I caught 3 between 17th and 23rd July 2020.  2-3 a year is typical although I had 9 in 2018.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 18th July 2020 and a caterpillar at Titchwell on 1st June 2019.

Fen Wainscot caterpillar, Titchwell, 1st June 2019

Fen Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th July 2020

Twin-spotted Wainscot Lenisa geminipuncta - None at home in 2019 but one here on 14th August 2020.  I had 5 here in 2018 but 0-2 is normal.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 4th August 2019.

Twin-spotted Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th August 2019

Twin-spotted Wainscot, North Elmham, 14th August 2020

Brown-veined Wainscot Archanara dissoluta - None.  I've never seen this species locally - records are few and far between in mid Norfolk but there are enough to think it should be a possibility here.


Small Rufous Coenobia rufa - 2 trapped in the garden on 17th July 2019 and then in 2020 singles on 31st July and 7th August.  2-3 a year is average here.  Elsewhere one at the meadows on 7th August 2020.

Small Rufouses, North Elmham, 17th July 2019

Small Rufous, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 7th August 2020

Small Rufous, North Elmham, 7th August 2020

Small Wainscot Denticucullus pygmina - None.  I've never recorded this species locally but there are quite a few records in mid Norfolk so it should turn up round here sometime.


Mere Wainscot Photedes fluxa - 4 caught in the garden between 4th and 20th July 2019 making it my best year to date for this species.  I caught 5 here between 2015-2018.  None in 2020 but even so it seems quite surprising that I should get so many of these relatively scarce moths here, especially as there isn't much of its foodplant round here so far as I know (and the Flora atlas seems to support that).  Finding it rather tricky to tell these from Small Wainscot I have gen detted a few of them to make quite sure, but these have confirmed we are dealing with this species.

Mere Wainscot, North Elmham, 4th July 2019

Mere Wainscot, North Elmham, 16th July 2019

Mere Wainscot, North Elmham, 20th July 2019

Small Dotted Buff Photedes minima - Singles trapped in the garden on 30th June 2019 and 31st July 2020.  I'd only caught 2 of these here before, in 2015 and 2018.

male Small Dotted Buff, North Elmham, 30th June 2019

female Small Dotted Buff, North Elmham, 31st July 2020

Webb's Wainscot Globia sparganii - One caught at home on 22nd August 2019.  This was my 4th record here following 2 in 2015 and one in 2017.  None here in 2020 but one at the meadows on 7th August.

Webb's Wainscot, North Elmham, 22nd August 2019

Webb's Wainscot, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 7th August 2020

Rush Wainscot Globia algae - One of the mothing highlights of 2019 was finding one of these in my trap on 25th July.  Not only a new moth for me but this Red Data Book species is so rare that it isn't recorded every year in the county and had never been seen round here before.  It was a fresh individual early in the flight period suggesting that it had bred locally, and this was further supported in 2020 when another fresh one turned up in the trap on 26th July, followed by another on 8th August.

Rush Wainscot, North Elmham, 25th July 2019

Rush Wainscot, North Elmham, 26th July 2020

Rush Wainscot, North Elmham, 8th August 2020

Next page: more Noctuidae

3 new moths for the garden and a new lacewing

It was a poor night by neighbouring night's standards on 4th August with just 40 species.  Only one was new for the year, though a moth I'd only seen here once before: Small Dotted Buff.

Small Dotted Buff, North Elmham, 4th August

Other moths were Carrion Moth Monopis weaverella, Hawthorn Slender Parornix anglicella, Beech Midget Phyllonorycter maestingella, 2 Little Ermines Swammerdamia pyrella, Woundwort Case-bearer Coleophora lineolea, Brown House Moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella, Straw Conch Cochylimorpha straminea, 3 Garden Rose Tortrixes Acleris variegana, 2 Barred Marbles Celypha striana, Hoary Bell Eucosma cana, 9 Straw Grass-veneers Agriphila straminella, 30 Common Grass-veneers Agriphila tristella, Beautiful China-mark Nymphula nitidulata, Mother of Pearl Pleuroptya ruralis, Rosy Tabby Endotricha flammealis, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Single-dotted Wave, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Shaded Broad-bar, Common Carpet, Small Waved Umber, Maple Pug, Dusky Thorn, Early Thorn, Scalloped Oak, Pebble Prominent, Swallow Prominent, Coxcomb Prominent, 2 Dingy Footmen, Ruby Tiger, 5 Turnip Moths, 2 Flame Shoulders, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, 6 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, 3 Common Wainscots, 2 Straw Underwings, Twin-spotted Wainscot, Silver Y and 7 Straw Dots.

Twin-spotted Wainscot, North Elmham, 4th August

Other insects included Blue-winged Olive Serratella ignita (a mayfly) and Bradycellus verbasci (a beetle). Also noticed a Common Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus indoors during the day.

The following night was considerably better. with no less than 3 new moths for the garden including one I'd never seen anywhere before.  The lifer was Clouded Slender Caloptilia populetorum, apparently an increasing species with as many records in Norfolk in the last couple of years as there had ever been up to 2015.

Clouded Slender Caloptilia populetorum, North Elmham, 5th August

I thought this very worn moth was going to be one of the Momphids but on dissection it clearly didn't fit.  Skimming through other genitalia diagrams came across similar ones for the two Blastodacna species.  I see hellerella quite often and this was much bigger (forewing length 6 mm, worn).  Mine was in fact an Apple-pith Moth Blastodacna atra, a much rarer species.  I'd seen one in 2012 when living at Bawdeswell wbich was only second site the species had been recorded at in Norfolk since the 1800s and 3 people have recorded them since then, but it remains a very scarce species in Norfolk.  Don't think I would have ever guessed this ID from the moth's external appearance, although the size would have been a pretty big clue if I'd ever managed to figure out that it was a Blastodacna.  Fortunately there are a few small differences in the genitalia and this confirmed it.  The one I saw in 2012 was much easier!

Apple-pith Moth Blastodacna atra (female, gen det), North Elmham, 5th August

The third new moth for the garden had come from at least 15 miles away and was a bit more straightforward to identify: a Saltmarsh Plume Agdistis bennetii.  My third saltmarsh species this summer, though unlike the Silver-streaked Case-bearer Coleophora limoniella and the Saltern Groundling Scrobipalpa instabililla this species is well-known for occasionally wandering inland.

Saltmarsh Plume Agdistis bennetii, North Elmham, 5th August

There were 3 more moths that were new for the year: Pine Leaf-mining Moth Clavigesta purdeyi, Miller and 5 Flounced Rustics.

Pine Leaf-mining Moth Clavigesta purdeyi, North Elmham, 5th August

Miller, North Elmham, 5th August

Flounced Rustics, North Elmham, 5th August

A Twin-spotted Wainscot was my fifth this year - remarkable for a not-particularly-common species that lives in reedbeds.  It was in fact the fourth consecutive night the species turned up here, but definitely different individuals involved.  Also noteworthy were 4 Maple Pugs - double the highest number I've trapped on one night before.  Another record count was 6 Golden Argents Argyresthia goedartella.

Maple Pug, North Elmham, 5th August

The other moths were Carrion Moth Monopis weaverella, Bird’s-nest Moth Tinea trinotella, a Parornix sp. (escaped before it could be identified), Ermine sp. Yponomeuta padella/malinellus/cagnagella, 2 Little Ermines Swammerdamia pyrella, 3 Diamond-backs Plutella xylostella, Small Dingy Tubic Borkhausenia fuscescens, 3 Brown House Moths Hofmannophila pseudospretella, 2 Long-horned Flat-bodies Carcina quercana, Dark Neb Bryotropha affinis, 4 Cinerous Nebs Bryotropha terrella, House Neb Bryotropha domestica, 5 Dingy Dowds Blastobasis adustella, 2 Light Brown Apple-moths Epiphyas postvittana, 2 Garden Rose Tortrixes Acleris variegana, Barred Marble Celypha striana, Blotched Marble Endothenia quadrimaculana, Rush Marble Bactra lancealana, 3 Marbled Piercers Cydia splendana, 23 Straw Grass-veneers Agriphila straminella, 33 Common Grass-veneers Agriphila tristella, 2 Water Veneers Acentria ephemerella, Little Grey Eudonia lacustrata, 2 Small Greys Eudonia mercurella, 2 Beautiful China-marks Nymphula nitidulata, Garden Pebble Evergestis forficalis, Pale Straw Pearl Udea lutealis, 15 Mother of Pearls Pleuroptya ruralis, 3 Grey Knot-horns Acrobasis advenella, Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, Blood-vein, 3 Single-dotted Waves, 2 Red Twin-spot Carpets, 5 Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpets, Common Carpet, Small Phoenix, 2 Currant Pugs, 3 Double-striped Pugs, 3 Yellow-barred Brindles, 2 Magpie Moths, 2 Brimstone Moths, 2 Canary-shouldered Thorns, 2 Willow Beauties, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Pale Prominent, 2 Dingy Footmen, Scarce Footman, 3 Turnip Moths, 3 Shuttle-shaped Darts, 12 Flame Shoulders, 4 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, 9 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, White-point, 3 Common Wainscots, 3 Straw Underwings, Cloaked Minor, 2 Vine's Rustics, Spectacle and 5 Straw Dots.

Yellow-barred Brindle, North Elmham, 5th August

Cloaked Minor, North Elmham, 5th August

Among the other insects the clear highlight was another new pine-feeding brown lacewing, this time Hemerobius stigma.

Hemerobius stigma, North Elmham, 5th August

Other lacewings were 2 Chrysoperla carnea, Cunctochrysa albolineata, Dichochrysa flavifrons and 3 Micromus variegatus.  Mayflies consisted of Pond Olive Cloeon dipterum, Pale Evening Dun Procloeon bifidum and 8 Blue-winged Olives Serratella ignita and the caddisflies were 2 Ithytrichia lamellaris, Hydropsyche pellucidula, 4 Hydropsyche siltalai, Limnephilus marmoratus, Molanna angustata and Leptocerus tineiformis.

Among the leafhoppers this Lamprotettix nitidulus was new for the year.

Lamptotettix nitidulus, North Elmham, 5th August

I think this leafhopper is Oncopsis flavicollis but I have never seen this form before - it looks completely different from others I've seen.

Oncopsis flavicollis, North Elmham, 5th August

Apart from those leafhoppers, the only bug was Stenodema calcarata.

Stenodema calcarata, North Elmham, 5th August

Acorn Weevil Curculio glandium was new for the year.  Other beetles were 3 Amara apricaria, Bradycellus verbasci, Nicrophorus investigator and Aphodius rufipes.

Acorn Weevil Curculio glandium, North Elmham, 5th August

Finally there were 5 Hornets.