Least Sandpiper

 

A couple of good birds in my patch recently with mud being the main theme. The first a Bluethroat showing well at Brooklands Park in Worthing.

These are fairly common on the continent but rarer in this country. This is only the second one I have seen and unfortunately both have been the white spot subspecies. I am still looking for a red spot which tend to put in an appearance later in the year.

Bluethroat - Luscinia svecica

The first Bluethroat I saw was very secretive making only brief appearances then quickly retreating back into cover, making it difficult to photograph. The Brooklands bird was much more obliging and was happy playing in the mud whilst an admiring group of birders watched and snapped their pictures (including me!)

Bluethroat - Luscinia svecica

The second bird was another mud lover, a Least Sandpiper. A new bird for my British list although I have seen them before in North America.

There have been some good pictures of this bird but unfortunately my sighting on the Medmerry Stilt Pool was quite distant for such a small bird. Even taking the picture on a 300mm lens and 2x converter I had to crop the picture a lot more than I would have liked.

Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla

The picture below taken in Banff Canada a few years ago shows a Least Sandpiper in breeding plumage but still in their favoured muddy environment.

Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla

And to finish, one I see most years but for which I rarely manage to get close up views, a Brambling. It must be something about the colours but it always feels like a happy day when I see one.

Brambling - Fringilla montifringilla

Last of the 2024 Macro Moths

 

Following on from the last blog, which covered some of the more interesting micro moths recorded towards the end of 2024, these are macro moths from the same period. Again worth recording here rather than just filing the pictures away never to be looked at again.

Starting off with five, that were new to the garden, with the first being a Webb's Wainscot - Globia sparganii. This is usually found around ponds and lakes with the larvae feeding on the stems of Yellow Iris and Bullrush. There is just a chance that the new wildlife pond has attracted this moth into the garden, so I am looking forward to seeing if it turns up again next year.

Webb's Wainscot - Globia sparganii

Another moth of the reed beds, this time an Obscure Wainscot - Leucania obsoleta. This wildlife pond could really be making a difference.

Obscure Wainscot - Leucania obsoleta

A Mottled Pug - Eupithecia exiguata. This is fairly common but it is good to be able to add it to the garden list.

Mottled Pug - Eupithecia exiguata

And a second Pug to my garden list. This one is a Haworth's Pug - Eupithecia haworthiata.

Haworth's Pug - Eupithecia haworthiata

And the fifth is a Sallow Kitten - Furcula furcula. It's a bit more common than the ones above but this may be a result of it being so easy to identify.

Sallow Kitten - Furcula furcula

Then a few of the moths that I see more regularly. A Green Pug - Pasiphila rectangulata. I see this in the garden most years but it was still good to find this one in the trap.

Green Pug - Pasiphila rectangulata

A Barred Red - Hylaea fasciaria. It looks much better in its green form so that it is my next target.

Barred Red - Hylaea fasciaria

An Orange Footman - Eilema sororcula. I have caught these before but never with such vibrant colours.

Orange Footman - Eilema sororcula

Next a Treble-bar - Aplocera plagiata plagiata. I see this every year, usually over at Rewell Wood but it is still missing from the garden list.

Treble-bar - Aplocera plagiata plagiata

We also had a few of the less common moths for the area. Some are possibly migrants but I think most are now established on the south coast.

A Bloxworth Snout - Hypena obsitalis. A few years ago this was a rare moth for the area but I know see it every year and sometimes I get two or three of them.

Bloxworth Snout - Hypena obsitalis

A Radford's Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura leucogaster. Nice to see after a few of the more common and very similar looking Flame Shoulders earlier in the year. It turns up every year now.

Radford's Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura leucogaster

Lots of Gems this year, one examples below, these probably are migrants from the continent.

Gem - Orthonama obstipata

All a bit dull looking so far so here a a few of the more colourful garden moths.

Miller - Acronicta leporina

Puss Moth - Cerura vinula

Historically there are very few records of Clearwings in Sussex. This is a result of them not coming to light traps, being day flying and not looking like typical moths. Since pheromone lures became available the number of records has increased and they now look to be more numerous than had previously been thought.

I only managed to catch one last year, the Raspberry Clearwing below, but my garden list now includes  seven Clearwing species.

Raspberry Clearwing - Pennisetia hylaeiformis

Tree-lichen Beauty - Cryphia algae

Campion - Hadena rivularis

So I have finally got my 2024 records up to date and published a couple of Blogs to cover the highlights. I feel refreshed and ready to go for another year. The only trouble is that I have put the trap out on five nights so far this year and I haven't seen a single moth. Disappointing but this seems to be my usual pattern. 

If I look back over the past few years my earliest catches are usually just one or two species in April and then a decent catch in May. Last year I did get an Oak Beauty on the 16th of February but that was the exception. The garden just does not deliver from December to April but you have to keep trying.

Last of the 2024 Micro Moths

It's February and I have only just tidied up the last of my moth pictures from 2024 and updated my records and those on e-Record.

I haven't produced many Blogs lately, the main reason being that I haven't been out birding much. It suddenly started to get a bit boring, seeing the same old thing year after year and then churning out the same old blog content. It is only really the moths and the overseas birding that has kept me going.

Fortunately there were a few interesting species amongst the remaining moth pictures so it seemed worth recording them here. Most of these were new to the garden. 

This first Caloptilia semifascia did have a common name of Maple Stilt but many of these micros have had a name change and this is now known as a Maple Slender. Most of these name changes make sense and better describe the families they belong too but some of the more unusual names will be sadly missed.

Maple Slender - Caloptilia semifascia

The next a Pine Leaf-mining Moth, again new for the garden and no name change for this one.

Pine Leaf-mining Moth - Clavigesta purdeyi

The next micro I have as the Pine Shoot Moth - Rhyacionia buoliana rather than the very similar looking and more common Smooth Pine Shoot Moth - Rhyacionia pinicolana.

Pine Shoot Moth - Rhyacionia buoliana

The next a Regal Piercer - Pammene regiana

Regal Piercer - Pammene regiana

The next looks like a good possibility for Grapholita lobarzewskii the Kent Fruit Piercer and Obsidentify gives it a 99% rating. However that is a nationally scarce moth and the county recorder is unlikely to accept it without much better pictures or dissection. Too late, I had already released it...

Kent Fruit Piercer - Grapholita lobarzewskii - Possible

The next, another rarity, Tuta absoluta - Tomato Leaf-miner. This looks as though it is starting to colonising the south of England. It was in the trap back in March 24 but it took me a long time to identify it.

Tomato Leaf-miner - Tuta absoluta

A Nationally Scarce B,  Hollyhock Seed Moth - Pexicopia malvella. This one is not new to the garden, as I caught one last year with better markings on it, so I think it must be becoming established in the area.

We have had a lot of Hollyhocks in the garden for the last couple of years and do leave the seeds on overwinter as the larvae of this moth feed inside the seeds and overwintering in a cocoon constructed within the seed case.

Hollyhock Seed Moth - Pexicopia malvella

Another unusual micro that appears to be spreading in the South East of England, the Fig-leaf Skeletonizer - Choreutis nemorana

Fig-leaf Skeletonizer - Choreutis nemorana

Another name change this was the Garden Apple Slender - Callisto denticuletta it is now called the Apple Nymph.

Garden Nymph - Callisto denticuletta

Another rarity Deep-brown Piercer, now called Rose Piercer - Grapholita tenebrosana

Rose Piercer - Grapholita tenebrosana

The Dark Moss-moth is not particularly rare but it is new to the garden and it's a nice picture so it's in.

Dark Moss-moth - Bryotropha affinis

A Large Ivy Twist - Lozotaenia forsterana

Large Ivy Twist - Lozotaenia forsterana

The next a Water Veneer - Acentria ephemerella. It's not particularly rare but it is new to the garden and is probably a result of my new wildlife pond.

Water Veneer - Acentria ephemerella

And to finish a Vagrant Piercer now known as the Rust Acorn Piercer - Cydia amplana. Not particularly rare but it takes a nice picture so it's in.

Rust Acorn Piercer - Cydia amplana

That probably covers all the garden firsts and the more unusual micros for the later part of 2024. I will put the macros moths in the next blog.

Bawdsey Moths

 

Back at the end of July we spent a week at Bawdsey on the Suffolk coast. We were pet sitting for family whilst they took a well deserved holiday. Was this a charitable act on our part to help out some nice people or did we view it as a free weeks holiday in a lovely part of the country. Actually it was a bit of both but if I am honest a week away with the promise of some good mothing made for an easy decision.

Given the poor returns so far this year, in our garden on the south coast, a real rural retreat offered the promise of some decent catches.

Although we had a couple of windy night, the weather for the rest of the week was good and resulted in a few busy mornings identifying and photographing the moths. I never have time to photograph them all but a few of the more interesting ones are shown below. Most are firsts for the year or ones that I don't see very often but there are a couple of micros that were new for me and also my first Small Rivulet.

Barred Hook-tip - Watsonalla cultraria

Beautiful Hook-tip - Laspeyria flexula

    

Bullrush Veneer - Calamotropha paludella

Burnished Brass - Diachrysia chrysitis

Chestnut Leafroller - Pammene fasciana

Cinnabar - Tyria jacobaeae

Cloaked Minor - Mesoligia furuncula

Dun-bar - Cosmia trapezina

Ear Moth - Amphipoea agg

Ear Moth, there are are four species of these moths in the genus Amphipoea they are difficult to tell apart and can only be confidently identified by gentitalia examination. This specimen is most likely to be the Ear Moth Amphipoea oculea, the other less common species being, Large Ear Amphipoea lucens, Saltern Ear Amphipoea fucusa, and Crinan Ear Amphipoea crinanensis.

You can only wonder at the Victorian entomologists that managed to determine that there were four species and to identify the differences between them. Particularly given the limited equipment they would have been working with.

Festoon - Apoda limacodes

Gold Triangle - Hypsopygia costalis

Gorse Wanderer - Brachmia blandella

The next I can only identify as Cnephasia sp. Perhaps if I had taken more and clearer pictures I could have made a better attempt at identification but these species really require dissection to be get an acceptable record.

 Cnephasia sp.

Large Emerald - Geometra papilionaria

Privet Hawk-moth - Sphinx ligustri

Small Fan-footed Wave - Idaea biselata

My first Small Rivulet.

Small Rivulet - Perizoma alchemillata

Smoky Wainscot - Mythimna impura

Southern Wainscot - Mythimna straminea

Another difficult one to identify. It looks good for Spotted Knot-horn - Phycitodes binaevella but again I should really have taken more pictures and a less worn specimen would help.

Spotted Knot-horn - Phycitodes binaevella

Uncertain - Hoplodrina octodenaria

If the identification of the next moth is correct, it is a relatively rare find, being an occasional immigrant species that has recently established colonies in Britain. New for me.

Mugwort Tortrix - Eucosma metzneriana

And another immigrant species again new for me.

Marbled Yellow Pearl - Evergestis extimalis

I am just hoping that I get invited to help out again next year.