Identifying Pugs

 

Pugs, small moths, mostly between 1.5 and 3.0cms wingspan. There are around sixty individual species  found within the UK and most are difficult to identify. They do have diagnostic features but individual moths are very variable and there is a lot of overlap between species. Several of the species also have melanic (dark/black) forms that look nothing like the normal form. Pristine specimens help but Pug moths seem to age and become worn very quickly and the features you are looking for are hard to distinguish.

I always struggle with these moths but there comes a time when you have to commit to putting names to pictures. However, please be aware that I am not an expert and treat the information given here with a degree of caution

So, perhaps its best to start with the ones I am sure about. Green Pug, V-Pug, Lime-Spec Pug, Cypress Pug, etc. All are very distinctive and it would be difficult to make a mistake.

Green Pug - Pasiphila rectangulata

V-Pug - Chloroclystis v-ata

Lime-spec Pug - Eupithecia centaureata

Cypress Pug - Eupithecia pusillata

Next is the Double-striped Pug. It is fairly straight forward, probably because I see more of these than any other Pug.

It has quite distinctive white and red/brown cross lines and the dark abdominal band. It also has a distinctive wing shape with pointed tips and I usually find that even when worn the dark patches on the tip/outer edge of the forewing can still be seen.

Double-striped Pug - Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

The moth often sits with its wings out and the leading edges held in a straight line. This together with the distinctive shape makes it easy to identify even the worn specimens.

Double-striped Pug - Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

The Foxglove and Toadflax Pugs are similar but reasonably easy to tell apart. The Toadflax is slightly smaller with more rounded wings and with a brighter and more contrasty appearance. Key features to look for are the Toadflax having a more uniformly dark central band whilst the Foxglove band looks a patchy grey. Best of all, the outer edge of the central dark band of the Toadflax meets the leading edge of the wing at an angle of ninety degrees whilst on the Foxglove the edge is sharply angled in.

Foxglove Pug - Eupithecia pulchellata

Toadflax Pug - Eupithecia linariata

Then we get onto the ones where I have had to do a bit more work and where there is still an element of doubt.

It took me some time to get to grips with the Freyer's Pug. I only had the worn example below and it didn't look much like the picture in the field Guide for Eupithecia intricata, even the base colour looked wrong. However, searching the web there were a number of close matches to this picture that were labelled up as Freyer's and it did look similar to one of the other sub species milliera  (Edinburgh Pug) which is more prevalent in the north of the country. 

Freyer's Pug - Eupithecia intricata 

A recent catch in better condition gives a better illustration of the key characteristics such as elongated central spot dark brown or blackish band near the base of the abdomen and dark brown and white chequering on the veins in the central area.

Freyer's Pug - Eupithecia intricata 

The next a Channel Islands Pug. Wingspan 14mm, shape and wing markings look reasonable, elongated discal spot but perhaps this is a bit broader than I would like. It looks good because of the size but then I doubt that size by itself is diagnostic. I have had a number of these dark forms but would really like a lighter form to be able to see the markings more clearly. Please note, this picture has been slightly over exposed to get some detail on the wings.

Channel Islands Pug - Eupithecia ultimaria

Brindled Pugs and Oak-tree Pugs. There seems to be a considerable overlap between these two species so can I differentiate between the two pictures below. 

I've called the first an Oak-tree Pug it has more rounded wings, a bit brighter appearance, smaller discal spots and white patches just outside the discal spots.  On the second it looks like an Oak-tree but it seems to have longer and more slender wings and no white patches, so I am thinking Brindled but when you measure the wings, there really is no difference between the two. 

Am I confident with the identifications? With the first as an Oak-tree yes but with the second no, not really, it's all a bit subjective but you have to try. When I started the blog I would have said Brindled, looking at it now I favour Oak-tree.

Oak-tree Pug - Eupithecia dodoneata

Oak-tree or Brindled Pug ?

And below a Brindled Pug. This one badly worn but on wing shape and the markings that are left it looks good for Brindled. Note the long narrow discal spots.

Brindled Pug - Eupithecia abbreviata

As far as I know I have only ever caught one Plain Pug. It seems straight forward to identify. Large Pug with a brown colour, small discal spots and a pale wavy line along the outer margin of both the front and hind wings.

Plain Pug - Eupithecia simpliciata

The next one I was trying to make into a Maple Pug because of its yellowish background but the arguments were not convincing. I now think it is probably a Grey Pug, fine cross lines, small discal spots and small tonal spots. However I have a low confidence level on this one.

Is it a Grey Pug?

For comparison the one below is a Grey Pug.

Grey Pug - Eupithecia subfuscata

Then we get a bunch of Pugs with reddish brown wings, dark abdominal bands and white tonal spots. The guide books tend to show pristine examples with clear markings but that is not what I get in my trap. So how do we differentiate between them?

Common Pug - reddish brown background, very small or absent discal spots, and a pale wavy line parallel to the outer edge of the forewing and ending in a white tornal spot.

Common Pug - Eupithecia vulgata

This next one a better marked Common Pug

Common Pug - Eupithecia vulgata

Currant Pug - I originally labelled this as a Wormwood Pug but changed it to Currant Pug based on the shape of the wing, wider and more rounded than the Wormwood, more prominent tonal spots, larger more oblong discal spots and dark markings along the leading edge of the wing.

Currant Pug - Eupithecia assimilata

Currant Pug

White-spotted Pug -  Fortunately this specimen is still reasonably fresh. It shows two white spots on the trailing edge of both fore and aft wings and two white spots on each side of the abdomen.

White-spotted Pug - Eupithecia tripunctaria

Another easy one, Haworth's Pug. Not much to distinguish it in the way of markings on the wing but the orange/yellow shading on the body seems to be diagnostic.

Haworth's Pug - Eupithecia haworthiata

Haworth's Pug - Eupithecia haworthiata

The next a Slender Pug? Wingspan 18mm, rounded wings small but prominent dot like discal spots and a pale greyish brown background. Not much to go on but the markings on the wing look similar to examples of the Slender Pug that I have found on the web.

Slender Plug - Eupithecia tenuiata

and if you are not convinced try this one as a Slender Pug

Slender Plug - Eupithecia tenuiata

So, around a quarter of the UK pugs caught in the garden trap and hopefully identified. Previously I hated getting the Pugs. It seemed like an impossible task to identify them. Now it's the first thing I look for. The more you see the more you need to learn.

Do you really need to put up with the agro of a birding twitch when you can have the joy of twitching a new Pug moth and have it all to yourself to identify?

Do I have any tips. There are a couple of good websites that I often turn to and it's probably worth getting a copy of Brian Hancock's Pug Moths of North West England. It is the wrong part of the country for me but the tips on identification are invaluable. The best tip I can give is always note the wingspan on any pug you see. It can really help in firming up on an identification.

Hopefully I have labelled these pugs correctly but if you have any suggestions for corrections please let me know.

December Moth

 

As I have often observed, moth trapping in the garden effectively finishes around the end of October with very little being caught past that date. True to form, the garden catch for November has been two Feathered Thorn, half a dozen Light Brown Apple Moths and a few Rusty Dot Pearls. Hardly worth the trouble of putting the trap out. What I really wanted was the December Moth which I had never actually seen.

Fortunately I needed to make a return trip to Bawdsey and a couple of nights mothing there delivered a far more rewarding result than the garden at home.

Top of the list was the December Moth, eight of them in total -

December Moth - Poecilocampa populi

December Moth - Poecilocampa populi

Also around ten Epirrita agg., probably all November moths. They all looked the same although in different stages of wear but I couldn't be sure of the actual species so they will have to go down as agg.

 I did read up on the moths in this Epirrita genus when I got home. There are four of them in the UK, the November, Pale November, Autumnal, and Small Autumnal and I may be able to make a better attempt at identification next time I see one. However, there seems to be a lot of overlap and this looks like it needs genitalia examination to nail the identification.

November Moth agg - Epirrita agg

also three Red-green Carpet

Red-green Carpet - Chloroclysta siterata

and a Southern Bell, which I think, for me, is a first for the year.

Southern Bell - Crocidosema plebejana

and probably a dozen Feathered Thorn, all carefully inspected as I was hoping for the similar looking Scalloped Oak, although it was really too late in the year to find that moth.

Feathered Thorn - Colotois pennaria

There were also a few of the usual Light Brown Apple Moth and Rusty Dot Pearls and a couple of Dark Arches.

So a nice catch but it has just made me more determined to add the November and December moths to the garden list.

Merveille du Jour

We had a good time in Derbyshire, staying in a converted barn close to Hognaston village and Carsington Water. The weather was reasonable and we were able to get out walking every day and I even managed to pick up Willow Tit, Tree Sparrow and Dipper as per my earlier blog. However, the nights always seemed to be cold, windy and wet and in the end I didn't even try putting the moth trap out.

We then moved on to stay for a couple of days at Bawdsey on the Suffolk Coast. It's a place we visit each year and the mothing had always been good but I had never tried it as late as the end of October. Mothing back home in my garden in Sussex drops off rapidly as we go through September and following a run of poor nights in Derbyshire I was not hopeful.

However, first night, sitting on the outside of the trap......

Merveille du Jour - Griposia aprilina

Merveille du Jour, it's not a particularly rare moth but we all have bogey birds, moths or other species, that we just do not manage to connect with and for me this was the moth that was top of my wanted list. Or nearly top, the Oleander may have just edged it.

It was the start of a couple of really good nights. Sixty percent plus of the catch were Beaded Chestnuts, Black Rustics, and Yellow Underwings but amongst the rest of the catch I had eight new moths. I would have preferred them on my garden list but on this occasion second best was good enough.

There was only one new micro - the Ashy Button

Ashy Button - Acleris sparsana

The next, looking a bit worn, the Brick, but it would have been a lot easier to identify if it had retained a bit more detail in it's wings.

Brick - Sunira circellaris 

The other moths were in better condition so there was no problem identifying them.

Feathered Thorn - Colotois pennaria

Green-brindled Crescent - Allophyes oxyacanthae

Mallow - Larentia clavaria

Satellite - Eupsilia transversa

Small Mottled Willow - Spodoptera exigua

 It was just like Christmas had come early.

Long-tailed Blue

 

A couple of years ago we planted Everlasting Pea in the garden in the hope of attracting the Long-tailed Blue Butterflies. Mid September, last year, and we had success with a couple found in the kitchen and another three in the garden (see blog here). 

There had been no sign of  caterpillar action on the Everlasting Pea but perhaps just having the plant in the garden is enough to attract females looking to lay eggs late in the season. The males will be sure to follow. We also have late flowering nectaring plants in the garden including Verbena which the butterflies seem to like.

This year September was no show and by the end of October I was starting to give up hope, my latest sighting ever had been 25th October. Then on 30th October during a heavy rain shower Sue walked into the kitchen and spotted one sitting on the kitchen window.

Long-tailed Blue

The next couple of hours played out exactly as last year. I took a few photographs. The butterfly refused to stay on any of the household green plants, preferring the windows and work surfaces. As with last year it only gave me one brief view of an open wing shot. Not ideal but you have to take whatever you are offered and it at least shows that this is a female.

Long-tailed Blue (back light)

 

With heavy rain outside I left it on one of the windows where it sat quiet happily till late afternoon.

Long-tailed Blue

Then with the sun breaking through I through I might have a chance of a picture on the garden greenery. I took it outside on my finger and gently placed it on the Verbena, with the image of it nectaring on the blue flowers already in my mind.

It was not to be, the instant it touched the plant it took off high over the garden, hovered there for about thirty seconds, then took off across the adjoining gardens. A replay of exactly what happened last year.

Long-tailed blues have successfully bred in this country but it is not clear if they can survive the winter in any stage of their life cycle. Perhaps with climate change we will eventually have a self supporting colony here.

I just hope she survives the incoming Storm Ciarán.

Willow Tit

 

Willow Tit, a rare bird for me as we don't get them in Sussex. I was staying up in Derbyshire with the family for a few days and with a rainy wet morning, the others were either off swimming or having a lie in, so I headed over to Carsington Water to see what birds were about. The target was the Willow Tit which e-bird said had been reported from around Stones Island on the reservoir.

After a couple of hours wandering around in the rain I had seen plenty of birds but had little in the way of pictures to show for the effort. A distant Tree Sparrow eventually gave itself up for a picture but on checking it later my initial reaction was to delete it. Mist, dull light and high ISO had given an image that was barely recognisable. Second thoughts when I got home and half an hour playing around with Photoshop eventually gave me a recognisable, if disappointing image.

Tree Sparrow

Still it was worth recording, my last sighting was at Bolderwall Farm Dungeness in 2019.

No sign of the Willow Tits so I retired to the bird hide adjacent to Horseshoe Island to eat my breakfast. It had a couple of feeders with various tits and finches dropping in to feed. I don't like taking pictures of birds on feeders but with a chance of the Willow Tit it was worth getting the camera ready.

Nothing unusual for thirty minutes or so but as I was getting ready to leave a bird dropped in that looked promising. I managed to snap a few quick pictures and it was gone. 

The trouble with photographing birds is that you don't really look at the bird, you are so focussed on taking the picture that you don't see the detail. Once it had flown I realised that I didn't know if it was a Willow Tit or a Marsh Tit. 

Willow Tit

Fortunately a couple of the pictures gave a clear view of the bill with no white spot on the upper mandible and with a face pattern and a pale wing patch that strongly suggested the Willow Tit. I didn't hear it call but I did have the Merlin App recording and it was showing Willow Tit confirming the sighting.

Willow Tit

So a miserable wet morning had turned into a successful birding session, my first Tree Sparrow for four years and then my first Willow Tit since 2016 at Fairburn Ings.

I also had good views of Dippers on the River Dovey but unfortunately was travelling light that day and had left my camera at home. Three birds I do not get to see in Sussex, I will have to visit the area again.

Spectacles

 

The weather in July had not been good for putting the moth trap out but with warm dry weather returning at the end of August and into September there was a chance to do some catching up. The moths would be different but there might be an opportunity  to get some new garden ticks.

Plenty of moths but where to start, perhaps the Spectacle. Easy to spot from the head shot but a bit harder to tell the Spectacle and Dark Spectacle apart.

Spectacle

Spectacle - Abrostola tripartita

Dark Spectacle - Abrostola triplasia

They are probably easy to tell apart when in pristine condition but once a bit worn and with markings beginning to fade it becomes a bit more challenging.

There have also been good numbers of less common moths, ones that I would have considered rarities and probable migrants, just a few years ago. Portland Ribbon Wave (6+), Channel Island Pug (6+), Blair's Mocha (10+), Clancy's Rustic (8+), Given the numbers involved and the nights they were caught I think local breeding populations are more likely.

Portland Ribbon Wave - Idaea degeneraria

Channel Islands Pug - Eupithecia ultimaria

Blair's Mocha - Cyclophora puppillaria

Clancy's Rustic - Caradrina kadenii

Clancy's Rustic - Caradrina kadenii

Best moth of the year so far and new for me, a Convolvulus Hawk-moth. It's not the rarest moth that I have caught but there is just something that raises the spirits when you open the trap and see a hawk-moth sitting there.

Convolvulus Hawk-moth - Agrius convolvuli 

Also new a Dewick's Plusia and an Old Lady.

Dewick's Plusia - Macdunnoughia confusa

Old Lady - Mormo maura

Others worth recording

Radford's Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura leucogaster

Scarce Border Straw - Helicoverpa armigera

Hedge Rustic - Tholera cespitis

Blackneck - Lygephila pastinum

Four-spotted Footman - Lithosia quadra

A lovely Frosted Orange, new for me but unfortunately not found in the garden.

Frosted Orange - Gortyna flavago

Large Thorn - Ennomos autumnaria

Straw Underwing - Thalpophila matura

Also a couple of green coloured moths. The moths are not rare but I don't find many of them in the trap.

Light Emerald - Campaea margaritaria

Small Emerald - Hemistola chrysoprasaria

One new micro

Red-barred Tortrix - Ditula angustiorana

And two that got away from me. Nice pictures but they need dissection to confirm the identity of the moths. Must check to see if there is anyone in West Sussex that offers this as a service although I am not really sure that I want to kill them just for the sake of my garden list.

Bordered Marble - Endothenia marginana or Teasel Marble - Endothenia gentianaeana

My money is on the Teasel Marble but I will never know. Over a hundred of these two species in the county records, were they all dissected to identify them?

And below what I thought was a Clover Case-bearer but now relegated to Coleophora agg. 

Possible Clover Case-bearer - Coleophora alcyonipennella

The catch through August and September has been good although I am still below last year on the number of different species recorded, with the bulk of the numbers usually made up of Box Tree, Yellow Underwings, Lunar Underwings, Rusty-Dot Pearls and Light Brown Apple Moths.

The moth trap is out again tonight, maybe still a chance to catch that Oleander before the cold weather arrives!