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.