GWH last session

Taken from Alton Nat Hist Soc and CP.

Our final Moth Night of the year was last week. Chris Piper gave us a run down of his findings... 

"Unlike July, numbers were markedly down on the same day last year. In addition to the weather over Winter and earlier this year, other factors might have been at play including the temperature low of 12c cf 17c. On the night, guests saw and enjoyed a good variety representing what is flying at the moment, such as Angle Shades, Black Arches, Brimstone, Dingy Footman etc on this occasion finishing with the delight of an Elephant Hawk-moth. In the cooler morning, we counted 155 moths of 62 species (cf 409 of 86 last year). There were far fewer wasps, hornets and other insects around as well as fewer moths. We had two notable new species for the garden - (Neo)cochylis molliculana - on the one hand just another slightly differently marked tortrix on the other, another insect apparently on the move - still described as 'very rare inland' in the Field Guides. Also a Hoary Footman (Eilemma caniola) at the moment Nationally Scarce B but spreading now it seems. Some highlights for the recorder (!) and perhaps a taste of what we saw in the morning…. 

Yellow-tail - a bit shy to reveal the reason behind the vernacular name!  

A Canary-shouldered Thorn.

A fantastically fresh Angle Shades taking moisture from the picnic table! Haven’t noticed the articulated neck quite so much before. And a view to show the rather impressive crypsis. 

More on the species can be found https://www.hantsmoths.org.uk/index.php in addition to Field Guides and apps. "

And a members talk on Thursday night in the barn covering butterflies and transects and moths over the greater Selborne area was informative. In the early part two or three Roe Deer were quite close in although they melted away into the dusk as a late night dog walker strolled around the grounds!!

Sunday morning at home was dire with just the first Flounced Rustic (below) of the year and just six other moths; it was cold and windy overnight and next Tuesday looks to be the best opportunity for the week.

PS My purchase of 100 30ml screw top specimen tubes looks to have been overly optimistic; maybe I need to offload some!!

Moths - home and away

 

Home - Dusky Thorn, Gypsy Moth, Canary-shouldered Thorn x 2 and Noble False Widow. Nice in both gardens to FINALLY not get any Jersey Tigers! 

Away - well Selborne. And the last trap of the year with Chris and Kimberley - fewer moths but more pleasantly calm after the previous fortnight's BNA visit. All done and dusted before 9.am. which meant revitalising coffee was taken at Hilliers.

Orange Swift, September Thorn, Fern (new), Pandemis corylana, Ear Moth spp, Rosy Rustic close up, Prominent wrangling and the star-of-the-show, Pretty Chalk Carpet,  also new.

The common moth Six-striped Rustic passed me by and would have been new and a possible Hoary Footman needed more examination (P.S. recorded as such by CP).

A smart Copper Underwing was also left at spp although Obsidentify was confident it was Svenssons!!

Three Roe Deer were in the meadow but bird life was pretty much nil other than a flyover Tree Pipit.

Brief mid-chore stop

 

A brief look for Figwort Sawfly was successful but the only obvious individual disappeared almost immediately; all the other yellow and black stuff were these Median Wasps of which there were many also taking advantage of figwort. The best of the pond's Odonata were Small Red-eyed Damsefly, new here for me. This Golden-haired Robberfly was a unexpected new-for-year.

Elsewhere just a single Chalkhill Blue and one or two Common Blues, one above.

And a Volucella zonaria was on Hemp Agrimony by the pond.

 

A morning looking for HBs again  this time in cool cloudy and windy conditions produced 20+ Red Kites, 12+ Buzzards, three Kestrels, ten Ravens and two House Martin's. Sadly, a call from gorse was brief and not repeated but sounded more like Dartford Warbler than any other Sylvia.

At home mothing was poor but a first; a day when Garden Carpets outnumbered Jerseys 5:2. 

Agriphila tristella, the weevil Curculio glandium (probably), Hofmanophila pseudospretella and a Phycitodes spp saxicola/maritima.

And a poor session at TH, mostly bitching about continued closures with the usual suspects produced nil other than this female Volucella inanis. Even the good numbers of Common Terns had evaporated!!

Home moths

An inadvertently late start for the trap (after 7:30) but no obvious sign of escapees and, with no garden birds, predation here isn't an issue. This was the first morning with no Swifts calling overhead just deafening Herring Gulls with their high pitched, begging youngsters.

82 of 30 is a decent catch here but @SwaySteve's continuing posts are either inspirational or deeply frustrating- today 452/91!!! And more species in a year that I've ever seen. Gggrrrr!!

So best of the bunch was Lychnis and four other NfYs. Seven tigers, 4:3 Jersey to Garden.

This Salticus scenicus was on the fence panel behind the trap.

Bottom, below Blastobasis rebeli, new only last week, is now only an also ran.

Moths at the fort

Today was a first - a moth morning hosted by a combination of the council, Friends of Portsdown and Cumberland House Museum at Fort Widley.

Two traps were placed the previous night, both actinic, one Robinson, one Skinner.

In total about a dozen people and enough moths to keep us busy for an hour and a half or more. 

The best for me were two new moths - Gypsy Moth and Ruddy Carpet -  plus Sallow Kitten and Rosy Rustic which were moths I've not trapped. Orange Swift, Yellow Shell, White Point and Yellow-barred Brindle were best-of-the-rest.

There were plenty of the harvestman Phalangium opilio in the traps.

Recent home moths and local stuff

 

Dark Crimson Underwing was another new moth following on from Light Crimson Underwing yesterday and last Saturday at GWH, although the latter was new for me last year at Pulborough. 

The local foxes have been a big disturbance of late with a vixen and two large youngsters crashing about and, above, watching me processing moths!!

With the exception of Essex Skippers and Meadow Browns other butterflies have been thin on the ground so this Brown Argus near Stagg Pond was a real surprise.

Seven Common Odonata have used this pond and I guess Migrant Hawkers will turn up soon.

91/41 on the 1st was a nice treat with a couple of new micros but within 48 hours the early morning temperature was down to 13-14 °C and the catch down to a disappointing 20/13 - luckily the above DCU was a real surprise with a supporting cast of Elephant Hawkmoths, Marbled Greens and Tree Lichen Beauty.

Update - Tuesday

Yet more nosy foxes poking around the trap during the night. I wonder if they'll try to chew through the mains cable any time soon? Swift and Green Woodpecker were audible soon after first light and later at least twelve Greenfinches headed westwards.

Another nine Jersey Tigers, only the second Plumed Fanfoot and an oddity which rang no bells whatsoever - another new moth, Toadflax Brocade!!

BNA at GWH

 

Straw Underwing, Least Yellow Underwing, Echinops with attendant Honey Bees, Male Wasp Spider, Striped Lychnis Caterpillar on mullein.