A trip to Scotland from 18th to 26th June resulted in several new species. Trapping at Kishorn on 4 nights from 18th to 24th June produced two new species - Anania terrealis and Swammerdamia compunctella On 19th I climbed Beinn Alligin in the Torridon ranges and returned with a tiny Coleophora which I suspected was and proved to be C.juncicolella On 24th I climbed Maol Chean-dearg and returned over Meall nan Ceaparean netting moths along the way - one of these turned out to be Epinotia nemorivaga. On 25th and 26th we stayed in Eskadale near the Boblainy Forest and trapped both at the cottage and in the forest. The main purpose of staying here was to find Pine-tree Lappet - this came to light in all 3 of the forest light traps on 25th but not on 26th and did not seem to respond at all to the pheromone lure. As a bonus the owners of the cottage we stayed in had an infestation of Common Clothes Moth and were happy to provide me with a few specimens. |
A trip to the South Downs on 6th July was successful in finding Sallow Clearwing - 3 males to the SAL lure in 30 mins (once I'd managed to find some decent willows). This was followed by another night at Covert Woods that added Nemophora cupriacella and Mompha conturbatella. |
I have started a genital determination service for the Essex Moth Group. One of the first specimens received (from Bill Crooks) was Blastodacna atra. I have struggled for years to find some convincing means of separating this from B.hellerella; I still have many reservations. B.atra has been added to the site, and I have also written a page on (my current understanding of) separating B.hellerella vs atra. The two recognised species seem to have 3 distinct forms of male genitalia between them, I am wondering if a third species is involved. | A further specimen (also sent by Bill Crooks) proved to be Phyllonorycter pastorella. |
A second visit to Sutton Fen with Ben on 11th July produced 170 species despite a generator failure, but again none of these were new for me. While there we got a call from Anthony Bentley about a possible Caloptilia honoratella he had trapped at Strumpshaw Fen - I readily agreed to do the gen.det. and confirmed the identity. A further visit to Covert Woods on 24th provided a mammoth haul (~1800/200) but only one obviously new species: Ethmia quadrilella | 1693 Species presented |