Heathy Insects

Straw-barred Pearl - Pyrausta despicata. Several of these in Bystock meadow today. Also masses of Six-spot Burnet and several butterfly species.

 

Four Teal off Mudbank was a bit unseasonal but 9 Common Scoter off the seafront less so. Otherwise just a single Redshank off Mudbank and a couple Mediterranean Gulls off the Imperial made the notebook. Luckily insects put on a far better showing than birds today, with Bystock meadow absolutely buzzing with life - a fantastic little reserve!

Common Purple and Gold - Pyrausta purpuralis Bystock

 

Marbled White

 

 

Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle - Rutpela maculata - Thank you Tim.

 

Variable Smudge -Ypsolopha ustella - a new micro for me.

Horse Chestnut - nice to see in its natural resting posture.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

 

Loads of Silver Y on the heaths today

 

Broad-barred White - a classy species and the first one I've seen this year. Other species that have made their first appearance over the last couple of days include Muslin Footman, Jersey Tiger, Coronet, Common Carpet, Pinion-streaked Snout and Herald. The only immigrant species in the trap last night were 3 Dark Sword Grass and 3 Silver Y.

Jersey Tiger

Triangle-marked Roller - Ancylis achatana

Common Carpet

Pale-bordered Piercer - Grapholita janthinana

Swammerdamia sp - possibly pyrella?

Juv YLG

 

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull in the gull roost off Mudbank, with 2 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Gull and 5 Mediterranean Gull (inc 1 juv) this afternoon. Hopefully some nice close ones soon..........

 

 

Eucosma hohenwartiana

Bright Bell - Eucosma hohenwartiana - another new species for me and a common species that I will almost certainly have overlooked in the past.

Three adult Mediterranean Gulls in with good numbers of Black-headed Gulls off Mudbank this afternoon, along with 3 Common Gulls. Also 2 Redshank and 9 Sandwich Tern.
Yesterday I counted 200+ Curlew, 10+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank, 1 Redshank, 1 Common Gull and 2 Mediterranean Gull off there.

Really excited about the mothing prospect for tonight - ideal hot and humid conditions with the prospect of a thunderstorm or two. There were 70 macro species in the garden trap last night - Ghost Moth, Peach Blossom, Buff Arches, Common Emerald, Small Blood-vein, Small Fan-footed Wave, Single-dotted Wave, Riband Wave, Garden Carpet, Yellow Shell, Barred Straw, July Highflyer, Slender Pug, Haworth's Pug, Wormwood Pug, V-Pug, Double-striped Pug, Clouded Border, Brimstone Moth, Early Thorn, Scalloped Oak, Swallow-tailed Moth, Willow Beauty, Clouded Silver, Poplar Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, Brown-tail, White Satin, Rosy Footman, Dingy Footman, Buff Footman, Common Footman, Four-spotted Footman, Buff Ermine, Heart and Club, Heart and Dart, Dark Sword Grass (x3), Shuttle-shaped Dart, The Flame, Flame Shoulder, Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing, True Lover's Knot, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Double Square-spot, Grey Arches, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, Shark, Poplar Grey, Sycamore, Coronet, Small Angle Shades, Dark Arches, Light Arches, Minor Agg, Common/Lesser Common Rustic, Uncertain, Mottled Rustic, Marbled White-spot, Oak Nycteoline, Nut-tree Tussock, Silver Y (x3), Dark Spectacle, Spectacle, Beautiful Hook-tip, Snout, Fan-foot and Small Fan-foot.
Micros included Water Veneer, Elder Pearl, Bright Bell, Gorse Crest, Orange Crest, Codling Moth, White Plume, Ox-tongue Conch, Hook-marked Straw Moth, Ruddy Streak, Garden Grass-veneer, Elm Button, Sallow Button and White-triangle Slender.

Oak Nycteoline - a new variant for me and a really smart one.

Gorse Crest - Brachmia blandella

Sallow Button - Acleris hastiana - another new variant for me.

White-triangle Slender - Caloptilia stigmatella

Wormwood Pug

Peach Blossom - a totally gorgeous moth and one you will never tire of seeing.

A Bird!

Adult Mediterranean Gull - off the seafront this morning.

 

I thought I'd better include some birds in this post as recent posts have been rather heavy on the moths. As usual, when the mothing is good the birds tend to take a back seat. Single adult Mediterranean Gulls were off the seafront and Mudbank today, with the latter site also producing my first Redshank in a long while.

Meanwhile on the mothing front, last night the garden produced 58 macros - Buff Arches, Common Emerald, Blood-vein, Small Blood-vein, Small Fan-footed Wave, Single-dotted Wave, Riband Wave, Garden Carpet, Barred Straw, Common Marbled Carpet, July Highflyer, Slender Pug, Haworth's Pug, Toadflax Pug, Foxglove Pug, Common Pug, Grey Pug, V-Pug, Green Pug, Double-striped Pug, Clouded Border, Brimstone, Early Thorn, Scalloped Oak, Swallow-tailed Moth, Willow Beauty, Elephant Hawkmoth, Rosy Footman, Dingy Footman, Common Footman, Four-spotted Footman, Buff Ermine, Kent Black Arches, Heart and Club, Heart and Dart, The Flame, Flame Shoulder, Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing, True Lover's Knot, Double Square-spot, Grey Arches, Dot Moth, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, Poplar Grey, Dark/Grey Dagger, Dark Arches, Light Arches, Minor Agg, Cloaked Minor, Common/Lesser Common Rustic, Uncertain, Mottled Rustic, Silver Y, Spectacle, Snout and Fan-foot.

Micros - Garden Pebble, European Corn-borer, Rusty-dot Pearl, Bird-cherry Ermine, Thistle Ermine, Olive-tree Pearl, Garden Grass-veneer, Elder Pearl, Dusky Pearl, Hoary Bell, Barred Marble, Mother of Pearl, Water Veneer and Ringed China-mark.

 

European Corn-borer. This species, along with a Rusty-dot Pearl, an Olive-tree Pearl, a Bird-cherry Ermine and a couple Silver Y were all presumably/possibly immigrants.

Kent Black Arches

Toadflax Pug

Four-spotted Footman

Dot Moth

Ephestia sp

Grey Knot-horn - Acrobasis advenella

Olive-tree Pearl - Palpita vitrealis

 

Elder Pearl - Anania coronata

Northern Spinach, Two-spotted Neb and Plum Fruit Moth

 

Northern Spinach - an upland species which explains why I've never come across it before. Martin caught this one out near Kentisbeare so I nipped up there this evening to see it, and very nice it was too! Thanks Martin.

 

Another decent night last night with the garden trap producing 54 macros - Buff Arches, Common Emerald, Small Blood-vein, Small Fan-footed Wave, Single-dotted Wave, Riband Wave, Barred Straw, July Highflyer, Slender Pug, Wormwood Pug, V-Pug, Double-striped Pug, Small Seraphim, Lilac Beauty, Early Thorn, Scalloped Oak, Peppered Moth, Willow Beauty, Clouded Silver, Poplar Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, White Satin, Rosy Footman, Common Footman, Buff Ermine, Heart and Club, Heart and Dart, Dark Sword Grass (x2), Shuttle-shaped Dart, The Flame, Flame Shoulder, Large Yellow Underwing, True Lover's Knot, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Double Square-spot, Square-spot Rustic, Grey Arches, Broom Moth, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, Common Wainscot, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Coronet, Small Angle Shades, Dark Arches, Light Arches, Minor Agg, Common/Lesser Common Rustic, Small Dotted Buff, Uncertain, Silver Y, Fan-foot and Small Fan-foot.

Micros included Plum Fruit Moth, Two-spotted Neb, Long-horned Flat-body, Ruddy Streak, Garden Grass-veneer, Bee Moth and Elder Pearl.

 

 

Plum Fruit Moth - Grapholita funebrana - today's new micro

 and interesting to compare with G.janthinana which I catch now and again.

 

Small Dotted Buff (male I think) - pleased to catch this. It's been at least ten years since my last one.

White Satin

Lilac Beauty

Two-spotted Neb - Eulamprotes atrella  - a titchy species - estimated c5mm from palps to wing-tip! The larvae feed inside the stems and shoots of St John's Wort, according to ukmoths.

Common Wainscot - see plenty of these but always feel compelled to photograph them.

Slender Brindle - I was chuffed to see this at Martin's this afternoon - a gorgeous, pristine individual. My only previous sighting of this species was in Ashclyst Forest, over ten years ago. I managed just a terrible record shot of it, half in and out of shade. It's not particularly uncommon but it is tied to woodland habitats, with the larvae feeding on woodland grasses - an unlikely one to turn up in my garden trap.

Buff Footman - another one of Martin's moths.

 

Blue-bordered Carpet

Blue-bordered Carpet - a brand new moth for me and what a moth it is!

 

Forty-eight macro species trapped in the garden last night - Lackey, Peach Blossom, Buff Arches, Small Blood-vein, Small Fan-footed Wave, Dwarf Cream Wave, Single-dotted Wave, Riband Wave, Garden Carpet, Barred Straw, Blue-bordered Carpet, Slender Pug, Haworth's Pug, Lime-speck Pug, V-Pug, Double-striped Pug, Sharp-angled Peacock, Brimstone Moth, Early Thorn, Scalloped Oak, Willow Beauty, Common White Wave, Clouded Silver, Poplar Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, Rosy Footman, Common Footman, Heart and Club, Heart and Dart, Dark Sword Grass, The Flame, Large Yellow Underwing, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Double Square-spot, Grey Arches, Bright-line Brown-eye, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, L-album Wainscot, Grey/Dark Dagger, Dun-bar, Dark Arches, Minor Agg, Uncertain, Silver Y, Spectacle, Snout, Fan-foot and Small fan-foot.

Micros included New Tawny Tubic, White Sallow Bell, Pearl Grass-veneer, Common Plume, Barred Marble, Ringed China-mark, Marbled Knot-horn, Long-horned Flat-body, Hook-marked Straw Moth, Ruddy Streak, Bee Moth and Elder Pearl.

A lightening-quick look off Maer Rocks this morning produced my first 2 Common Sandpipers of the year, along with c20+ Manx Shearwater in a very distant feeding flock. A lone 'commic' Tern was over towards Langstone and was probably Common Tern.

Yesterday morning there were at least 36 Sandwich Terns off there, along with an adult Mediterranean Gull.

Dark Sword-grass - this and 4 Silver Y the only immigrant species last night.

White Sallow Bell - Epinotia subocellana

Lackey

Grey or Dark Dagger

Haworth's Pug

Pearl Grass-veneer - Catoptria pinella

Marbled Knot-horn - Acrobasis marmorea

New Tawny Tubic - Batia lunaris

 

A family dog-walk, picnic and general mooching about around Bystock and Withycombe Raleigh Commons produced a few bits and pieces........

 

Large Red Damselfly?

Female Chaser sp?
 

Mating Damselflies

 

female Emperor Dragonfly ovipositing

Grass Emerald

Gold-ribbon Argent - Argyresthia brokeela

Southern Hawker - thanks for the id's Spencer.

Four-spotted Chaser

Black-tailed Skimmer