The month of June began with the appearance of some old moth friends showing their faces for the first time this year. It is always reassuring to see them, to see that they have survived the rigours of the past year and are in good shape to continue. Things have rather slowed down over the past week with the heavy rain, winds and sometimes cool temperatures. My mothing has been confined to the garden in Newport Pagnell and Linford Lakes Nature Reserve using Robinson Moth Traps (See previous notes of for information about traps).
On the night of June 1st, 294 moths of 76 species visited the trap at Linford Lakes and amongst the catch was a lovely Oak-Hook-tip. It is one of seven Hook-tip moths to be found in Britain and as the name suggests its caterpillars feed on the foliage of oak trees and the Hook part refers to the wing shape. It is able to complete its life cycle twice in the year and will be on the wing again in late July to mid September.
Another on the 1st at Linford Lakes was one of the carpet moths, a Green Carpet. There are 54 species of Carpet moths and none of them eat carpets. They are named so because of the delicate patterns on their wings. It too has 2 generations in a year and the caterpillars feed on Bedstraws and Cleavers.
June 3rd was not quite as busy as the June 1st with some 221 moths of 50 species at Linford Lakes. One that took the eye though was the Cream-bordered Green Pea. A friend of mine observed that it sounded more like something that should be on a restaurant menu rather than the name fora moth. It is a nationally scarce moth whose caterpillars feed on Willows and Sallows and seems well established at Linford Lakes.
The China-mark moths are emerging and have been visiting the trap too. There are 4 species: Small China-mark, Brown China-mark, Beautiful China-mark and photographed here, the Ringed China-mark. They have aquatic or sub-aquatic caterpillars. The Ringed China-mark caterpillar feeds on Pondweeds, Canadian Waterweed and other plants and spins leaves together and lives in an open web.
In the garden this week it was good to see the return of the Orange Pine Tortrix. It is a micro-moth whose caterpillar feeds on Scots Pine where it makes a silk tube along a twig. The moth was first recorded in Britain in Surrey in 1945 so it has been here just 3 more years than me.
Text and photos kindly supplied by Gordon Redford. Click here to read the previous edition of Moth Notes