Moth Notes 28 July 2019

 

Since I last wrote moth notes over a month has passed and that time has taken us in to the busiest part of the mothing season.  I have spent some of that time on the Suffolk Coast in search of moths that do not venture inland.  There has been plenty of mothing going on here though with visits to Goosey Bank and Barn Field, both near Olney, a night out at Howe Park Wood helping with the Bioblitz there on 1-2 July, a late night/early morning at the Woodland Trust owned College Wood, near Nash as well as the usual traps left at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve and in my garden here at Newport Pagnell.

The wet and cooler weather of the past few days has provided a little respite and has permitted time to check records, enter them on the data base and to write some mothing notes.

One of the moths I enjoy seeing in Suffolk is the Rosy Footman.  I have never seen it in North Bucks so you can imagine my surprise when it was found in a trap at Linford Lakes on 13th July.  I returned from Suffolk on the 12th and the trap it was found in was one that I had taken away with me so I suspect that I may have brought it back with me. I will include it in my records for Linford with an explanatory note but who knows, the moth may have found its way there on its own accord.

One that took the eye at Howe Park Wood on 2nd July was a Green Arches.  There are a number of moths with Arches in their names and all have markings with a curved or pointed arch above a pair of columns. The caterpillars feed on Dock, Bramble, Primrose and Honeysuckle at the wood and they overwinter as caterpillars and pupate underground.

At Barn Field, near Olney on 17th July a lovely specimen of Yellow Shell was recorded.  These are disturbed during the day and are on the wing between June and August.   The caterpillars feed on Cleavers, Bedstraws, Dandelions and Docks and they too overwinter as larvae and pupate underground.

Found outside one of the traps on the same day at Barn Field was this Leopard Moth.  The caterpillars of this moth feed on wood and stem tissue of many trees and because there is not much nutrition in wood they remain in the caterpillar state for between 2-3 years. The adult moth, like the one in the photograph, is incapable of feeding.

On the 25th June, a welcome visitor to the garden trap in Newport Pagnell was the very colourful Scarlet Tiger.  The Tiger moths are as colourful as butterflies and their caterpillars are the “woolly bears”.  The Scarlet Tiger seems to have   been extending its range in recent years from a base in the south west of England. The caterpillars feed on Common Comfrey and Hemp-agrimony and when larger disperse on to Common Nettle, Bramble and Sallow.  The micro-moth beneath the Tiger is known as the Yellow-spot Tortrix.

Text and photos kindly supplied by Gordon Redford. Click here to read the previous edition of Moth Notes