Wed 11/07/2018

This morning was moth-mungous! I was cycling into work and stopped to take a quick shot of a little moth I spotted on the outside of the warehouse. But then there was a different species seemingly every few feet. All little ones, some quite similar, but the only ‘swaps’ I found were some least carpet moths, the same as yesterday. Here are the warehouse ones. The first one is a bit faded; it is certainly a pug moth, and I’m pretty sure it is the plain pug Eupithecia simpiciata. The second is a carpet moth I don’t remember ever seeing before, the common carpet – not the garden carpet, which is actually the most common one around these parts: 

This attractively-marked micromoth is oen of three very similar and somewhat variable species, plus a fourth which is a rare accidental import, so my book advised against identifying it for definite unless I felt like getting the dissecting tools out – and I don’t have any. All I can say for sure then, is that this one is of the genus Oegoconia. The bottom one is the very nice least carpet, which we have already seen on these pages this year. Much smaller than the common carpet on the previous page, the least holds its wings at rest much more like a wave moth than the generally triangular-shaped carpets.

Below is one of the more common pug moths, and does not usually show as colourfully as this. Generally it gives the impression of being white, with some prominent dark wing patches. The hindwings are completely hidden, giving it a very distinctive outline – this is the lime-speck pug Eupithecia centaureata. Not sure what the ‘centaur’ connection is though. The bottom specimen is one of loads of small, unobtrusive grass moths and others that all look pretty much the same. Ii is from the family Crambidae, but further than that I shall not venture

The attractively-speckled micromoth below is a different thing again; roughly the same size and shape as the above crambid, this is the bird-cherry ermine Yponomeuta evonymella. The common plume moth below that is present all year round on the warehouse walls.

Even that wasn't then end of it - there was a brown-tail moth 12 feet up the wall that I couldn't get to, sadly. My final moth for the day is this spectacular Jersey tiger (below left) I found on my way home. Below right is a little beetle, which I’m sure is a ladybird of some kind, and which was loose in the conservatory.

This tiny black beetle turned out to be quite exciting, if you’re into that sort of thing. I asked the online Ladybird Survey about it and they came back with the following:

From: Peter Brown [mailto:petermjbrown@googlemail.com]

Sent: 05 August 2018 13:22

To: Graeme Stroud

Cc: Ladybird Survey

Subject: Re: FW: New ladybird species

Dear Graeme

Thanks for this great record, which is of Rhyzobius forestieri. This is a very interesting record as this is a new species with few British records. It is starting to crop up in various locations. I double-checked the ID with Richard Comont and he agrees. As far as I can see this isn't logged, so please would you log this via iRecord?

Thanks again

Peter

UK Ladybird Survey

I duly recorded the sighting on their website and racked up my 7^th species of the year!