Newsletter no. 3: September 2000Edited by Colin W. Plant, Herts Moth Recorder14 West Road, Bishops Stortford, CM23 3QP tel/fax: 01279 507697 E-mail: colinwplant@netscapeonline.co.uk
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Some new moths for Hertfordshire during 2000Having attracted a "distinctive" micro to one of the light traps which Charles Watson and myself ran at the Danemead Nature Reserve (Broxbourne Woods) on 15th June 2000, I could not for the life of me recall its name (I must be getting old!). Fortunately, I decided to take a single voucher specimen, which was duly set and then forgotten about until mid-July, when I re-found it and named it as the tortrix Olindia schumacherana. It was not until I started updating the county list to see how many species we had recorded in the first half of 2000 that I realised that this species is new to Hertfordshire. A quick check of the voucher specimen confirmed that my identification was correct - I would never have believed myself if I had not got a specimen! According to British Tortricoid Moths (though this is thirty years old now) this distinctive black/brown moth with a bright white stripe on each wing, is "Widely distributed, but rather local and never common in the British Isles". The favoured larval foodplant is Ranunculus ficaria, though Aquilegia, Mercurialis and Vaccinium are also eaten along with "other herbaceous plants". In neighbouring Essex it is listed as very local and rare, and there are only two records since 1955, both in the Colchester area. There are no records for Middlesex.Two small metallic-striped micro-moths sitting on my garden Robinson trap on 15th May 2000 were thought at first to be a Phyllonorycter species, until it suddenly dawned on me that I was totally wrong. They were in fact two males of Argyresthia trifasciata, also new to Herts. A group of mature Cupressocyparis leylandii trees sits a mere three metres way from the trap and it is on this plant that the caterpillars feed. This small and rather attractive moth is evidently becoming widespread in Britain and, since its first appearance at Ray Softly'sactinic trap on his third floor balcony in Hampstead, north London in 1982, has spread (or been carried?) to Cheshire (1997), North Hampshire (1998), Surrey (1998), North Essex (1999), Kent (2000) and now Hertfordshire. The three British species of the rather attractive pyralid moth genus Dioryctria can often be hard to separate. A single male which Rob Souter and I captured at Bramfield Woods, near Welwyn garden City, on 29th July 2000 proved to be Dioryctria schuetzeella, yet another new moth for the county. The larval foodplant (Picea abies) dominates sections of Bramfield Woods and the moth must surely be breeding there. This species was first recorded in Britain in July 1980 at Orlestone Forest, Kent. Its origin is unclear as the species in not known to migrate. In 1981 it was found in Sussex. There have been few records outside this area since then but this year it was found at Selborne in Hampshire as well as here in Hertfordshire. It look like it is probably spreading. Charles Watson collected a number of leaf mines from various trees at Hadham Ford on 30th August and brought them to me for identification the next day. Amongst them were mines of the minute Stigmella roborella. This is the first record for the county, though this is a species that might well simply have been overlooked (very few people look at leaf mines in the county). The mines are easy to confuse with some other oak-feeding Stigmella species. I wonder what other new county records we might make on the two leaf-miner trips in October? Also from Hadham Ford, Charles brought some alder leaves, the margins of which were rolled downwards and spun with silk. Larval feeding on the lower epidermis was evident in the folds, which are up to 40 mm long. Some of the folds contain a single pure white, silk cocoon. These are almost certainly Caloptilia falconipennella, a rare species that has only been reliably recorded from Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are currently waiting for the adults to emerge to confirm this tentative identification. The Hertfordshire moth list now stands at 1459 species. If Caloptilia falconipennella is proved correct, the total will rise to 1460.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .changes... Ian Burrus has moved to 17 Okeley Lane, Tring, HP23 4HE - home phone is 01442 824676 new... Duncan Fraser, 123 The Street, Capel, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 5JX Emil de Maria, 24 Hodwell, Ashwell, SG7 5QQ: mobile 07889 129415 John Webb, 62 Wellingham Avenue, Hitchin, SG5 1UN
Reports of field tripsThe group's organised trips seem to be proving popular with everyone. Attendance has been, on average, 12 to 15 people per trip. For those who have not yet joined us on a trip yet please do try, because we have great fun. The trips are all informal and I hope that people will be able to learn about moths that they may not normally see as well as honing their identification skills on some of the more easily confused common species. There is no need to know anything at all about moths - all you need is an interest. Guests are more than welcome and no prior booking is needed unless it says so specifically in the programme. Here are some of the highlights of the things we have got up to since the last newsletter.
Amwell Quarry, 14 July 2000Through the good agency of Tom Gladwin we were afforded access permission and gate keys to this interesting and rather large Lea Valley site. Lights were set up in a line through the reeds at the edge of the lake and others were put in adjacent areas of open ground and scrub - a total of 8 lights - whilst John and Jenny set a ninth some distance away near some woodland. The overall total of 57 species was not our greatest achievement, but the haul did include the nationally scarce Brown-veined wainscot. In a better year, this ought to be a cracking good site.
Rye Meads Nature Reserve, 28 July 2000Sixteen people and 6 mercury vapour lights were present! We ran the lights from 9.30 pm to 05.00 am (though several members wimped out and did not stay until dawn!). Overall, the list included 80 macros, 21 pyrales and 14 assorted tortricoids & micros giving a total of 115 species. There was nothing particularly special, but we did add Brown-veined wainscot to the nature reserve list, and also had Round-winged Muslin, Southern wainscot, Fen wainscot, Bulrush wainscot and Crescent amongst the wetland species. Also noted was the rather attractive pyralid Evergestis pallidata which is rarely seen in Hertfordshire. Much discussion was had concerning the separation of the pyralid moths Schoenobius gigantella and Donacaula forficella - I am still not sure if we resolved it!
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