Oldbury Hill Moths, June

Kent Butterfly Conservation mothing event at Oldbury Hill, 10 June 2012.

There was a strange light in the woods on the night of 12th June.  Anyone approaching would have seen three people seated around the light, gazing into it in a mysterious way.  I'm sure I saw this on the X-Files.  Mulder to the front .. But no, it was a mothing event!

It was run by David Gardner, the Chairman of the Kent branch of Butterfly Conservation. He brought his ingenious portable trap and generator and set it up in the woods in a likely spot.  It was not particularly warm, so we weren't inundated with moths, though we did get plenty of Ichneumon Wasps and Cockchafers.  The Cockchafers were a particular nuisance.  They kept bombing into us and disturbing interesting moths just as they had settled.  They are big, fast and heavy and arrive like bullets, and if you toss them away they circle back like boomerangs.

But by the time we packed up at midnight, we had seen twenty species of moth, some dowdy, some beautiful.

Clouded Border, Lomaspilis marginata.  Oldbury Hill, 10 June 2012.

I liked this one.  The larvae feed on Aspens, Poplars, Sallows and Willows, none of which were close to us, but there were Sallows somewhere in the woods. 

The left forewing is damaged.  Several of the specimens we saw were damaged or worn, which is quite normal.

Green Carpet, Colostygia pectinataria.   Oldbury Hill, 10 June 2012.

This one is called a Green Carpet, and when it was fresh it would have been a distinct green.  Compare with the moth in the last photo in this post from last August: Farthing Downs August Moths.  But the green colour fades quite fast from moths.  There are several "Emerald" species which are often tricky for the novice (i.e. me) to identify because they find them when they are mostly white. The same goes for at least one micromoth, the Green Oak Tortrix.

The larvae of this moth eat Bedstraws, probably including Cleavers, which is quite common.

Here's one of the Emeralds:

Little Emerald, Jodis lactearia.  Male. Oldbury Hill, 10 June 2012.

A small moth, this one with only a hint of green.  This photo was taken through the plastic side of the trap and shows the pretty antennae typical of many male moths.  The large surface area helps them to detect the pheromones given off by the females.

Clay Triple-lines, Cyclophora linearia.  Oldbury Hill, 10 June 2012.

The larvae of this one feed on Beech.  Again, you can see the feathery antennae.

I will post some more moths from this event next time.