July Moths at West Wickham

Rhyacionia pinicolana.  Tortricidae. West Wickham Common light trap, 16 July 2014.

Let's start with the most colourful moths from West Wickham Common.  These were in July's trap, set on the 15th by Barry Gutteridge, who is now resident there.  I went up at first light on the 16th to photograph the catch.

This one, Rhyacionia pinicolana, is a pine specialist, and a particularly colourful Tortrix.  There are a few mature Scots Pines not far from the trap.

Scarce Silver-lines, Benia bicolorana.  Noctuidae.  West Wickham Common light trap, 16 July 2014.

This is one of our few truly green moths, a Scarce Silver-lines.  All of our larger moths have English names.  Names have recently been assigned to all the micromoths as well, but they are mostly ridiculous and I tend to ignore them.  (For example, the Rhyaciona at the top has been given the name "Orange-spotted Shoot.")  The older names show a bit more knowledge of the moths they apply to and are often idiosyncratic and interesting, which makes them more memorable, too.

This one is on my measuring paper, marked off in 5mm squares.

Dusky Sallow, Eremobia ochroleuca.  Noctuidae.  West Wickham Common light trap, 16 July 2014.

This is one I had not seen before.  The larvae eat grasses, and it's not scarce.  There are many others I have also not seen, which I may come across later.

Gold Triangle, Hypsopygia costalis.  Pyralidae.   West Wickham Common light trap, 16 July 2014.

Small but nicely marked.  This one was on the outside of the trap.  You have to check everywhere nearby when sorting out the catch.

Festoon, Apoda limacodes.  Limacodidae.   West Wickham Common light trap, 16 July 2014.

This odd, squat little moth is from an unusual family.  The larvae are small oval things that live on oaks.  This one is not common, but where it is found it tends to occur in numbers, so in such places you get the erroneous impression that they are quite common. 

We also had a Yellow Shell and two Tortoiseshell Moths, nice and colourful, but covered elsewhere in this blog recently.