More New This Year

Lunar Marbled Brown, Drymonia ruficornis.  In my garden light trap in Hayes on 11 April 2016.

Here are some more moths from my garden light trap which I saw there for the first time this year.

I have seen these Lunar Marbled Browns in the West Wickham Common trap.  In their season they can suddenly turn up in large numbers.  This was the first one to appear in my garden.  I took this photo in natural light, and in fact this is three photos combined in a "stack" to improve the depth of focus. 

Usually, to take photos to stack, photographers use a rack on which the camera can be moved precisely, and usually they don't use living subjects.  So for this I chose a torpid moth, used a tripod and refocused with great care.

Tinea trinotella.  In my garden light trap in Hayes on 1 August 2016.

This red-headed micromoth, Tinea trinotella, which has a wingspan of about 16mm, is one of a group of rather similar moths whose caterpillars feed on organic debris, and can often be found in birds' nests. This one looks quite smart, but many of its relatives are more scruffy.

Kent Black Arches, Meganola albula.  In my garden light trap in Hayes on 18 July 2016.

I was pleased to see this Kent Black Arches because it's quite scarce and localised.  I have also seen one specimen in the West Wickham Common trap.  One book tells me its caterpillars eat dewberries, which I do not think are common here, but another says they will also eat brambles, close relatives of the dewberry and very common indeed, which makes a lot more sense.

Acrobasis advenella.  In my garden light trap in Hayes on 3 August 2016.

Acrobasis advenella is not scarce at all, and it's quite colourful.  It's techically a micromoth because it's in the family Pyralidae, but it's not all that small, with a wingspan of about 20mm.  Its caterpillars live on hawthorn and rowan, both very common. I have a couple of hawthorns in my garden.

Green Silver-lines, Pseudoips prasinana.  In my garden light trap in Hayes on 29 July 2016.

There aren't many green moths, and usually the colour fades fast.  This Green Silver-lines is almost entirely green, but even this would have been a more vivid colour when fresh.  The bald thorax tells us that this specimen has been around for a while.  Its caterpillars feed on oak and birch.

Red-line Quaker, Agrochola lota.  In my garden light trap in Hayes on 22 October 2016.

This Red-line Quaker was almost my last catch of the year, and I was pleased to see it.  It's not rare, but I had not seen one before.  The caterpillars feed on willows, and I wonder if the willow by my front steps has provided a home for this one.