The Aggregations of Doom

It is true that some birds are difficult to identify - in a few cases, very difficult - but there aren't many which cannot reliably be done in the field. When it comes to moths, however...

On my 2023 garden spreadsheet are Uncertain/Rustic agg. (short for 'aggregate'), Marbled Minor agg., Acleris notana/ferrugana, Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella, Depressaria sp., and a few more in that vein. By the year's end I will have added others. Moths which cannot reliably be separated without recourse to surgery are almost an everyday thing in mothing, and a reality which as a birder I struggled to come to terms with. Even now it still irks me sometimes when I have to record a nicely-marked, pristine moth as an aggregate. A couple more cropped up recently, and feature below.

Saturday night, 24th June

74 moths of 33 species, with four new for year. Not a sparkling night, but one or two nice highlights...

This crisp, freshly-minted moth cannot safely be separated from a number of look-alikes, so has to go down as Cnephasia sp. Annoying, but I'm used to it now.

This is a Dark Dagger. Or it might be a Grey Dagger. Yep, it's Dark/Grey Dagger agg.

No such aggro with this little nugget. Plus, it's very well-behaved for a micro.

Short-cloaked Moth. Probably the highlight of Saturday night's catch, with just one trapped last year.

Sunday night, 26th June

Much better, with135 moths of 63 species. Ten new for year, four new for garden.

The first two Yponomeuta sp of the year. There are, I think, three species which cannot be separated in the field, and this pair are one (or two) of them. Even worse, I've read that they cannot safely be done under a microscope either. The only reliable way is by caterpillar, or if bred from the larval foodplant.

A lovely garden first - Cinnabar. I didn't even know they came to light.

Hopefully I've got this one correct. Cloaked Minor, new for the year.

Hopefully I've got this one correct also. It has a look-alike which we've trapped before. Anyway, assuming I have, it's new for the garden.

A nicely-marked Lychnis - new for the year.

Old Lady. Those I've trapped previously were a lot later in the year, and all a bit battered. This one is immaculate. I peeled it very carefully off the garage wall.

Dun-bar. First for 2023, and I'm expecting several more.

Rosy Footman was a lovely surprise when I first encountered it last year. Such a striking little moth. This is the first of 2023, but there will be many more.

At a bit less than 6mm, this is a very small Tortrix. Also a garden first. There are only a couple of other Bridport area records on the Living Record map, so it is probably a nice catch.

This Tortrix is at the other end of the spectrum, size-wise, and another garden first.

My first white Coleophora sp., one of several possibilities. Probably one of the most depressing bunch of moths to catch. There are millions of them, and most seem to be impossible to ID without dissection. This one was released without bothering it further, and quietly forgotten. As one fellow moth recorder put it, anything otherwise would be like sending in records of 'warbler sp.'. Pointless.

Monday night, 26th June

90 moths of 44 species, including four new for year and one new for garden.

Assorted brown pugs. Hopefully I've got the IDs correct.

Probably the night's highlight. Despite total lack of green bits, this is a worn Little Emerald. The cross-lines are just about discernable. There are no Living Record dots in the Bridport area and, despite being listed as nationally common, the rest of Dorset is not exactly plastered with them either.

The year's first Lackey. Blurry wing-tips give away the fact it was warming up for flight. Ten seconds later, it was gone.

The first Rusty-dot Pearl of 2023, and part of a migrant tally which included four Diamond-backs and two Silver Y.

The 2023 moth tally now stands at 299. Trapping tonight, then a couple of nights off. Think I can safely predict 300+ before July. Even if some of them are those annoying aggregates.