Small Things

How times have changed. Black-winged Kite in East Anglia!

In another life I'd have been all over it. Instead, I found myself wondering how far I would bother travelling to see a Black-winged Kite. Well, it would net a tidy few Patchwork Challenge points, or make a great lunchtime diversion if I was working in the Seaton area...

Yep, not far.

So, as Quattros were fired up countrywide, I was hunched over my copy of Manley's British & Irish Moths, endeavouring to put a name to some tiny splinter.

More and more I am finding myself drawn to the micro-moths. Everything about them is a challenge, from ID to photography. Actually, even seeing them in the first place can be a challenge. My first Lyonetia clerkella was pure fluke, accidentally caught in the same tube as I was potting another moth. It wasn't until I peered through a lens that I realised the glistening speck was actually a moth.

Moth-trapping conditions have been less than ideal lately but, even so, the last couple of nights have added two more to the garden list, both micros. I actively seek them out now, carefully inspecting the outside of the trap, the 'moth towel' and surrounding area for little blips of interest during trap-monitoring sessions and before retiring for the night. I've picked up several with the net before dark too. And a good few of them are very sparsely recorded in the county...

Thursday night, 20th July

91 moths of 48 species; two new for year.

Bordered Beauty. A gorgeous moth. Only our second, after one last year, and it does seem to be a species at fairly low density.

Iron Prominent graced the trap six times in 2022. This is the first for 2023.

Two last year; this is the fourth for 2023.

Third for the garden.

I was surprised to see Caloptilia azaleella again, hot on the heels of one the previous night. With so few Bridport records, I wondered if it might be the same individual...

Caloptilia azaleella - Wednesday night's on the left, Thursday night's on the right. The pattern of dots along the forewing's leading edge proves they are different individuals.

An interesting aspect of paying careful attention to micros is the frequency with which you come across species that seem to be uncommon locally, or even county-wide. In fact, downright scarce in some cases. As the following night illustrated...

Friday night, 21st July

74 moths of 47 species; three new for year, two new for garden.

The biggest surprise was catching three(!) Phyllocnistis saligna. Unless there has been some sort of population explosion in Dorset, our garden appears now to be the best site in the county for this species! Of course, that's nonsense, and I can only assume that a number of moth recorders don't much bother with micros...

Two of last night's P. saligna. The third avoided the camera.

Also among the micros was the next moth. Definitely the fastest mini-micro I've yet encountered, it dashed around so rapidly that I momentarily wondered if I'd potted a micro-caddis by mistake. But no, another 3.5mm marvel...

Elachista freyerella has a look-alike, so I'm currently awaiting expert confirmation of the ID. However, the Living Record map shows just four Dorset records of this species and three of its doppelgänger, so both are pretty scarce. Or, should I say, under-recorded?

The other new species for the garden was also a small thing...

Quite a common one, and a doddle to ID!

There were some nice macros too...

It may be 'just' a Common Carpet, but it's mighty well-dressed!

Another Phoenix. Also pretty swish.

And, by way of comparison with the above, our first Small Phoenix of the year. Recorded on seven nights in 2022.

Another White-spotted Pug, and a very fresh one at that. According to Living Record, our garden is comfortably leading the Bridport league table for this species. Again, I wonder what the attraction is?

As I've mentioned previously, a nice bonus of prowling the garden after dark is the possibility of 'bycatch'. So here is some of that, plus a mothy encounter of the non-trap kind...

Dark Bush-cricket, a garden first. Looks a bit of a warrior, this one, with just half an antenna.

Oak Bush-cricket. As far as I can recall, this too is a garden first. This and the above both discovered in the wildlife hedge. Definitely worth planting, that was.

Finally: making Brimstones.