This year work has carried on as busy as last year ended with hardly any time off and little opportunity to do anything moth-related. I did, however, spend last night out at Pilmoor for the second trip out in two weeks there, and was instantly reminded why I do not like trapping there in early summer....the no-seeums that are so tiny but eat you alive...aargh! Trapping under the stand of aspens on the old railway line the result was just 31 moths of 18 species using a single Robinson 125w MV, not helped by leaving the plug adapter at home so could not run a light over a sheet as I usually do and gives me something to look at while waiting for dawn. The highlight was a fairly tatty Seraphim, an aspen feeder, scarce in the County and following on from three I caught at exactly the same site on 22 May three years ago.
The real highlight of the day was a moth from the works premises in Barr Lane, Roecliffe, Boroughbridge. On about Wednesday I had disturbed a moth from its resting place on a horsebox and but despite my best efforts I failed to capture it in a pot. I recognised it as one of the Treble-bars but on checking that evening was amazed to find that I had not seen either species before, not even in Dorset. Ruing the missed opportunity while at work today I happened to notice what may have been the same moth at rest on the canopy over the showroom front door. To the bemusement of several onlookers I dragged a chair outside climbed up and potted the moth. having safely got it home, two hours in the fridge, it sat quietly enough for me to photograph it. I was aware they were a difficult species pair but on close inspection it was obvious to be a male Lesser Treble-bar.
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| Lesser Treble-bar, male |
It was a male by the fact that the abdomen tip was split into claspers, short and rounded which in itself is conclusive for Lesser, and the sharp angle on the innermost bar a good sign.
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| Diagnostic features |
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