The last few days

Following the successful visit to Lancashire at the end of last week I stayed a bit more local for the early part of this week.  Several speculative visits to interesting habitat for plants produced the surprise of the week.  A look at a grassy bank with plenty of Kidney Vetch produced at least two small dark blue butterflies which size-wise indicated Small Blue.  I was then thrown when photographing the underside of one of them: it was white with black spots which I took to be indicative of Holly Blue.  Bearing in mind it is 15 years since I have seen Small Blue in Dorset I had forgotten that they had dark uppersides and white undersides with black spots.  On checking it was clear that I had in fact seen two male Small Blues at what turns out to be one of two sites in Yorkshire but the locations are not commonly known.

male Small Blue, Yorkshire

Small Blue to 2014 - Courtesy of Butterfly Conservation

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Kidney Vetch

 A walk around at Greenhow produced several interesting sightings, including a very good candidate for Mountain Pansy.

Mountain Pansy

I then visited Old Glebe fields near Leyburn looking for Burnt-tip Orchid, no luck on this occasion but good to see so many Green-winged Orchids even if they were past their best, and a few Twayblades, and several Water Avens. 

Greater Twayblade

Water Avens

On Wednesday I went looking for Argent & Sable moths at Bishop's Wood near Selby.  I eventually had at least seven in flight and eventually one perched on White Campion, even if it didn't pose properly!  

Argent & Sable, Bishop's Wood

Another speculative visit to interesting habitat in VC64 produced another surprise: Pasque Flower.  This is a plant I have seen before in Gloucestershire I think but never realised they occurred this far north.  In addition there were a small number of Fragrant Orchids coming into flower and at least 150 Chimney Sweeper moths, a species I had recorded in Dorset well before I was interested in moth recording and somehow hadn't made it on to my list.

Chimney Sweeper

Cocksfoot Moth

Fragrant Orchid

A fantastic weeks recording with c.70 new species including four new moths.

Three new moths and loads of plants

Two days in Lancashire, the first on Thursday for a botany walk at Warton Crag, and evening trapping at Gait Barrows, followed on Friday by some instruction on finding Barred Tooth-striped larvae.  First of all the three new moths which were all at Gait Barrows: neither of the pyralids were on my radar but proved a welcome surprise, three Anania funebris and a single Pyrausta cingulata which evaded the camera.

Anania funebris

On Friday, three of us joined Paul from Butterfly Conservation who proceeded to give background on the Barred Tooth-striped moth for which this area is a stronghold.  He went on to give the distribution and apparent habitat requirements and survey methods before taking us to suitable areas nearby.  The preferred foodplant here is young ash saplings especially on woodland edge and adjacent to mature trees,   There seemed to be plenty of feeding signs and frass but the larvae were few and far between, possibly moved well down into cover or predated?  Fortunately two larvae were already staked out and a speculative search produced three more.  The tiny caterpillars not much more than 10-15mm were green in colour with a yellow lateral stripe and had a distinctive posture with its rear pair of legs grasping and the body head up at anything between 30-75 degrees, especially when disturbed.

Barred Tooth-striped larvae, note the feeding signs and posture

The botany walk at Warton Crag was organised by the Wild Flower Society and attended by about 15 eager botanists.  The walk started in the quarry area, up through the woodland to the top of the quarry.  There were numerous plants in flower, some so small that at times most of the group were on their knees or prostrate.  I managed 70 odd species noted of which over 40 were new to me and probably the scarcest plant Squinancywort is one I have seen before (at Berry Head I think, many years ago),  On the walk back down the sun came out waking up several Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries .

Orange-tip, female having just laid an orange coloured egg

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

On leaving the group at Warton I went to Arnside nearby to see a roadside Star-of-Bethlehem flower.

Star-of-Bethlehem

In preparation for the meeting on Friday I went to Gait Barrows and had a pleasent evening walk on the 'limestone trail'.  Close to the beginning of the trail I found Spindle in flower and some Herb Paris that was just over.  

limestone pavement

Herb Paris

Spindle

Tutsan

Dingy Skippers

The commonest grassland butterfly was Dingy Skipper and these two played hard to get....

Thursday night was spent moth trapping in the main carpark and adjacent track and a total of 73 moths of 28 species.  Nothing really of note but Triple Lines and Coronet were good to see, the first since moving north and scarce east of the Pennines. 

A great couple of days with some fantastic scenary and habitat, nearly 50 new plants in total, three new moths, and several more moths re-aquainted with.

A few odds and ends

With moth numbers reported by many as still being very low I have made little effort to spend nights out for such little return; we are obviously still in the big 'dip' between the Orthosias and the early summer species.  However, daytime walks have proved very rewarding with manageable numbers of new species to find and identify, as well as some fantastic scenery.  

Brae Pastures, nr Ingleborough, VC64, 11 May 2019

 

The hillside was carpeted with Bluebells, Primroses, Wood Anemones and Early Purple Orchids as well as some interesting sedges,

 

Pilmoor, VC62, 18 May 2019

Common Leaf Weevil, Pilmoor SSSI, VC62, 18 May 2019

Leopards-bane, Pilmoor, VC62, 18 May 2019

Adela reaumurella, fem, Pilmoor SSSI, VC62, 18 May 2019

Perennial Cornflower, Pilmoor, VC62, 18 May 2019

Solomon's Seal, Pilmoor SSSI, VC62, 18 May 2019

Spring Sedge?, Pilmoor SSSI, VC62, 18 May 2019

Strensall Common, VC62, 19 May 2019

Bog Pondweed, Strensall, VC62, 19 May 19

Cucumber Green Orb Spider Araniella cucurbitina sensu stricto, Strensall, VC62, 19 May 19  

 There are two very closely related species Araniella cucurbitina and opisthographa.

Xysticus cristatus or ulmi, Strensall, VC62, 19 May 19

This last photo shows a spider with prey clinging to a sedge in a very boggy part of the common, the habitat favours the scarcer bog-loving Xysticus ulmi.

Up and running again

Following the usual early part of the year hiatus it only takes a few decent days weather and the first flush of Spring growth to get me going again! 

Despite my best intentions to look at other things besides moths in the last few years I have only scratched the surface.  In an effort to broaden my experience I have spent the last few months looking into and planning which species to look for and places to visit.  To start with as a frivolous attempt of setting goals I created my British Pan list (not cooking implements...but a list of all living species identified.).  The bulk of the list was made up by moths and birds, a modest list of plants and small numbers of other species and came up with just over 2000 species in the UK.  This is a small number compared with the top Pan listers who claim well in excess of 10000 species.

To kick-start my efforts I booked a number of themed walks, botanical visits to Arnside, Silverdale and N Y Moors, and an insect course at Ainsdale.  The first of these was just over a week ago at Arnside in Lancashire, fantastic scenery, welcoming attendees, great weather and a reasonable list of plants.  It was a pleasure to have the experience of various experts and a lack of pretentious one-upmanship.  The only downside was one of the target rarities Teesdale Violet was not in flower, but many of the other more common species more than made up for it.

Arnside promenade

Looking over towards Lake District from Arnside Knott

Looking for Teesdale Violets and Rare Spring Sedge

Even though some of the species were common I still amassed over 40 new species to me.  The list included lichens, ferns, mosses as well as flowering plants and shrubs.

Caloplaca flavescens (Golden Crustose lichen), Arnside, 13 Apr 2019

Carex ericetorum (Rare Spring-sedge), Arnside, 13 Apr 2019

Erica carnea (Winter Heath), Arnside, 13 Apr 2019

Lathraea squamaria (Common Toothwort), Arnside, 13 Apr 2019

Petasites hybridus (Butterbur), Arnside, 13 Apr 2019

It was such an enjoyable day that I am really looking forward to the next trips, and a casual look over the last few days has added several more common species.

Back to the last few days and the fantastic weather has got me out and about....at night, three on the trot.  Two nights at the private site at Brafferton Spring followed by last night under the aspens at Pilmoor.  Modest numbers and up to 23 species with several new for site at Brafferton: Red Chestnut, Grey Shoulder-knot, and a cracking micro which at first glance looked fairly indistinct.  However, once photographed its subtle pale green colouring and markings revealed it as Acleris literana which is a rare oak-feeding moth in North Yorkshire.  The awful modern common names given to micro moths names it as Lichen Button, not a reference to its food plant but more to its appearance.  Don't get me started on common names....

Acleris literana, Brafferton Spring, 20 Apr 2019

A look back at 2018

If I thought 2017 had been good then 2018 has been outstanding!  I achieved my best year total of species identified and I had 60 (!) new lifer moths in total, seven of which were outside of Yorkshire.  In Yorkshire alone I had 65 moths for the first time in the County, 12 of which I had seen elsewhere before, mainly southern species making their way northwards.  Once again leaf-mining micros made a sizeable contribution to the total, but seven new Yorkshire macro moths were of note including three not identified anywhere else before.

The first highlight of the year was a planned foray to Lancashire to try and see Belted Beauty, a very rare moth in one of its main English sites, and was lucky enough to find this fine male.

Belted Beauty, Pott's Cornet, 14 April 2018

In May through to mid June I concentrated on leaf mines on birch leaves in particular looking for Eriocrania mines, a small family of mainly birch feeders, very few of which recorded in VC62.  My aim was to find at least one salopiella mine acceptable as new to VC62, following two probable vacated mines in previous years, both in early June.  I managed to find a total of twelve E. salopiella mines at four sites at Pilmoor, Sessay and Brafferton, 13 - 26 May.  Other birch feeding miners were seen in the same area as a result: two E.unimaculella, 7 - 13 May; two E.sparmannella, 24 June - 2 July; eight E.cicatricella, 7 -20 May; and finally 59 distinctively grey larva tenanted mines of E.sangii.

 

Clockwise from top left: unimaculella, salopiella, sangii tenanted mines and a cicatriella larva.

                                                                       

As a further consequence of looking at leaves I found at least 18 Heliozela sericiella mines on oak at Brafferton, following the first VC62 record I had belatedly identified from an older photo at Pilmoor.  The larvae mine from the petiole out through the main rib, cut an oval hole off the midrib and drops to the ground to pupate.

Heliozela sericiella mine on oak, Braffertond Spring, 29 Aug 2019

My use of trapping sites was rather more limited than in recent years mainly due to focussing my attention from early May to a new private woodland site, Brafferton Spring (VC62).  This site is just east of Helperby, and is loosely associated with my sites at Pilmoor and Sessay.    From early May I spent  a total of 21 nights trapping at Brafferton Spring using a 125w MV on a Robinson trap and a 160w MVB over a white sheet, and at least a further 14 day visits looking for mines. In just six months trapping at this new site I amassed a total of 325 species which is not at all bad considering the lack of Spring species.

 

The highlights from Brafferton included at least three new VC62 records: the leaf-mine of Eriocrania salopiella already mentioned, and adults of Dioryctria sylvestrella and Epinotia signatana both of which have been accepted, and a first record since 1868 of Nemapogon clematella.

Dioryctria sylvestrella, Brafferton Spring, 21 Jul 2018

Nemapogon clematella, Brafferton Spring, 21 Jul 2018

Epinotia signatana, Brafferton Spring, 30 June 2018

Other highlights from Brafferton included my first Devon Carpet away from its very few upland breeding sites in the County, a total of 11 of the scarce Pine Hawk-moth, two rare Wainscots, Mere and Twin-spotted, and the first Dog's Tooth probably for twenty years.  Remarkably the Devon Carpet, Twin-spotted Wainscot and the Dog's Tooth all occurred on the night of 3rd August along with several others scarcities.

Devon Carpet, Brafferton Spring, 3 Aug 2019

Pine Hawk-moth, Brafferton Spring, 29 May 2018

Twin-spotted Wainscot, Brafferton Spring, 3 Aug 2018

Dog's Tooth, Brafferton Spring, 3 Aug 2018

In the autumn I targeted more leaf-mine species and again this proved very succesful.  New to VC64 was mines of Ectoedemia sericopeza on the samara of Norway Maple in Boroughbridge, and hundreds of mines of Ectoedemia argyropeza on aspen leaves at four sites in the Boroughbridge (VC64) and Pilmoor and Brafferton area, with only one previous unpublished VC62 record.

Ectoedemia sericopeza, mine on samara of Norway Maple, Boroughbridge, 15 Aug 2018

Ectoedemia argyropeza, mines causing 'green islands' on aspen, Boroughbridge, 29 Nov 2018

So then, what about 2019?  I think I will be targeting some of the less well covered parts of the County in the far west and especially some of the moorland moth species, and also try my hand at a few of the other insect families and plants.  So much to see but I don't think I will be achieving the same number of new moths for the year!