Good Housekeeping in Oxfordshire (2)

Retirement has given me extra time for housekeeping and not only of the Hoovering kind, much as I love cruising round with the vac on maximum power. So here's an update on the moths which have visited Penny and me in our new home so far, in this first season of running the light trap in Oxfordshire.

Apologies to those who find lists uninteresting. This is really an exercise done for my own use, though it may play its small part in all the mapping of butterflies and moths which goes on. I was reading in Butterfly Conservation's excellent Butterfly magazine the other day that an estimated 26 million Painted Lady butterflies flew over southern England between August and October 2009, some of them a kilometre up in the air which were detected by radar. How much we know nowadays!

So, here is the list of moth callers to date, a total of 163 which is very modest in the light of the 636 species so far recorded in 2013 by Upper Thames Butterfly Conservation which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It understates the true number, mind, because I have not (yet) recorded quite a lot of the commoner type of visitor and many a micromoth has nipped off before I got round to taking its photo.

So I would guess that we've had over 200 species in reality, but that's cheating. I'll stick to the ones which I have photographed and for which I have definite dates. Here they are, with the ones which have arrived since my last audit on 31 May in bold and the ones not found in Leeds in red:

Macromoths: Angle Shades, Barred Straw, Barred Yellow, Beautiful Golden Y, Beautiful Hook-tip, Blood Vein, Bordered White, Black Arches, Blotched Emerald, Blue-bordered Carpet, Bright-eye brown line, Bright-line Brown-eye, Brimstone, Brindled Pug, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Brown Rustic, Buff Arches, Buff Ermine, Buff Tip, Burnished Brass, Chinese Character, Chocolate Tip, Cinnabar, Clouded Border, Clouded-border Brindle, Clouded Drab, Clouded Silver, Common/Dark Marbled Carpet, Common Emerald, Common Footman, Common Lutestring, Common Quaker, Common Swift, Common Wainscot, Common White Wave, Coronet, Copper Underwing (or Svensson's CU), Coxcomb Prominent, Dark Arches, Dun-bar, Dingy Footman, Dot Moth, Drinker, Early Grey, Early Thorn, Early Tooth-striped, Elephant Hawk, Engrailed, Eyed Hawk, Flame, Flame Shoulder, Garden Carpet, Garden Tiger, Ghost, Grass Rivulet, Green Carpet, Grey/Dark Dagger, Grey Pug, Heart and Dart, Hebrew Character, Herald, Iron Prominent, July Highflyer, Large Nutmeg, Large Twin-spot

Chocolate Tip in Oxfordshire

Carpet, Large Yellow Underwing, Least Black Arches, Leopard, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Light Arches, Light Emerald, Lilac Beauty, Lime-speck Pug, Lobster, Marbled Beauty, Marbled Minor, Middle-barred Minor, Miller, Mottled Beauty, Muslin, Muslin Footman, Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet, Nut-tree Tussock, Oblique Carpet, Orange Swift, Pale Pinion, Pale Prominent, Pale Tussock, Peach Blossom, Pebble Prominent, Peppered including melanistic, Pine Beauty, Poplar Hawk, Poplar Grey, Powdered Quaker, Privet Hawk, Puss Moth, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Riband Wave, Rivulet, Ruby Tiger, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Satellite, Scalloped Oak, Scarce Footman, Scarlet Tiger, Scorched Wing, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Shears, Short-cloaked Moth, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Silver-ground Carpet, Single-dotted Wave, Silver Y, Small Angle Shades, Small Dotted Buff, Small Elephant Hawk, Small Emerald, Small Phoenix, Small Quaker, Small Square-spot, Snout, Spectacle, Straw Dot, Swallow Prominent, Swallowtailed, Sycamore, Treble Line, Twin-spot Carpet, Twin-spot Quaker, V-Pug, Waved Umber, White Ermine, White Satin,  Yellow-barred Brindle, Yellowtail.  (138)

Micromoths: Acleris forsskaleana, Adela sp, Agonopterix arenella, Aphelia palanea, Agapeta hamana, Aphomia sociella, Beautiful China Mark, Celypha lacunana, Cnephasia sp. Cochylis antricapitana, Dioryctria abietella, Diurnia fagella, Ephestia kuehniella, Eudonia mercurella, Green Oak Tortrix, Large Tabby (Aglossa pinguinalis) Lozotaeniodes formosana, Mother of Pearl, Phtheocroa rugosana, Pyralis farinalis, Scoparia pyralella, Small Magpie, Udea olivalis, White Plume, Willow Ermine. (25)

Butterflies: Brimstone, Comma, Common Blue, Green-veined White, Hedge Brown, Holly Blue, Large Skipper, Large White, Marbled White, Orange Tip, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Small Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Small White. A little further afield: Purple Emperor, White Admiral.   (20)

And for comparison (and not, I hope at the risk of driving you mad), here are the moths which visited the trap during five years in Leeds, 2008-2012. The ones not (yet) found in Oxford are in red:

Macromoths: Alder, Angle Shades, Angle-striped Sallow, Antler, Autumnal Rustic, Barred Red, Barred Straw, Barred Yellow, Beautiful Golden Y, Black Rustic, Blackneck, Blair’s Shoulder Knot, Bloodvein, Bordered White, Bright-line Brown-eye, Brimstone, Brindled Green, Brown China Mark, Brown Silver-line, Buff Arches, Buff Ermine, Buff Footman, Buff Tip, Burnished Brass, Campion, Canary-shouldered Thorn, Centre-barred Sallow, Chestnut, Chimney Sweeper, Cinnabar, Clouded Border, Clouded-bordered Brindle (plus ab Combusta), Clouded Drab, Clouded Brindle, Clouded Silver, Common Carpet, Common Emerald, Common Footman, Common Marbled Carpet, Common Quaker, Common Rustic, Common Swift, Common Wainscot, Common Wave, Common White Wave, Common Yellow Underwing, Copper Underwing and/or Svensson’s C.U. (impossible to distinguish without expert help), Coxcomb Prominent, Cream Wave, Crescent, Dark Arches, Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, Dark Brocade, Dark Dagger, Dark Marbled Carpet, Dark Spectacle, Dark Swordgrass, December Moth, Dot, Dotted Border, Double-lobed, Double-striped Pug, Dun-bar, Dusky Brocade, Dusky Thorn, Dwarf Pug, Early Grey, Early Thorn, Elephant Hawk, Engrailed, Fan-foot, Feathered Thorn, Figure of 80, Flame, Flame Carpet, Flame Shoulder, Flounced Rustic, Foxglove Pug, Freyer's Pug, Frosted Orange, Garden Carpet, Ghost, Gold Spangle, Gold Spot, Golden-rod Pug, Gothic, Green Arches, Green-brindled Crescent, Green Carpet, Green Pug, Green Silver Lines, Grey Arches, Grey Birch, Grey Chi, Grey Dagger, Grey Pine Carpet, Grey Pug, Grey Scalloped Bar, Heart and Dart,Hebrew Character, Herald, Ingrailed Clay, Iron Prominent, July Highflyer, Knot Grass, Large 

Lime Hawk, var brunnea, in Leeds

Emerald, Large Yellow Underwing, Lead-coloured Drab, Lempke’s Gold Spot, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Common Rustic, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Light Arches, Light Emerald, Lime Hawk including Var brunnea, Lunar Underwing, Lunar Marbled Brown, Lychnis, Marbled Beauty, Marbled Minor, March Moth, May Highflyer, Middle-barred Minor, Miller, Mottled Beauty, Mottled Rustic, Mottled Umber, Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet, November moth, Oak Beauty, Oak Hooktip, Ochreous Pug, Old Lady, Orange Sallow, Orange Swift, Orange Underwing, Pale Brindled Beauty, Pale Mottled Willow, Pale Pinion, Pale Prominent, Pale-shouldered Brocade, Pale Tussock (including dark variety), Peach Blossom, Pebble Hook Tip, Pebble Prominent, Peppered (including melanistic variety), Phoenix, Pink-barred Sallow, Plain Golden Y, Poplar Hawk, Powdered Quaker, Purple Bar, Purple Thorn, Red Underwing, Red-green Carpet, Red-lined Quaker, Riband Wave, Rivulet, Rosy Rustic, Ruby Tiger, Rufous Minor, Sallow, Sallow Kitten, Satin Beauty, Satellite, Scalloped Hazel (including var nigra), Scalloped Hook-tip, Scalloped Oak, Scarce Silver Lines, Scorched Wing, September Thorn, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Shaded Broad-bar, Shoulder-striped Wainscot, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Silver Y, Single-dotted Wave, Slender Brindle, Small Angle Shades, Small Fanfoot, Small Fan-footed Wave, Small Phoenix, Small Quaker, Smoky Wainscot, Snout, Spectacle, Spruce Carpet, Square-spot Rustic, Straw Dot, Streamer, Swallow Prominent, Swallowtailed, Tawny-barred Angle, Treble Bar, True Lover’s Knot, Twin-spotted Quaker, V-pug, White Ermine, Willow Beauty, Winter moth, Wormwood Pug, Yellow-barred Brindle, Yellow-line Quaker, Yellow Shell. (205)

Acleris forsskaleana - happy in
 both North and South

Micromoths: Acleris forsskaleana, Acleris shalleriana, Anania coronata, Ancylis badiana, Argyresthia trifasciata, Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis ceranasa), Bird-cherry Ermine, Blastobasis lacticolella, Bramble-shoot Moth, Brown House Moth, Brown Grey (Scoparia ambigualis), Carnation Tortrix, Catopria margaritella, Cypress Tip, Diurnia fagella, Dipleurina lacustrata, Emmelina monodactyla, Epiblema cynosbatella,  Eriocranaria subpurpurella, Eudonia mercurella, Garden Pebble, Garden Rose Tortrix, Green Oak Roller (Tortrix viridiana), Light Brown Apple Moth, Marbled Orchard Tortrix, Meal Moth, Mother of Pearl, Phyllonorycter geniculella, Plume (Stenophilia sp.), Pyrausta aurata, Small Magpie, Spindle Ermine, Tinea trinotella, Twenty-plume, White-shouldered House Moth, Ypsolopha Sequella.  (36)

Butterflies: Brimstone, Comma, Common Blue, Green-veined White, Hedge Brown, Holly Blue, Large Skipper, Large White, Orange Tip, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Small Copper, Small Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Small White, White-letter Hairstreak. (19)

As I always remark on these occasions, what great names!  Update: I've been rushing around on trains for much of today and have not had a chance to reflect on the above, but I will be doing. One noticeable difference between the two sites, apart from the lists above, is that the great deluge of 'yellow underwings' which was an annual July/August event in Leeds has not happened in Oxfordshire (yet). The nearest current contender is the Mother of Pearl. Overall, I would say that this season has produced a greater variety of moths so far but fewer 'gluts'.  But it is early days.