At last!

It's been some time coming, but at last there was an evening that felt muggy and an MV trap that had plenty buzzing around it. There may not have been hundreds of moths to inspect at dawn, but there was a fair haul including plenty of species new for the year. Here are a couple of the more visual of them:

Argyresthia trifasciata - not recorded in the UK until 1982 but now spreading north and west and becoming well established. To be found happily in gardens where it mines the leaves and shoots of Cypress. The white head separates it from similar species.

Toadflax Brocade - breeds in my garden on Purple Toadflax where the larvae are easily found in the late summer. Once a scarce species of sparse coastal habitats in the south and south-east - now regularly found in London and the Home Counties.

Comments

Gibster said…
I may have to have a rummage through your shrubbery one late summer (ooh err missus!) That Brocade looks one mighty fine beastie!
23 May 2015 at 17:14
Steve Gale said…
One of my favourites, Seth - and the larvae are pretty cool as well.
24 May 2015 at 09:05
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