Sep 20th Mousehold Heath

Moth Night at Mousehold  

It was another moth night at Mousehold Heath last night. Unfortunately, there was a technical hitch with the generator that powers up the light bulb of the moth trap. We could not get it run, despite having plenty of fuel in it. So we had to come up with a plan B. Thankfully, the trap's bulb could be plugged in and be powered via the mains. We ended up moving from usual spot on the heath and took everything to the changing rooms at the field with the bandstand adjacent to Zak's restaurant. It was a much quieter moth session than normal thanks to the lack of a noisy generator and plenty of people arrived despite the sudden location change, but it wasn't the most productive moth-wise.

Snout

There wasn't a great verity of moth species entering the trap last night, however, there were a couple of new species for me to learn. The most numerous out of the moths that we managed to attract to the trap was this one. You may notice that this moth has something protruding from it's head. These are very long, upturned palps (sensory organs that helps the moth feel and taste), but they also give the moth it's name; the snout. It is rather distinctive as it looks like a brown triangle with small hooked tips to the wings and of course, that 'snout' poking out. Snouts are rather common and widespread moths that occur where common nettles grow, of which is this species foodplant.



Hypsopygia glaucinalis?

Out of the other species we caught, there was one that is possibly new to the site. As this was a micro moth, it proved to be difficult to ID. Our group of amateur moth enthusiasts believed it was a twin-striped tabby, but I posted this photo to an online group today to confirm this and someone replied and said that this was  Hypsopygia glaucinalis, a moth that is more relatively common in the southern half of England. The only problem with this answer, after looking further into it, is that the flight season for that species is July and August, its now late September! This is the reason why I prefer to leave micro moths well enough alone and leave them to the experts.



Copper Underwing

There were no complications when it came to identifying this next moth. This is a copper underwing. It is another one of these brown moths with pale stripes and small eye spots on the wings, but it is the coppery underwings that give the moth it's name. However, there are two species of copper underwing and they look more or less identical to each other. Apparently, the best way to separate these species apart is to study the markings of the underside of the hindwings.

Light Emerald

The rest of the moths that we caught were ones that we've either seen before during other moth night sessions or were too worn to ID with complete confidence. In fact most of these moths were rather worn individuals, meaning that they are faded and worst for wear. It is a sure sign that the summer mothing season is nearing an end. As winter draws closer, there will be fewer newer species for me to learn. Only a few hardy species will be on the wing in the remaining months of the year. Though this is officially the last of the planned moth night sessions at Mousehold, there might be a couple of extra sessions to add to the calendar. Watch this space!

We think this is a rather worn Mother of Pearl