New for the Garden Scarce and Rare Moths

 I was going to end the previous blog with a summary of the month's moths which have been rather good if I say it myself so I changed my mind and thought it was best to just have a moth blog for the month.

On my birthday in May I asked the son and daughter for a few mothing items a 20w UV bulb and some more pots and both have come into their own as trap numbers have been the best I have had since living here in Upton.  Whether that is due to running two different types of bulb or the fact that the weather has been suiting the moths I can't say.

The first moth of note actually was in the last trap on the night of the 30th/31st May when checking the trap that I first use of the 20w UV bulb and there sitting on the top of one of the eggs cartons was a female Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli humuli) in perfect condition I say this as two previously had been eaten in the trap one by a Great Diving Beetle and the other by a Hornet so I was very pleased to see it fully intact.

Ghost-Moth_female © Nick Hull

The next moth was new for the garden caught on the 6th June When I tested out some of the pheromone I purchased last year to see if I could get lucky. So I hung out the pheromone trap with Current Clearwing lure. I'm not sure quite how long it took to attract the moth as I didn't see it go in.  I found it in the trap when I decided to try another lure.  As I was about to open the trap I saw something fly around inside so I quick went into my office and carefully opened it up and there was a Current Clearwing another nice moth to have on the garden list.

Current Clearwing © Nick Hull

On the of the 18th I ran both the new UV and the old MV traps to see how the 20W UV would perform. It did ok catching 57 moth of 31 species but the MV had 139 moth of  66 species between the two trap it worked out to be 76 species in total as some obviously were the same.  There were three moths that stood out from the rest the first was a relatively common species but I had only caught it once before back in 2014 and that was a the very attractive Meal Moth Pyralis farinalis.  

Meal Moth Pyralis farinalis © Nick Hull

The second was much rarer also the second time I had caught the species, the first was in 2025 and it is also a very smart little moth called ac Small Marbled Eublemma parva.

Small Marbled Eublemma parva © Nick Hull

Small Marbled is considered a rare migrant the highlight of my trap has to go to another micro this time Diasemiopsis ramburialis the Migrant Sable.  A first for me and the garden.

Diasemiopsis ramburialis © Nick Hull

There was a fourth species Anarsia innoxiella that was first recognised as new to science in 2017, though it's status in Dorset is unknown however I did see a photo post from Tolpuddle of the same species a few day later. Unfortunately it escaped before I could pot it but I managed a quick photo.

Anarsia innoxiella - Maple Snout © Nick Hull

I managed to get the traps out again on the night of the 21st had good number of moths in both traps. New for the garden was a Small Yellow Wave a rather diminutive but attractive moth, but there wasn't anything outstanding only migrants were Diamond-back Moth.

Small Yellow Wave Hydrelia flammeolaria © Nick Hull

Diamond-backed Plutella xylostella Moth © Nick Hull

Rusty-dot Pearl is mainly a migrant species and numbers vary from year to year since moving to Upton in 2012 I've recorded them in all but two years 2018 & 2021.  

Udea ferrugalis Rusty-dot Pearl © Nick Hull

The 26th was the next trap night and the numbers were even bigger with a total 272 moth of 103 species and again I recorded migrants in the traps.  Vestal, Diamond-back, Rusty-dot Pearl, Dark Sword-grass and  (2) Palpate vitrealis Olive-tree Pearl,  and (2) Eublemma ostrina  Purple Marbled.

Rhodometra sacraria  The Vestal © Nick Hull

The Vestal I record more or less every other year why that is I don't know it maybe due to their breeding cycle and the Dark Sword-grass are fairly regular migrant species I catch them here most years like the Rusty-dot Pearl the Diamond-back Moth.

Argots ipsilon Dark Sword-grass © Nick Hull

Palpita vitrealis I first recorded in 2023 and last year I caught four they are a fairly common migrant but have been pretty rare for me until now they are a beautifully delicate looking moth with the golden costa and the translucent silky wings.

Palpita vitrealis Olive-tree Pearl © Nick Hull

The Purple Marbled is a rare immigrant and is a first for my trap and me, so another new addition to the garden moth list.  This moth is resident in the Mediterranean and North Africa region and is a transitory resident in Central Europe and occasional reaches southern Britain.  They were first recorded in Dorest in 1976.

Eublemma ostrina  Purple Marbled © Nick Hull

What an excellent month on mothing I would go as far as to say it's been my best month since moving in here.  I don't think I will surpass this for a while but who knows?

The question is what will July bring?