June 2025
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Pine Processionary - garden, 20 Jun 25
June was all about the moths. A few really hot, sticky nights producing some superb catches and a number of rarities. My current policy of only setting the trap when the conditions look really good meant that I only put it out on four occasions, but on those four night I caught 1074 moths in total of exactly 200 species!
The first night was 12th June and a new species for me was the pied micro moth Parachronistis albiceps (Hazel Bud Moth). This has only been recorded once previously on the island but Hazel is not a common tree here so it might be resident in low densities. More spectacularly was only my second Lesser Puss Moth. Other good species were Acrobasis repandana, European Corn-borer and an Ash-bud Moth (Prays fraxinella).
Lesser Puss Moth - garden, 12 Jun 25 - showing off its black saddle which a normal Puss Moth lacks.
Parachronistis albiceps - garden, 12 Jun 25 - a new species for me.
20th June was an even more exciting night with some absolutely corking species, the most spectacular was almost a near miss when I walked towards the trap early morning to see a Striped Hawk-moth just taking flight and buzzing away past my head. only my second sighting of this species. However, I managed three new moth ticks in this collection, starting with a fine Pine Processionary, a rare species in Guernsey and an immigrant from the continent. The second was Holly Tortrix (Rhopobota naevana) which I may have overlooked in the past. The third was a slightly unfamiliar smallish plume moth, which eventually turned out to be Stenoptilia zophodactylus (Dowdy Plume) which looks to be only the second for Guernsey. These new species have brought my garden lepidoptera list to more than 700 species! That’s a lot, but this is from 22 years of trapping and there’s still plenty to go for. Other species that night were two more Lesser Puss Moths, a European Corn-borer, a Small Mottled Willow, Elegia similella and the first Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing of the year.
Pine Processionary - garden, 20 Jun 25
Rhopobota naevana (Holly Tortrix) - garden, 20 Jun 25
Stenoptilia zophodactylus (Dowdy Plume) - garden, 20 Jun 25
Stenoptilia zophodactylus (Dowdy Plume) - garden, 20 Jun 25 - detail of the wing
Elegia similella - garden, 20 Jun 25 - one of my favourite species, I don’t know why
The nights of 28th and 30th did not produce any ticks but there were even more species than before with over 100 species both nights. There weren’t many things surprising, but I was getting lots of teeny tiny Nepticulid moths with an estimated 300+ of them on 30th. Identifying these tiny 2mm creatures is probably not so likely but I would probably go for something like an Ectoedemia sp. The 28th saw a Radford’s Flame Shoulder (my first early record of this species) and six Spiny Hook-tips. The best moth of 30th was a Small Marbled, but there was also a Bordered Straw, Small Mottled Willow, Blair’s Mocha, two Bright Waves and a True Lover’s Knot.
a trap full of tiny nepticulids - garden, 30 jun 25
Out in the field I managed to find a few new plant species, but it was mostly finding things for some microscope work later on.
Dichrorampha petiverella - Portinfer, 6 Jun 25 - these were common along the banking by the clay pigeon range
Australian Fern Weevil (Syagrius intrudens) - Garenne, 7 Jun 25 - the second time I’ve found it at this reserve, but still nowhere else.
Sharp-leaved Fluellen - LBHS, 26 Jun 25 - found in the inside courtyard at school, only the second time I’ve seen it.