Brief excursions at lunchtime and after work produced various noteworthy Micros at Dingestow, as well as my first good views of Hummingbird Hawk-moth this year.
The larval Mompha tally (blogged a couple of days ago) was increased by the discovery of M. subbistrigella larvae in the seedpods of small Willowherbs in the garden - the pods were obviously small and curved.
Brightly coloured rarity of the day came in the form of the amazing Pammene aurana forma aurantiana, with extensive orange covering its wings unlike the typical orange-spotted form. MBGBI 5 says that forma aurantiana is common in continental Europe but unknown in Britain, but that surely cannot be the case any more!
Finally I spent an hour mothing in the hedges around Dingestow Castle, where a good tally of common Micros included Acleris ferrugana, Prays fraxinella, Ditula angustiorana, Blastodacna hellerella and Grapholita funebrana. Checking an apple tree revealed the mines of Bohemannia pulverosella. This last record turned out to be a bit of a double-edged sword, as I didn't realise it was new for Dingestow at the time. It has now turned out to be the 513th Micro for Dingestow and my 900th moth species here. I was hoping for something memorable as #900, and this wasn't really it!
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