New moths

We had a couple of very warm days on Sunday and Monday, so that's the time to leave on the outside lights to see what has been encouraged to emerge (or at least encouraged to fly!) by the hot weather.

The first of two new species is the rather handsome True Lover's Knot, Lycophotia porphyrea:

True Lover's Knot

True Lover's Knot is a heather feeder.

The second new species is the (surprisingly small, at 12 mm.) Marbled Beauty:

Marbled Beauty

The Marbled Beauty is generally an eastern species in Ireland, and this is the furthest west specimen that has been recorded. The larvae feed on lichens, which are very plentiful near here, so perhaps this is another of those species which are moving west and north due to warming.

I have previously shown Plain Golden-Y:

Plain Golden-Y

And Small Fan-footed Wave:

Small Fan-Footed Wave

Unfortunately for the Small Fan-Footed Wave, a spider had spun its web near its resting place. When it took off......

Small Fan-Footed Wave caught by spider

So, two more to my total.

After the deluge

A few days of fairly heavy rain and high winds kept most insects under cover, but a few dry hours brought them out in higher numbers than before.

It's well-known that many moths are attracted to light, but Caddis Flies, Beetles, Lacewings and Spiders also come to light traps and outdoor lights. This is one of the Brown Lacewings, which I have identified as Hemerobius sp., but I can't get it any closer without the relevant literature:

Soldier Flies are often mistaken for Hoverflies due to the large eyes and metallic colouring, but a glance at the wing veins confirms the difference. This is the Soldier Fly Chloromyia formosa, about 10mm long, and the larvae live in decomposing vegetable material:

There was a recent fuss in Ireland when a provincial newspaper published photographs of the webs of Ermine micromoths along with a column from their gardening correspondent on how to kill them. I saw red. The knee-jerk reaction that says "If anything does something that I don't like, I'm going to kill it" has to stop. Sooner or later, people are going to realise that we have to learn to coexist with our wildlife or we'll lose it forever. A mini-campaign ensured that dozens of emails from moth experts and wildlife specialists were sent to the paper. They published one of the letters, but declined to alter their position. I suggested that they might like to employ a wildlife correspondent alongside their gardening one, but I got no response (I did, admittedly, say other things in the email, too).

Anyway (steps down from soapbox), this micromoth is the wonderful Orchard Ermine - Yponomeuta padella - which makes webs on Hawthorn and Apple. The taxonomic structure of Yponomeuta is fluid, with a number of very similar species and with much work still to be done. Some of them can, however, be separated by the availability of foodplant and partially by appearance:

The nettle-feeding Mother of Pearl micromoth is larger than many macromoths at 30 mm. wingspan. I usually see it at dusk, but it occasionally comes to light:

Another new moth for me: Small Fan-footed Wave - Idaea biselata:

I spotted this red-banded ichneumonid on Bramble. The antennae are very long, and I could see no sign of an ovipositor, so I'm guessing it's a male:
A face-on shot of a Calliphorid:
I found this pair of Empid Dance Flies on Male Fern. These are more usually seen 'dancing' in clouds of what appear to be midges, but they are much larger: