En-route to my chosen photography spot (plan A) for today we got stuck behind a slow-moving tractor, so I chose an alternative location. When we arrived there our usual parking spot (plan B) was occupied, so we moved on to location 3 (plan C). It seemed that we were destined to find something special, and so it turned out: two new species for me, one of them a first county record.
Psychoides filicivora is a micromoth that eats the spore-bearing sori of ferns, primarily Male Fern. The larva gathers the contents of the sori and constructs a shelter from them. The shelter is the brown spore mass to the left of the midrib below. You can see where the sori have been removed from the frond to the right of the midrib:
Psychoides filicivora was first discovered in Ireland in 1909 and has moved to western Wales and England, mostly in coastal areas.My second new discovery was the macromoth Haworth's Minor, which is usually found on Ragwort if the moth is out before dark. This is a very local species which feeds on Cotton Grass as a larva. As it happens, the nearest Cotton Grass is close to plan B where we normally park the car, perhaps 500 m. away.
I also got a rather nice shot of this Ichneumonid just as it landed. Notice the black stigma on the wing, which is a rather good diagnostic for Ichneumonids.
Sneezewort is also very local: I only ever see it in a couple of very small patches:
Finally, we can see that autumn is rolling in. These are the seeds of Common Sedge:
Finally, we can see that autumn is rolling in. These are the seeds of Common Sedge:
