Angus

We had a few days South as we took younger daughter back to university and managed to find a place to stay in Glen Isla. The garden was small, but the owners gave permission for light trapping, and I just happened to have my wee Heath trap with a synergetic in the back of the car. I ran the light trap on three nights with mixed results but a few NFM and a few I see not very often, so a good result.

Picked off the outside of the trap the first night, Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana, Spruce Bud Moth, re-identification thanks MY, this is actually Epinotia tenerana, (Nut Bud Moth) NFM all the same.

Thanks to SS for identifying this for me, Mouse Moth, also NFM, I think, there are just a very few records for Orkney.

I caught a few Lesser Yellow Underwing, which are also very uncommon in Orkney.

Lesser Yellow Underwing, a very varied species, I caught one in Orkney the evening we returned, strikingly different.

Lesser Yellow Underwing, NFS, Harray, very like the illustration of "Hebrides specimen" in Townsend and Waring.

Not much else of note on the first night, although I had to consult again on a very different looking Square-spot Rustic, the Orkney ones are very consistent, and a good number caught in VC90 looked just the same, but this one looked quite different.

I expect them to look more like this...

Square-spot Rustics.

One of the reasons I'm not so keen on Noctuids is the large variations within species, you think you know one, but actually, you don't.

The predominant grass moth was Agriphila tristella (actually the only grass moth). Agriphila straminella is the main species in Orkney, pretty much finished for the year now.

Agriphila tristella.

other species caught were: Dark Arches, Antler, Smoky Wainscot, Large Yellow Underwing, Rosy Rustic, Burnished Brass, Small Square-spot and Common Carpet.

The following evening was a bit of a waste of time, just seven species, it was a cold night and the only thing new was a Cnephasia, which for some reason I didn't take to dissect, it looked like C. asseclana though, so that's most likely what it was.

However, the third night produced good conditions and a more varied selection and included some species I see very rarely and a nice NFM.

Black Rustic, two, a nice fresh one and a slightly worn one.

Bird-cherry Ermine.

Pine Carpet

Spruce Carpet.

Best capture though was this rather tatty Ear, Amphipoea agg

I took the specimen as it's one that should be identifiable with dissection.

Crinan Ear, Amphipoea crinanensis. The easiest of the four to ID on dissection, a male. NFM.

A Buff Footman was also a nice one, for some reason this is the species I tend to catch when I come south. The hind wing is grey.

Grey hind wing.

Buff Footman.

Additional species caught were:Autumnal Rustic, Common Marbled Carpet, Eudonia angustea, Eudonia pallida. 

There were various other things in the trap of course including four species of beetle, plenty of caddis, which I mostly chose to ignore, a collembola, a slug and a selection of craneflies which I also allowed to conveniently escape.

Nicrophorus investigator.

 However, I did find some caterpillars on the side of the cottage, shinning up the wall in the dark from their daytime hidy-hole in the Petunia pots. These took a bit of research but thanks to CH and SL and Lepiforum I found an excellent match with Red-necked Footman - NFM.

Red-necked Footman.

The other rather excellent insect from the trip was a bee, Louise found a moribund Bombus monticola on the day we went up Monamenach, and I subsequently saw two more, pretty sure I've not seen this species before, or at least not noticed it.

Bombus monticola.

Monamenach is apparently about the easiest Corbett as the starting point for the walk is quite high up. It is a pretty uninspiring tramp to the top, up a trackway for much of it, which the hound also managed. However, the panoramic views from the top are indeed worth the effort.

At the top.

Through the week I did my usual bird recording, Red Kite from the garden was nice. An Osprey, more kites and a likely, but just glimpsed, Gos were also enjoyed. A young Sparrowhawk terrorised the garden Blue Tits one morning, and then sat on the table a couple of feet from us. Loch of Lintrathen has a nice wetland and there were migrant waders, Greenshank, Green Sand, Ruff, and rather suprisingly a Knot. There were also plenty of Emerald Damselflies at this site.

Sparrowhawk, 1cy male I thought.

Lestes sponsa.

Joy

The Swallows that nest in the nearby farm buildings have fledged and are whizzing around the house and garden feeding on the wing. It's raining today and I'm watching from indoors as they tirelessly feed. But, in the sun, the last few days, with their calls continuous, it's hard not to think of them as joyful. They certainly bring us joy.

One of the Swallow families has taken to sitting on the house roof.

We've had so many t-shirt days, of course here that is a treat, but thinking a bit more about it, not such a good thing.

One of the other moth folk caught a Mompha but hadn't got the best pictures, fortunately they had kept it, so I drove over and fetched it. It turned out to be Mompha propinquella (thanks NV) which has only been recorded here a few times. In researching the record I found that the BC maps aren't quite as up-to-date as I thought they were, it seems that some of the Orkney data hasn't been integrated fully into the system.

Mompha propinquella.

I'd found a mine or two of the one Mompha that is found regularly here, M. raschkiella, which mines the leaves of Rosebay Willowherb, some weeks ago. But I've had a more careful look recently and found a lot more mines, some tenanted.

Mompha raschkiella, tenanted mine.

I've been missing my Shorties. Usually this species is a reliable early in the year visitor to the patch but not in 2023. It has taken until just this week for one, a very tatty adult, to decide to show itself. It then appeared on two days in a row. However,my usual early autumn Marsh Harrier arrived on schedule. Most notable though was probably the large number of Sand Martins down at Loch of Bosquoy, I estimated 300.

Sand Martins.

I managed a quick trip to Burray, partly on moth and hoverfly business, but there was an opportunity to have a meander with BH around his garden. Lucky we did, moth tick, Marsh Pug.

Marsh Pug, photos Barrie Hamill.

Marsh Pug, my not so good image.

I did take some decent pix of this Rhomboid Tortrix though.

Acleris rhombana.

A bit of a clear out of the fridge and I've a few IDs to catch up on. I did get around to this small beetle which I found on our Tansy.

Epuraea aestiva.

I think I may have had this species once before.

The Wild Angelica down at the Hawthorn Hedge has been covered in ichneumons. I was a bit overwhelmed, and not wanting to add to my fridge backlog just took photos. There's never any certainty that an identification is possible with photos of these wasps but, posting one of them, an identification was offered, and comparing my images with reliable ones online, the ID looks more correct than the identifier implied in his post (many thanks OV and ATM) - Endromopoda detrita.

Endromopoda detrita.

I've at least one more to post, but I do have a modern key so I'll have an attempt at the ID first. I did know that the above animal was a Pimplinae, I am making some progress with these.

Too many moths.

 

Nearly every egg tray in two Heath traps was like this morning, time to stop.

I'm calling a temporary halt to light trapping on the home site as this is just too much. It strikes me as a tad unkind and other species, especially micros are just impossible to find in there, if they survive. The Heath traps each had about 250 to 300 Large Yellow Underwings this morning. So, the sugar is out and other tactics employed for a period. I might try light trapping on a different site, where perhaps, there won't be so many LYUs.

I've taken the step of not being on X (once Twitter) any longer. It's a bit of a shame as it is useful for moth identification in particular, but I can't do with this rebranding. From a friendly blue bird and tweeting, to an odd black and white X, an aggressive symbol with pornographic associations. Anyway, it didn't sit comfortably with me and other folk seem to have left. I signed up to Mastodon, but I doubt I'll use it, I can't quite get the hang of it. I quite like Instagram, I post photos there every now and again, maybe I'll try Threads.

The moth dissections are going along ok and I've now proven Mesapamea didyma with a female successfully dissected. 

Mesapamea didyma, female, the V shape points left, on M. secalis it points the other way (right).

I also dissected a couple of Phiaris palustrana, if accepted these will be new for Orkney, the second of which I found.

Birding has been very quiet, the first good bird for quite a while was a Marsh Harrier that went through the patch today. I was just getting home from Stromness and glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye as I turned in to the track. Stop, quick and it performed rather nicely. Lesser Redpoll (one or more) is/are back on the feeders. But little else of interest. The rain has caused The Shunan to be a tad deep and there are cattle by the best Bosquoy site, and I'm not going anywhere near them! Much quieter around and about now as the Curlew have fledged and the Oystercatchers have left.

I've been finding some nice things though. After a Norwegian Wasp garden tick a few weeks back they've appeared in gangs to strip the surface wood off a palatte we use as a gate to part of the garden.

Dolichovespula norwegica.

And here's one in action. You can see how it manages the ball of wood/saliva paste, before heading off to the nest.

Best play the video within YouTube, it is worth the effort.

This Galeruca tanceti was a nice find on the moor the other day, I rescued it from drowning.

Galeruca tanceti, I've previously only seen this species on Hoy.

A trip to a small pond and marsh area in Stromness proved exciting, I was invited to have a look. The most Odonata I've seen anywhere in Orkney in one place, including quite a few of these lovely Lestes sponsa. And Brown China-mark, a moth I'd not seen here before.

Lestes sponsa.

Brown China-mark, Elophila nymphaeata

There have been some interesting, if hard to ID sawflies. Repeated wanderings up and down the Hawthorn Hedge eventually produced the required Argyresthia bonnetella, not the best pix as I had to use the 600mm lens with barbed wire preventing a closer approach. I have managed to identify the green bottle Lucilia caesar to species though. Found on Wild Angelica by the hedge this very common fly had never been identified in Orkney. A new key was required (£45 but a fab piece of work) and some rather ham-fisted dissection.

Presumed Lucilia caesar, the actual identified one was found dead in a pheromone trap.

Pheromone traps also produced an adult Gracillaria syringella, I'd only seen larvae previously.

Gracillaria syringella.

The trap was hanging in an Ash with lots of larval signs, so I think the adult sheltered in the trap rather than be drawn in by the pheromone.

Having recorded just one in nearly 14 years, I've now had five Xanthandrus comtus appear, mostly in the conservatory. Here these are the birders equivalent of a Bluethroat or Barred Warbler perhaps.

Xanthandrus comtus, male.

More common or garden, but very nice looking, the sawfly mimic Xylota segnis was also lurking in the conservatory, really just a giant flying insect trap if I leave the door open.

Xylota segnis.