27th May 2018
One of last year's target species was Red-barred Gold moth (Micropterix tunbergella) a scarce and/or under-reported species and moth number 1 in the B&F checklist. The only site that I knew of for it was Whitwell Common, where it was been seen previously on Hawthorn blossom. As it happened, there is also a fungus found on Hawthorn leaves about now, so I decided to spend an hour or so at Whitwell, mostly looking at the Hawthorn flowers. I didn't find my target moth, but did find lots of other things, so here are some photographic highlights.
Alabonia geofrella. A micro moth with the rubbish vernacular name of Common Tubic (but known to some moth people as 'Geoffreys')
Unidentified caterpillar on hawthorn
The larval case of Coleophora solitariella, a nationally scarce B moth, on Greater Stitchwort.
