MID NORFOLK: Whitwell with a focus on hawthorn

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')

 A 'pistol-case' of the moth Coleophora hemerobiella on Hawthorn

 Unidentified caterpillar on hawthorn

 Downlooker Snipefly

 Another Coleophora sp on hawthorn

 Leaf mine of Stigmella hybnerella

 Grammoptera ruficornis, a small longhorn beetle

 Epiphragma ocellare - a cranefly sp

 Slender Groundhopper - they aren't normally this confiding!

 Scorched Carpet

The larval case of Coleophora solitariella, a nationally scarce B moth, on Greater Stitchwort.