Sunday July 9

Another warm night produced more micro-moths in the bathroom, only one of which I could recognise.

Starting with that one, it was the first Twenty-plume moth of the year. They turn up regularly in the summer.

Twenty-plume Moth

The remainder are currently unidentified, but I will be trying to puzzle them out during the week.

Holly Tortrix

Blastodacna hellerella

Possibly Blastobasis adustella

I've managed to identify the middle moth as Blastodacna hellerella. It's food plants include Whitebeam, a large example of which lies outside our front door.

Rather embarrassingly I have concluded that the first moth is another Holly Tortrix. You might have thought I would have realised straight away.

However, I've almost given up on the third moth. I think it may be an adventive species of the genus Blastobasis, the commonest of which is adustella. Adventive means accidentally introduced, like Ring-necked Parakeet. However, that's where the analogy ends because the group of six or so Adustella moths can only be safely identified through microscopic examination of their genitalia. So imagine if Parakeets looked like Reed Warblers, and you have got the Blastobasis moths.