Three species of micro-moth were recorded in VC5 for the first time in 2005.

First discovered in London in 1982, Argyresthia trifasciata finally turned up in Taunton where two were light trapped on 02/06 and 14/06.  This species feeds on cultivated garden conifers such as Leylandii and Juniperus.

Cameraria ohridella is a more recent arrival, having been discovered in Wimbledon in 2002.  The larvae mine the leaves of horse chestnut and were observed at Barrington Court on 05/10.  With such ubiquitous food-plants, both moths can be expected to spread further.

Finally, Coleophora kuehnella was recorded as a larval case on oak catkins at Merryfield Airfield on 15/05.

Some species rarely observed in the county are also worth mentioning.  Again at Merryfield, four adult Metriotes lutarea were swept from a patch of greater stitchwort on 08/05.  These can also be recorded sitting on the flowers.  Elsewhere in Somerset this species is only known from the Porlock area.  However, if looked for in specific association with the foodplant it likely to provide more widespread.

Celypha woodiana is a species with a restricted national distribution, seemingly confined to a few mistletoe orchards in western England.  It was therefore good to find two new sites for the moth, in ST22 and ST32.  Both have very large amounts of the foodplant; searches at sites with just a few clumps have been unsuccessful.  With careful observation larvae can be recorded over-wintering in tiny c-shaped mines (see British Leafminers ), long before spring feeding recommences in April.

2004 was notable for a large national influx of Cydia amplana.  This also produced the first Somerset records, at Ash Priors Common and Draycott Sleights.  There was no repeat of these numbers in 2005, so two further records from Taunton on 23/08 and 08/09 were interesting.

Of the macro-moths, two species, which have become established in Somerset in recent years, further consolidated their position.  Jersey Tiger (Euplagia quadripunctaria) was particularly plentiful in north Taunton, with 47 noted between 17/07 and 29/08.  There were also records from Norton-sub-Hamdon and Hambridge.  Cypress Carpet (Thera cupressata) was first recorded in at East Brent in 1999, and there is evidently now a population on the coastal strip at Burnham/Berrow.  Nine had been recorded here by the end of June alone.  A second focus of records has been in the south-east of VC5, and there were adults light trapped in 2005 at both Norton-sub-Hamdon and Street-on-the-Fosse.

Following on from the single Small Argent and Sable (Epirrhoe tristata) recorded at Setta Barrow in 2004, a further five were noted here on 18/06.

In Somerset this is a moorland species, only known from a few 1km squares on Exmoor.  The larval foodplant, heath bedstraw, is frequent in such habitat.

It is an unobtrusive day-flying geometrid and easy to overlook, so may prove to be more widely distributed if sought.

A single Annulet (Charissa obscurata) was light trapped at Gilling Down on 12/07.  The Polden Hills are a new area for the moth in Somerset, which is otherwise only known from the Mendips, Avon Gorge and the coast around Kilve.

There are few county records of Light Feathered Rustic (Agrotis cinerea).  Two were noted at nearby Combe Hollow on 05/05.  Several organisations are worked hard to restore the limestone grasslands along the Polden scarp.  The growing list of interesting moths from the area (including Pterophorus galactodactyla and Coleophora ochrea in recent years) suggests these efforts are bearing fruit.

Some interesting migrants were recorded in 2005.  The first striking event was the occurrence of two Small Marbled (Eublemma parva) on the same night, 01/06.  One was caught at Hillfarrance (VC5), the other at Berrow (VC6). Interestingly the only two records of the closely related Purple Marbled (Eublemma ostrina) were made in the same circumstances.  Both occurred on 23/05/1992, at West Luccombe and Kingsbury Episcopi.

The mid-summer period was rather quiet but in July the first Splendid Brocade (Lacanobia splendens) in Somerset was found at Wiveliscombe, as well as the second Sclerocona acutellus.

To round off the year southerly air-streams in October produced some good influxes of migrants in south-west England.  These included the first VC5 record of Blair's Mocha, at Norton-sub-Hamdon on 28/10.

Two other species, which remain scarce in the county, also occurred at this time.  There was an L-album Wainscot (Mythimna l-album), again at Norton-sub-Hamdon on 07/10, and a White-point (Mythimna albipuncta) in Taunton on 07/11.

Compiled February 2006
Somerset Moth Group