Tales of the Unexpected

Garden 28.2.19

Social media is a wonderful thing... usually. Mothing has really taken off over the last few years and I reckon that's partly due to the accessibility of help and information on the various groups and pages on the net. It also increases the competitive aspect of many hobbies. You hear people 'want' or 'need' something for their list. Listing was probably made popular by birdwatchers who would 'twitch' for a rarity and might travel hundreds of miles to do so. Twitching moths is relatively new... before social media allowed moth trappers to share their finds, we would often have no idea what other people were trapping.  Finding new moths was something we did with extensive research or just luck.  The thing is,  seeing what moths others are catching in their moth traps can really bring out the green-eyed monster in the best of us.  It's very tempting to get envious or, dare I say,  jealous of what others are getting in their gardens but most of it is down to luck. Migrant moths can turn up almost anywhere but many of the resident species have specific requirements such as foodplant or habitat and quite often they are simply not present in some areas. There are,  however,  plenty of species in most areas to keep us moth-ers busy enough throughout the warmer months.  Winter mothing can be frustrating for the majority of us. Winter-flying moths don't tend to venture far from their specific habitat and so the trap can lie empty, night after night, even when conditions seem perfect.  In order to catch many of these moths you'd need to get out into the field either with traps or a torch and net.  
One little moth that often turns up at this time of year is the Tufted Button, Acleris cristana. It's a highly variable moth which feeds on Blackthorn (Prunus) bushes and rarely travels far from this habitat.  I have two areas of Blackthorn about a mile away from my garden and with some stunning examples of Acleris cristana popping up on Facebook recently I have wanted to get out and have a look for them.  They can be 'beaten' from bushes without harm with a stick and sheet but will often come to light.  This week I have entered into a few online conversations about this smart little moth,  drooling over some of the beautiful photos and really wishing I could see one.  Realistically,  though,  I realised that the chance of one appearing in my garden were slim at best but none of the field trips we had planned were near Blackthorn.  I even said in a group chat on Thursday morning that I'd love one but don't think there's a chance of one in my garden.  Well now,  someone in the group actually said "never say never" but I never expected what was to happen later that very day.  Shortly after dark I popped out to see if anything had arrived early as the temperature had held up due to rare cloud cover. Amazingly,  the first moth to have arrived was a stunning example of Acleris cristana proving that even if the chances are slim,  you just don't know what's going to arrive.... just keep mothing!

Tufted Button - Acleris cristana