Blossom Underwing (Orthosia miniosa) sudden appearance - UK Moths

[Nick Greatorex-Davies]

Yes - I was very surprised to see one in my MV trap in my garden, a suburban council estate near St Ives in Cambrigeshire, on the night of the 31st March. There are large scattered oaks in the area - mostly in some of the larger gardens but no oak woodland within several miles.

This is the first I have seen for years. It has been recorded in Monks Wood in the past (12 miles from where I live) but I don't think it has been recorded in the Rothamsted trap here which has been running since 1974 (the records are at home so I cannot check). I used to get it in central Wales many years ago and I have occasionally found the larvae when beating oak in woodland either as full-grown singletons or younger larvae gregariously (in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and in Oxfordshire) .

Nick Greatorex-Davies


Mr J Nick Greatorex-Davies
(Butterfly Monitoring Scheme co-ordinator)
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology
Monks Wood
Abbots Ripton
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire PE17 2LS  UK

Tel: (+44) (0) 1487 773 381
Fax: (+44) (0) 1487 773 467
E-mail: n.greatorex-davies at ite.ac.uk

>>> Tony Prichard <tonyp at kbss.bt.co.uk> 08/04/99 00:13:19 >>>
Hi

Within south Suffolk within the last week we have had 3 records of
Blossom Underwing, each from different sites. I have also heard that
they have been turning up records of the species in Norfolk as well.

I don't have a verified record for this species in Suffolk since the
1930's, although the MOGBI series shows a few dots for Suffolk. Norfolk
haven't recorded the species since the 1950's.

I gather from Gerry Haggett that the species is not considered a
migrant. So it would appear unlikely that the records are migrants.

Has anybody else been turning up this species in unexpected places? Or
is this phenomenon restricted to East Anglia.

Thanks

Tony Prichard