by ron » Sat Feb 28, 2015 10:35 am
HI All,
Not long now before moths will be found in the back gardens, there are moths being caught around the country but mainly in woods or wooded areas, in my case maybe another 2 months.
Now i have some good news and some bad news
Bad news first, for the first time my hair has now gone from grey to white ( bit hard to take ) i look like one of those medieval monks and when the barber asks i just reply, take a good bit off it and what`s left paint it black.
Now the good news, but first i have to harp back to the Back Garden Moth Community a site that was run by moth-ers for moth-ers and it could boast 3 maybe 4 proper CR`s and as i have said before you could ask for an ID. and it would be back within the hour. Most of these guys have their own site and i was trolling the net the other day and i just wondered, i won`t mention any names but this man is well known and respected in the mothing world, he used to live on the famly farm and for years he would catch more moths than the 4 of us put together, now married and lives on his own property and ex members out there i am sure will know who i am talking about. Having made contact with him in the past i thought i will send him an e-mail, told him this moth hade been round the houses and an specimen was asked for and i also gave him my location and a photo of the moth, asked the question on Thursday recieved the answer on Friday and here is his reply :
Thanks for getting in touch
Always happy to help
The onlly species this can be confused with is C.straminea.
Personally they can be told apart by the raised tufts that C.alternana has.
Obviously it is advised to have these dissected as some specimens can be worn.
Yours looks like your original ID.
Cheers
Now when a man like him says it is x beleive me it is x, my only concern now is what`s the motive behind people not recognising tufts on this moths wing, i did, he did, and i am sure 100% of you out there do also, judging by the number of you who visit this site i suspect most of you live in other parts of the UK. it would be nice if you could join this forum, if you are allowed to, that way it would increase our knowlege base up here. So for those of you who are keen on records i think you can safely record C.alternana south of Girvan, SW Scotland or maybe more correct the Ayrshire coast.
Ron