Found unexpectedly while walking past a large Willow at Colwick CP on September 21st, a distinctive Phyllonorycter blotch mine caught my eye, as these type of mines (Hymenopterous or Coleopterous mines aside) are rare on long, smooth leaved Willows and especially in Nottinghamshire.

Once back home, it was clear that it was a somewhat small mine of Phyllonorycter pastorella (Zeller, 1846) and measured approximately 11mm x 8mm. I sent photographs to Martin Gray and he in turn, forwarded them to Rob Edmunds. Both agreed that the mine was indeed that of P. pastorella.

Phyllonorycter pastorella was recorded new to the UK from the gardens of Buckingham Palace in 2014 (Freed 2014) and has since spread to other counties and is clearly another species on the move north.

For some reason, July seems early to be looking for leaf mines. But even casually doing so has provided what look to be two new moths for the county species list. Both species can be viewed via the photo galleries.

Parornix fagivora (Frey, 1861)   Leaf mines found on young Beech trees growing in dense shade at Thieves Wood in July 2020, appear to be the first Nottinghamshire record. The moth has a southerly UK distribution, with Nottinghamshire pretty much at it's northerly limit.

Phyllonorycter hostis ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)   Recorded new to Nottinghamshire, when a single leaf mine was found at Netherfield Lagoons in July 2020. Initially thought to be the leaf mine of Phyllonorycter blancardella, it was only when the adult emerged that the original ID was questioned. Identification was confirmed by examination of the pupal cremaster and the presence of a simple, thin cocoon within the mine and the frass piled to one side.

Steven Chick recorded what seems to be Nottinghamshire's fourth record of Least Carpet, from his home in Market Warsop on June 25th.

Only recently recorded new to Nottinghamshire in July 2017, when attracted to MV light at Phil Lee's Misterton garden, Once restricted to south-eastern counties of the UK, Least Carpet has spread inland and northwards in recent years, so it is perhaps surprising that it took so long to be recorded here. Other records have come from Broadholme in July 2018 and Misterton again in 2019.

Photographs showing a nest of Small Eggar larvae, is the first proven evidence that this extremely rare Nottinghamshire moth has survived years of bad hedgerow management, producing the first record for VC56 since 2007.

The Small Eggar Eriogaster lanestris (Linnaeus, 1758) has long been on the verge of becoming extinct in Nottinghamshire and indeed, many people probably thought it already had been recorded for the last time. All of the county's recent records have been from the Sutton-on-Trent, Besthorpe and Collingham areas north of Newark, where larval webs were recorded for the first time in over 60 years in 2002, 2003 and again in 2004. The last confirmed sighting was between Collingham and Besthorpe, by Jim Lennon and Carl Cornish in 2007.

Fortunately, the news appears to be even better, with at least three different larval webs apparently known from the same general area. Webs have also been found just over the border in Lincolnshire, so it appears to be having a good year.

Paul Baker reports trapping a single Glaucous Shears Papestra biren (Goeze, 1781)  from his Nuthall garden on May 14th, only the county's second record of this moorland species in recent years.

Paul's record is only the third Nottinghamshire record in the past 30 years, proving that Glaucous Shears is a real county rarity. Presumably wandering from neighbouring Derbyshire (or possibly even further afield) the county's most recent record was trapped by Dave Morton and Andy Ashley at Hills and Holes SSSI, Market Warsop on April 28th 2011, some 21 years after a record in 1990.

Following hot on the heels of Paul Baker's record of May 14th, Martin Gray reports trapping another Glaucous Shears in his Broadholme garden on the Nottinghamshire border with Lincolnshire on May 16th.

Its been a rather frustrating Spring for moth trappers locally, with a very dry period consisting of nice sunny days with blue skies and good daytime temperatures, but then turning much cooler by the evening, leading to low overnight temperatures.

Such Spring weather has become the norm over the past few years and it means that if you can't get out to your regular patch of woodland or reserve, there's little point in even lighting up the trap in an urban garden, until perhaps late April or early May.

And with movement restrictions in place, following the Covid-19 Pandemic, trapping for most people over much of 2020, will be from the confines of their gardens. To date (April 28th) I've only trapped twice so far, but there have been a few odd records gathered during my short walks out and these are listed below. Its certainly going to be an interesting year.