Unusual Hebrew Character

The Hebrew Character (a moth for those that don't know) is named after the black, roughly saddle shaped mark in the middle of its forewing. There is some variation in this marking and there may also be some variation in the general ground colour of the forewing but the Hebrew Characters I usually catch in the garden are what you might describe as much of a muchness.

When I checked the moth trap on the morning of 31st March there was a reasonable catch that included a Red-green Carpet, a Small Quaker, an Early Grey, 8 Common Quaker, a handful of Clouded Drab and a similar number of Hebrew Character. When I am recording the contents the trap the common species like Hebrew Character don't usually get much of a second look but on this occasion one of them really stood out as looking very different.

Unusual looking Hebrew Character.

All the same but different. I hate to think of how many Hebrew Characters I have seen over the years (probably in the low thousands by now) but the unusual looking specimen in the middle was a first for me.

When faced with what appears to be an unusual variant in moths there is sometimes the possibility that it isn't a variant and it turns out to be a different species or if it is a variant that it is a distinct, named subspecies or named form. That isn't the case with this unusual individual and it appears to be a very rare form or aberration that hasn't been named.

There is an image of a similar looking individual on the UK Moths website (link here) which is simply described as an 'unusual form' but that is the only reference to anything similar I can find.

Just a few moths.

The relatively mild conditions have brought a few moths out over the last week with 4 species caught in the garden moth trap. Three of the species recorded, Clouded Drab, Hebrew Character, Common Quaker, are a bit earlier than normal as their flight periods usually start in March while Pale Brindled Beauty is a winter flying moth and males can be found on the wing from January to March.

Clouded Drab 21/02/2017

Hebrew Character 21/02/2017

Pale Brindled Beauty 21/02/2017

Common Quaker 25/02/2017

There has not been a great deal of change on the bird front but it wont be long before Spring shifts up a gear and there is more to blog about.

Dribs and Drabs

It has been fairly slow going on the migration front around here with the likes of Chiffchaff still being fairly thin on the ground. The northerly component of the airflow over recent days seems to be holding birds up to some degree and it has certainly taken the edge off my enthusiasm to be out and about looking for migrants. The garden has also been quiet but two wintering Blackcaps continue to visit to feed on apples and fat cakes and don't seem to be in too much of a hurry to move on at the moment. 

While I have not been out birding as much I have been running a moth trap in the garden each night since the beginning of the month. I haven't mentioned this in previous posts as there has not been much to report so far this spring. Catches have been fairly small which is to be expected with temperatures often dropping to around freezing and variety has been largely limited to the 3 usual suspects for this time of year - Common Quaker, Hebrew Character and Clouded Drab.

Left to right - Common Quaker, Hebrew Character and Clouded Drab.

After another cold night I didn't expect the moth trap to produce anything different this morning so I was pleasantly surprised to find a Twin-spotted Quaker and an Oak Beauty in addition to the usuals mentioned above.

Twin-spotted Quaker

Oak Beauty and beauty it is.

For a moment I also thought I had caught a Lead-coloured Drab which would have been a new species for the garden but I quickly realised it was just one of the many colour forms of Clouded Drab.

Clouded Drab. This species is very variable and darker forms like the example in the first image are more common in my garden.