It was such a beautiful day that another trip to the cliffs at Port Eynon was essential! I've been trying to catch up with
Agdistis meridionalis for years, including there but without success, until yesterday!
Quite a lot of searching finally produced this single individual, tucked amongst the vegetation around its foodplant Rock Sea Lavendar. I took lots of photos but it wasn't til I got home that I spotted the pupal case so presumably it must have just hatched. The case was actually attached to a succulent but I can't seem to identify it.
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| Agdistis meridionalis with pupal case |
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| The same moth, head on |
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| Habitat shot with the moth and pupal case just visible |
I also spotted at least 3 of these very worn torts flying around a large clump of Thrift but the photos do not correspond with any thrift feeders. Any thoughts anyone?
Chris,
ReplyDeleteYour unknown "succulent" looks like Rock Samphire Crithmum maritimum from the little bit I can see; Not knowing which compartment of the "Port Eynon Cliffs" you were on, there is usually quite a lot of Sea Lavender in the slash zone on the west end of Overton Cliff just before Long Hole Cliff. DNA analysis has much reduced the sea lavender species finding them all the same thing, but growing in different ways in different places.
The tort may be Lobesia littoralis.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Nigel. I think the 'succulent' is Golden Samphire. You can see the flower stems in the habitat shot. There was plenty of Rock Samphire about but it has the flattened, branching leaves.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks also Paul. I'm sure you are right. It was my first guess based on the thrift plant but I should have looked at a lot more photos of L. littoralis, especially as it looks quite similar to other Lobesia sp.
Yes I should not make such assertions with a glass of St. Emillion in one hand. Must get out and look at it in its tatty autumn state.
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking anyway. I found a picture I'd taken with Golden Samphire as I had two Star-wort one night at Caswell and wondered whether they might be using that as an alternative foodplant.
ReplyDelete