Hi
Struggling with this one. Wing length approx 3mm. Apologies for poor photo. Not natural resting position as it was permanently resting.

_________________
Liz
VC 70

Bit to knackered me thinks Liz..

Terminally

_________________
Liz
VC 70

Possibly oxyacanthella (?!) but it probably wasn't blue (scaleless?) when it was alive. Very cold, very dead...

M

_________________
Please visit the Hantsmoths website at http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk

...and very sad
Thanks Mike, but the only oxyacanthella I can find is Stigmella oxyacanthella which looks, erm....slightly different, even to my eyes!
Hmmm

_________________
Liz
VC 70

Duh, err, not quite sure why I said that...I meant quercifoliella (I must have been working on the new county atlas, got Stigmellas on the brain!)

M

_________________
Please visit the Hantsmoths website at http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk

Thanks Mike - was worried the sun had got to you
A shame it is possibly too far gone for a 100% ID - would have been a nice record if it was a certainty. Not recorded here since 1959.

_________________
Liz
VC 70

There's always the knife!
Ph.querc not seen since 1959? Crikey

M

_________________
Please visit the Hantsmoths website at http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk

I'd have to find the moth on the floor of the polytunnel first - gust of wind + deceased moth + gravel floor = no hope at all of a knife job, sadly
I've actually trawled again, and there is actually a 1997 record - so 2 VC69 records, no VC70 records at all.
Edit: Actually, looking at the map, one of those is at Gait Barrows, so not officially in Cumbria at all.

We're a big county with lots of difficult terrain & access + few mothers + even fewer micormoth recorders = not a lot of moth records in few places (a sweeping generalisation, I know)

_________________
Liz
VC 70

Yeah I know Liz, and I don't know how lucky I am living in what is probably the most studied county in the country. Out of interest, what's the coverage for something like Stigmella aurella, which probably occurs everywhere there's bramble in this island? Last year I deliberately went out and looked for it (not difficult) in the last 10km square where it hadn't previously been recorded in Hampshire. It is probably quite a good benchmark for the level of micro recording in a county.

M

_________________
Please visit the Hantsmoths website at http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk