Today, I received a photo taken by a resident of a moth from their home. Blurred and without any scale I couldn't confirm identification by email, so requested Helen kept it. So she did and my original identification thought was correct as I popped around this evening to collect the specimen. A male orange moth. This is a locally recorded moth within Hertfordshire with, between 1884 and 2006 only 10 records. The last most updated record was in 2003 in Bishop's Stortford and historically, the records show the moth was present in the late 19th century in the south of the county. A moth that has a selection of larval foodplants, including hawthorn, blackthorn, birches, heather, broom and honeysuckle. Clearly it prefers deciduous woodland and open rides and is only found around clay soils. All fairly good for Little Hadham, so strange it is not taken at traps more often.
Anyway, thanks to Helen and Paul for their sharp eyed behaviour and enthusiasm to contact me. A good record for the county. A phone photo here. I shall take better tomorrow in natural light. Record has been forwarded to several (now jealous) county moth-ers as well as the county recorder. Being a male, its main job of breeding will have been done so I suspect there will be several local moth-ers wishing to add it to their collection. Note; something I do not do. However, this moth was found naturally dead so not great issues with it being added to a Hertfordshire collection for archive and museum use for the future.
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