Rannoch Looper

I caught this Geometer on June 9th and took a while to realise it was a Rannoch Looper ( Itame brunneata), this seems to be the moth of the year so far, with a lot of records in Kent.

Normally Rannoch Loopers are restricted to the mature woodland areas of central Scotland, but they are also scarce migrants from the continent and they have been a lot of records this year, mostly from Coastal Counties but some further inland. This is probably a male as the cross lines are quite indistinct. Down the road at Kingsdown Nigel Jarman caught five on the 9th June, and I think has had a couple since.

Getting up to date there have been a few Barred Straws (Eulithis pyraliata) in the traps during the last couple of days. This nice pristine speciman was caught on June 30th.

Both moths were caught in my garden at St Margaret's at Cliffe.