
I have seen this moth quite a bit around in the garden since the 5th of March, and yesterday I took some shots of it and identified it as Epiphyas postvittana, the Light Brown Apple Moth. This Australian native leaf-rolling moth is a generalist feeder regarded as a minor agricultural pest, mostly of apples, in the UK, where it was introduced in the 1930s. The larva feeds on a range of fruit trees and vegetables, by making a silky retreat from which it can feed undisturbed. Adults are dimorphic and also rather variable, although males have a more sharply defined pattern (I think the one above is a male).
It is the first time I come across an Australian invader in the garden.
More info at UKmoths.
I've not come across it yet in South Yorkshire, but I've seen and photographed it on several occasions this year by the Thames in Thames Ditton, Surrey.
ReplyDeleteNow I know its Id - thanks:)