Nemophora degeerella

[allyryan]

Whilst walking in woods close to home this last week, I came upon a huge amount of some little moths. Looking them up they appear to be Lomghorn moths. They have been flying around the same area. Are they quite common,? I live in the country but am amazed I have not seen them before. At first I thought they were knats but noticed their extremely long antenna .

[peteandloz]

Hi Allyran,

I don't think they are particularly rare but even though they have the huge antennae they are quite small and the antennae are very thin so aren't always apparent.

I found one the other day and was pointing it out to my other half and she had to look closely to see the antennae. Unfortunately this was a solitary one perched on a leaf and it was probably a bit too breezy for for it to be flying. I haven't seen any "dancing" ones yet this year.

Pete

[Dillybythesea]

I have to say it's the first year I've ever noticed the antennae. I'm sure before I've always glanced quickly, thought 'gnats' and hurried on! Here on the south coast I came across a dancing group on May 25th - with some resting occasionally on the bracken - but then we had a week of gales and I've hardly seen any since. (At least I assume they're Nemophora degeerella?)

[allyryan]

I noticed they had gone today, but they had been in the same spot for ten days. There must have been about a hundred of them. They were mostly dancing , and some landed on the plants below so you could get a great look at them. In books the females appear to have shorter antenna, but these all seemed to have the longer ones.

[allyryan]

Ps. Im about half an hour up from the south coast so I am wondering if there has been a glut of them in the south.

[htcdude]

I saw a lonesome one last week at Dungeness, right out near the coast.

Last year I found a huge group of them off the beaten track at one of my local patches in Middlesex. Great little things to find!

Nige