Wednesday 3 September 2014

Ditto

We were away for most of the latter part of August, but our catches since then in Wolvercote, Oxon, have largely reflected what others have observed, though usually on a smaller scale. So with us, too, Large Yellow Underwings have finally started to turn up in decent numbers - 28 on 31st August - and there's been a mini-surge of Chinese Characters (not in comparable numbers to other peoples', but regularly, and with a couple on one occasion). A few new species for the year have shown up - a couple of Copper Underwings on 30th August and an Angle Shades on 2nd September - and there have been a couple of surprises: notably what I'm pretty sure is an Engrailed on 31st August - is a second generation usual around here? There have been (only) a couple of real uncertainties, shown below. The first, which has shown up on a couple of evenings, seems likely to be Gracillaria syringella; the second presumably a snout species of some sort, but I can't decide which (if any). All suggestions gratefully received. Steve and Xander Goddard.

Presumed Engrailed, 31/8/14

Possible Gracillaria syringella, 31/8/14

Unknown, 1/9/14

3 comments:

  1. Welcome back, yes your first one is an Engailed, your second one is Caloptilia syringella (or whatever it is called these days) and the third is a Pinion-streaked Snout.

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  2. Hi Steve - to answer your Engrailed query, yes they do have a second generation. My records is S. Bucks are often more numerous for the second generation, which usually peaks in July and tails off rapidly with the odd early August record. I do have one record for 31st August, which I wonder like yours might be third generation.

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