Saturday 18 October 2014

Quick query

Small catches in Wolvercote, Oxon, of late, partly because we've mainly been using an actinic lamp - still a few new records for the year (and pleasingly, on 1st October, a new record for the garden, Autumnal Rustic). Near, rather than in, the trap last night was the rather battered and poorly photographed specimen below, which I think is a rather pale Brick, but I'd appreciate confirmation or other suggestions. Steve and Xander Goddard.

Autumnal Rustic, 1/10/14

Possible Brick, 17/10/14

Possible Brick, 17/10/14

3 comments:

  1. Hi Steve, I think that one may have to be confined to the list of "I don't knows". It doesn't strike me as being very Brick-like and, if anything, there's a hint of a striped abdomen which would point more towards a very tired and faded Lunar Underwing, but I wouldn't commit to that either without seeing the moth itself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I should say well done on the Autumnal Rustic, though! It is an unlikely garden visitor in our area and, certainly in Bucks, gets recorded only three or four times a year at most. It seems to be one of those moths which has undergone a dramatic decline.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Dave: that's fair enough on the not-Brick. I'd gathered Autumnal Rustic had declined: the Bible refers to its being red-listed, and having declined 90% between 1968 and 2002 -- and looking at it, its habitats don't seem to include gardens: probably the habitat near us which is closest to what's mentioned is open woodland. I nearly dismissed it as a poorly-marked Setaceous Hebrew Character or similar: it was Xander who spotted it was definitely something unfamiliar.

    ReplyDelete