Saturday 26 August 2017

Gem confirmed; and a couple of other queries

Many thanks to Andrew Kershaw and Dave Wilton for their suggestion that my mystery micro, from Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, of 21st August was a male Gem: although that possibility hadn't occurred to me, photos such as this one - https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/nycterosea-obstipata/male/#prettyPhoto[gallery]/0/ - look sufficiently like my specimen that I'm confident of the ID.

Some evidence that there's a small-scale trickle of immigrant moths at the moment came in the form of a Nomophila noctuella yesterday (24th August). However, most of our fare at the moment is fairly predictable native species: Large Yellow Underwings in numbers, with Lesser Treble Bar and Setaceous Hebrew Character having a good year, too.

The individuals below I'm not sure about: the first seems a good candidate for September Thorn, given its general coloration, although the angle at which it holds its wings doesn't seem entirely right. The second must be a Gothic, but seems very late in the season; and the third I would say is more White-point than Clay (which again would be a rather late appearance). Do those seem right to everyone?

Possible September Thorn, 23/8/17

Possible September Thorn, 23/8/17

Presumed Gothic, 23/8/17

Possible White-point, 22/8/17
Steve Goddard

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