Nearly there!

Last night's garden catch here at Westcott, Bucks showed a significant improvement despite the rain.  Five different pug species put in appearances, including Mottled Pug and Common Pug which were new for the year, while other new arrivals included Chinese Character, Rustic Shoulder-knot and Treble Lines.  However, most pleasing from my point of view was this year's first new species for the garden list, which was either Caloptilia alchimiella or Caloptilia robustella (probably the latter but will need dissection to be sure).  It is strange that neither of these common micros has been seen here before.  The list now stands at 799 moth species recorded since 2005 in this quite average village garden so goes to show what can be achieved with a little perseverance.     

I also took a single MV trap to Bernwood Forest, Bucks.  It was run for two hours until the rain started in earnest and in that time picked up just over 40 species.  24 were macros, of which Great Prominent (33) and Pale Tussock (17) were the most numerous.  The good turn-out of micros provided much more of interest, though, and they included Phylloporia bistrigella, Teleiodes luculella, Pseudotelphusa scalella, Carpatolechia proximella, Ancylis badiana, Ancylis mitterbacheriana & Pammene argyrana.  The trap was run underneath an oak and the most prolific visitor was Phyllonorycter harrisella (19 netted and confirmed, many more left to their own devices when I got bored with potting them up!).

Dave Wilton

Caloptilia alchimiella/robustella, Westcott 5th May

Phylloporia bistrigella, Bernwood 5th May

Pseudotelphusa scalella, Bernwood 5th May