Garden list still plodding along

23rd July was a reasonable night here at Westcott, Bucks with Phyllonorycter harrisella, Agonopterix liturosa, Wormwood Pug & Rosy Rustic added to the year list.  For the next two nights the trap was given a rest (the 24th due to heavy rain, the 25th due to a party in the garden where the cables and trap were considered a likely health and safety hazard to inebriated teenagers!).  The two most recent nights were not at all satisfactory weather-wise (cool, wet and/or windy) but reasonable numbers of moths still managed to put in an appearance.  On the 26th Pandemis corylana and Chevron joined the year list, while on the 27th the only newcomers were Olive and Small Fan-foot amongst 419 moths of 40 macro and 26 micro species.  Chevron visited the garden for the first time last year, making two appearances, and it is very pleasing to see its return although there is certainly no shortage of sallow in the immediate area.  Olive makes roughly half a dozen appearances here every year but normally arrives first at the end of June so this visitor was a tad late.  The same is true of Small Fan-foot which is never as numerous in the garden as Fan-foot and in any case is normally on the wane by now, so I consider myself lucky to have got one at all for 2015.  We are probably now into that period of summer when little 'new' appears but some old favourites come back with their second broods.

Chevron, Westcott 26th July

Olive, Westcott 27th July

Dave Wilton