Further Woodland Moths

The season refuses to end this year!  With a mild night and with the wind having dropped I decided to run an MV trap in Bernwood Forest for a few hours last night.  The result was 93 moths of 15 species, a very healthy total for the first week of December:  Plutella xylostella (1), Scrobipalpa costella (1), Blastobasis lacticolella (1), Acleris ferrugana/notana (5), December Moth (8), Red-green Carpet (1), Spruce Carpet (3), Winter Moth (28), Feathered Thorn (2), Pale Brindled Beauty (2), Spring Usher (1), Mottled Umber (31), Satellite (2), Chestnut (4) & Brick (3).

Scrobipalpa costella, Bernwood 6th December

Pale Brindled Beauty, Bernwood 6th December

Spring Usher, Bernwood 6th December

There were loads more Winter Moths flying around, particularly as I was setting up, but relatively few of them actually came to the light.  Pale Brindled Beauty regularly appears before the new year but I don't recall having seen Spring Usher this early before, although I see from the books that it can sometimes appear in late-December.  Back home at Westcott the garden actinic trap managed only three moths, comprising singletons of Caloptilia rufipennella, Winter Moth and Mottled Umber.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks