Westcott, Bucks

New for the year to the garden actinic trap over the past week have been Acrolepia autumnitella, November Moth, Merveille du Jour (all 8th) and Pale November Moth, Tawny Pinion (both 12th).  Needless to say, the two Novembers underwent the appropriate examination.  Overall numbers have certainly fallen now that Lunar Underwing seems to be heading towards the end of its flight season.  The number of species is still holding up fairly well though, or at least it was until Thursday night when that day's heavy rain showers seemed to make the local ivy blossom unpalatable by dusk (no moths found on it) and only 14 individuals of seven species entered the trap even though the overnight conditions were little different to the previous couple of nights.  However, amongst those seven species were Orange Sallow and Large Wainscot, neither of which are particularly common here.

The previous night (Wednesday 12th) was more typical of recent results:  Scrobipalpa costella (1), Emmelina monodactyla (1), Red-green Carpet (4), Common Marbled Carpet (4), November Moth (1), Pale November Moth (1), Large Yellow Underwing (1), Setaceous Hebrew Character (1), Green-brindled Crescent (1), Black Rustic (2), Tawny Pinion (1), Dark Chestnut (2), Dotted Chestnut (1), Brick (1), Red-line Quaker (3), Beaded Chestnut (6), Lunar Underwing (3), Pink-barred Sallow (1) & Sallow (2).

Acrolepia autumnitella, Westcott 8th October

Tawny Pinion, Westcott 12th October

Dotted Chestnut, Westcott 12th October

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks