Westcott, Bucks

Judging by the lack of postings on the blog over the past few days I'm sure everyone, like me, is seeing very little at the moment!  Sprawler appeared in the garden here for the first time on 30th October and that night proved to be the last decent catch (37 moths of 13 species, including a second Large Wainscot and a late Silver Y).  Seven species appeared the following night, four on 1st November then just a singleton (Epiphyas postvittana) on the 2nd and that's been the story up until last night when I got my first zero return.  However, if the temperature is still a few degrees above freezing at dusk then it could still be worth running the trap even if only for a few hours because the moths which fly at this time of year are quite hardy individuals.

Sprawler, Westcott 30th October



Silver Y, Westcott 30th October

Yesterday I went out searching for leaf-mines again and there are still plenty to be found even though leaf-fall is well under way.  I went looking in particular for Ectoedemia argyropeza which is a late miner of aspen and managed to find one occupied mine on a fallen leaf at nearby Kingswood.  There were plenty of seemingly vacated mines, some of them much smaller in size than the occupied one which made me wonder if the larva sometimes retreats into the leaf petiole (where it starts mining) if it is disturbed.  Another search for the related Ectoedemia hannoverella on black poplar proved unproductive at a couple of sites near Grendon Underwood but, amongst others, I did find tenanted mines of Ectoedemia angulifasciella on dog rose and Stigmella roborella on oak.

Active mine of Ectoedemia argyropeza on aspen,
Kingswood 6th November

Active and vacated mines of Ectoedemia angulifasciella on
dog rose, Grendon Underwood 6th November



Mines of Ectoedemia angulifasciella on dog rose,
Grendon Underwood 6th November

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks