Where have you been for 40 years?

In the 1960s and 1970s some of the "great and good" of the mothing world used to make regular visits to a particular wood in the Chilterns to see Olive Crescent but it has not been recorded there or anywhere else in Bucks since the long, hot summer of 1976.  Maybe it succumbed because of the weather, maybe it was collected out or maybe there were other reasons for its demise, but it was certainly the last thing I expected to see last night when trapping in a (different) south Bucks woodland!  Assuming that it wasn't just a one-off stray visitor, hopefully this is a sign that the Red Data Book species might still be a resident in these parts.

Olive Crescent, 17th July

I usually try and make the effort to identify and record significant non-moths which visit my light traps and last night the same woodland provided two examples of the grand-daddy of all long-horn beetles, the Tanner Beetle Prionus coriarius.  As you can see from the scale at the top, this is a huge beast and couldn't really be missed!   

Prionus coriarius, 17th July

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks