Tuesday 16 October 2018

Further Migrants

I was away over the weekend but left the actinic trap running in the garden because the weather looked as though it might be good for migrants.  The combined catch for Saturday and Sunday nights (30 species) included a Vestal and a Dark Sword-grass, while last night's collection (27 species) included a Silver Y and the splendid crambid illustrated below which is a first for VC24:

Spoladea recurvalis, Westcott 15th October

Spoladea recurvalis, Westcott 15th October

Found mainly in tropical areas where it can be a pest on some agricultural crops, Spoladea recurvalis is an uncommon migrant to the UK and to get it this far inland is quite an event.  There were also first county records of the moth for Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire last night as well as more typical coastal county sightings in Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent and Hampshire at least, so there must be more out there waiting to be caught!

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks
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3 comments:

  1. Alan Diver16 October 2018 at 17:43

    Very nice.

    Night before last I had only 1 moth, and that outside trap. A very nice example of red green carpet. Hope to photograph tomorrow, if not will let it go.

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  2. Adam Bassett16 October 2018 at 22:29

    Excellent Dave, a lovely looking moth. Twitter has been posting pictures of these over the past few days, mainly from coastal sites, but also two from Wilts today. I am still awaiting any migrant species in this recent spell.

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  3. Adam Bassett17 October 2018 at 14:12

    The second for VC24 and the second for Beds were last night. How many more are out there?

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