Expect the unexpected

What an interesting year this has been!  Last night was reasonably mild so I decided to trap for a few hours in Finemere Wood, Bucks in the hope of seeing perhaps an early Pale Brindled Beauty or Spring Usher amongst all the Winter Moths and Mottled Umbers.  However, it was not to be and in the end I got only six species.  The two expected ones turned up in very good numbers and were joined by Satellite, Chestnut and Dark Chestnut.  However, the sixth species was a singleton of something not expected at all, a Lead-coloured Drab:

Lead-coloured Drab, Finemere Wood 17th December

Lead-coloured Drab, Finemere Wood 17th December

It showed some slight damage to its right forewing so may have been around for a day or two.  Some of the Orthosia species (Common Quaker in particular) do occasionally appear early like this but Lead-coloured Drab is fairly consistent in not beginning to fly around here until mid-February at the earliest.

Most of the oaks I looked at were covered in Winter Moths (males, facing upwards and some still expanding their wings) waiting for females to scamper up the trunk.  I saw only a couple of mated pairs (males facing downwards) and another three newly-emerged females working their way up the trees.  I brought two of the females home to photograph because although similar in size (and really too small to be anything else) they looked quite different, but they do both seem to be Winter Moths.  The females must be quite variable in colour.

Winter Moth female, Finemere Wood 17th December

Winter Moth female, Finemere Wood 17th December

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks