Westcott, Bucks

Sorry this is going to be rather long but there's a bit of catching-up to do.  Nightly garden catches continue to be good or bad here dependent entirely upon the weather.  After a run of mediocre results, last night's was quite good with 105 species to the MV and 78 to the actinic for a total of 121 altogether, although there were only four new for the year list.  Continuing with the year's additions, I've now had the following (those awaiting final confirmation by dissection are marked *):

(24th)  Roeslerstammia erxlebella, Agonopterix liturosa, Rhyacionia pinicolana, Ostrinia nubilalis,
            Straw Underwing
(25th)  Acleris laterana*, Acleris emargana, Bulrush Wainscot
(26th)  Monopis laevigella, Stathmopoda pedella, Monochroa lutulentella*, Birch Mocha, Maple Pug,
            September Thorn, Rosy Minor
(27th)  Ypsolopha horridella, Bordered Beauty, Ear Moth*
(28th)  Chilo phragmitella, Flounced Rustic
(29th)  Pediasia contaminella, Udea ferrugalis, Dark Spinach, Twin-spotted Wainscot

That takes the year's garden species total to 526 which is about 50 fewer than for the same date last year.  When this blog was part of the BC Upper Thames Branch web-site and Peter Hall used to produce annual statistics, it was generally the case that from 1st August only 100 further species remained to be reported before the end of the year, so we're definitely on the downward slope now - roll on 2020!  

Stathmopoda pedella, Westcott 26th July

Pediasia contaminella, Westcott 29th July

Chilo phragmitella, Westcott 28th July

Pediasia contaminella with its rather unusual nose-down resting posture was another garden first, while Stathmopoda pedella (seen in 2014) and Chilo phragmitella (seen in 2018) were both on their second ever known visits to the garden.  The Stathmopoda is a fantastic little beast, which when fully at rest sticks its hind-legs up and out like an extra pair of wings!  Just what it hopes to achieve by taking up that pose is anyone's guess.  

Birch Mocha, Westcott 26th July

Bordered Beauty, Westcott 27th July

Flounced Rustic, Westcott 28th July

 

Twin-spotted Wainscot, Westcott 29th July

The rather bruised and battered Birch Mocha was a completely new species for the garden.  It was the second birch-feeding macro-moth to join the list this year (after Suspected earlier in the month).  While we do have three mature birches in the garden and there are others dotted around the village, both moths usually require established birch woodland of which there is not a great deal locally, so they were presumably wanderers.  Another completely new species for the garden, Twin-spotted Wainscot completes the set for those Wainscots currently known from Bucks (...until L-album eventually gets here!).        

As mentioned in the post from Mark Griffiths yesterday, Flounced Rustic is now on the wing.  This is another common moth which can regularly cause ID problems because it is such a highly variable species.  However, in the centre of the fore-wing the black bar with a 'v' at either end is usually a constant feature. 

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks