Westcott, Bucks

The garden MV trap has now been officially "retired" for the winter and, over the next six months at least, I'll be relying solely on the twin-30wt Actinic.   I was really pleased with the results from its solo performance last night when it brought in 397 moths, better than any of the combined counts from the MV and Actinic traps over the previous three nights.  This total was provided by 29 species, of which the three illustrated below were new for the 2019 year-list:

Large Ranunculus, Westcott 29th September

Blair's Shoulder-knot, Westcott 29th September

 

Yellow-line Quaker, Westcott 29th September

Large Ranunculus is very uncommon here, this being only the fifth garden record.  The other two are regulars and were expected sooner or later, their first appearances varying annually between the last week of September and the first week of October.

The rest of the catch last night comprised Acleris variegana, Epiphyas postvittana, Eudonia angustea, Mallow, Willow Beauty, Light Emerald, Green-brindled Crescent, Angle Shades, Barred Sallow, Pink-barred Sallow, Sallow, Dusky-lemon Sallow, Beaded Chestnut (24), Red-line Quaker, Brick, Lunar Underwing (195), Brindled Green, Deep-brown Dart, Black Rustic (77), White-point, Turnip, Dark Sword-grass, Large Yellow Underwing (34), Lesser Yellow Underwing, Square-spot Rustic & Setaceous Hebrew Character.  Lunar Underwing is well past its first thousand garden sightings for the year (3,570 in 2014 is the target to beat!) while Black Rustic is currently only 43 short of last season's record-breaking site total of 421.

Macro-moths due any day now are Large Wainscot and Merveille du Jour, while I'm still hopeful of getting Pine Carpet and Tawny Pinion (Pale Pinion was recorded here at the beginning of September).  In October I will see the November Moths, Feathered Thorn and Sprawler, along with Grey Shoulder-knot, Satellite and the three Chestnuts (Dark, Dotted and Chestnut itself) although those last five have already been recorded this year back in the spring after hibernation from 2018.  October is also usually the best month for migrant species so fingers crossed for my annual record of Vestal if not something more exciting.  November should bring December Moth, Winter Moth, Scarce Umber and Mottled Umber then that'll be it for the year.    

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks