Wednesday 27 November 2019

Above average November

These warmer nights are certainly bringing out the moths even if there is little to get excited about.  Going back ten years, the average number of species seen in the garden here during the second half of November (16th to 30th) is 12 but the last three nights alone have brought in 21, more than I've ever had before in this period:

Sun 24thPlutella xylostella (2), December Moth (1), Red-green Carpet (3), Winter Moth (6), Feathered Thorn (3), Scarce Umber (1), Mottled Umber (1), Yellow-line Quaker (1), Dark Chestnut (1), Satellite (1) & Oak Rustic (1).

Oak Rustic, Westcott 24th November

Mon 25th:  Agonopterix arenella (1), Epiphyas postvittana (1), December Moth (5), Red-green Carpet (4), Winter Moth (7), Feathered Thorn (1), Mottled Umber (2), Silver Y (1) & Sprawler (1).

Silver Y, Westcott 25th November

Tue 26thCaloptilia stigmatella (1), Caloptilia semifascia (1), Acleris hastiana (1, rather battered), Udea ferrugalis (1), December Moth (3), Red-green Carpet (2), Winter Moth (5), Mottled Umber (2), Red-line Quaker (1), Yellow-line Quaker (1) & Brick (1).

Acleris hastiana, Westcott 26th November

Amongst all the Winter Moths I keep my eye open for Northern Winter Moth which I've had here once or twice before, but so far there have not even been any candidates.  It looks as though the warmer weather will stay with us tonight and maybe the first part of tomorrow night will still be OK, then we're back to the cold weather once again with a frost on Friday night which will probably finish off most of the autumn hangers-on and ensure that the hibernators go back to sleep.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks

2 comments:

  1. Hi Dave, I see you are getting plenty of Winter Moths in your garden. I have yet to see one here in Cookham. Also, Sprawler and Red-line Quaker have been completely absent so far.

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  2. I'm very surprised at your lack of Winter Moths, Steve - I thought they were everywhere! Theoretically they and the Umbers should be having a bumper season too because their caterpillars were around in huge numbers back in April. During the first couple of butterfly transects that I did in local woodland back then, loads of their larvae were hanging from trees and I ended up covered in them. Quite a lot of the sallows and blackthorn ended up being defoliated.

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