I confess I'm cheating a bit here: the one I was going to photograph flew away at the crucial moment, so this is an old photo.
Not so the next one: An Anania fuscalis:
This is only the second time I've seen one, although I believe they are not all that unusual in Bucks. Rather bizarrely this female had a male abdomen attached to it. One can only speculate but perhaps a bird grabbed (most of) the male while they were in cop. I detached the abdomen as gently as I could. It was notable how firmly it was stuck on and was a bit of an eye-watering affair. The female died later in the day.
Hi Andy,
ReplyDeleteShame you didn't find Wood Tiger, but it should be around for three or four weeks yet so there may be other opportunities at Ivinghoe. It has been found on Steps Hill as well as the Beacon itself but they're the only sites for it in Bucks.
Hypochalcia ahenella should actually around in good numbers all over the Ivinghoe Hills but that seems to be its core site in Bucks. I've found it on some of the other good chalk grassland sites, even at Holtspur Bottom, although strangely never at Grangelands.
As you say, Anania fuscalis is not really to be expected on the chalk although I have had it once to light on the Beacon. Apart from a handful at Seven Barrows and Crog Hill (both Berks) about 15 years ago, all my 200+ records come from the damp grasslands of Aylesbury Vale where it is quite widespread.
200+ records! Fuscalis has been recorded once in Hertfordshire since 1834, as noted on the Herts and Middlesex Moths website. Ben Sale and I saw it at Hexton Chalk Pit in 2015 (he's younger and quicker than me and got his net on it first - huh!).Therefore I had assumed it was a chalkland species, like the ahenella. But Sterling and Parsons make it clear it has a wide range of potential habitats - from marsh to chalk grassland. So the rarity in Herts must be due to something else - perhaps it's a west v east thing.
ReplyDelete