Westcott, Bucks

It is time again for the weekly update.  The past seven nights have been quite acceptable in the garden and I'm working my way all too quickly through the few species left to see this year.  The following adult moths have been added to the 2020 garden list, taking the total to 570 species so far:

(9th)    Brindled Green
(10th)  Pine Carpet, Pink-barred Sallow
(11th)  Platyptilia gonodactyla
(12th)  - nil -
(13th)  Sallow
(14th)  Mallow, Dark Spectacle
(15th)  Barred Sallow, Dusky-lemon Sallow, Beaded Chestnut

Platyptilia gonodactyla, Westcott 11th September

Mallow, Westcott 14th September

Dark Spectacles, Westcott 14th September

Dusky-lemon Sallow, Westcott 15th September

I thought I'd missed seeing Platyptilia gonodactyla here this year so the appearance of this second-brood specimen was very welcome.  It is a fairly regular visitor even though Colt's-foot isn't plentiful in the immediate vicinity of the garden.  The pair of Dark Spectacles on the 14th would in past years have been counted as migrants but the species is now so regular here, as well as at quite a few other sites in our region, that it should probably now be counted as a resident.  Dusky-lemon Sallow has always been a local speciality and last night's specimen was a particularly "dusky" example. 

Amongst the other species, a relatively fresh Dingy Footman (11th, a species not seen here since 24th August) might perhaps indicate an attempt at a second brood.  I can't match Martin's numbers in Thrupp but Clifton Nonpareil visitors have risen to five in the garden this year with a pair to light on the 13th. 

Dingy Footman, Westcott 11th September

Clifden Nonpareils, Westcott 13th September

    
Despite the potential for migrants over the last couple of nights thanks to a plume of really warm air moving up from north Africa, nothing of note has as yet reached Westcott.  However, the conditions over those two nights were perfect for the local moths too and the totals here were really good (404 moths of 52 species on the 14th, 589 of 55 species on the 15th).  Square-spot Rustic and Lunar Underwing are now appearing in their expected numbers (181 and 106 respectively last night).  Albeit at a lower level, another species doing really well here at the moment is Rosy Rustic.  Last night's five examples take the year's garden count past 90, the previous annual high being 42 in 2019.

Dave Wilton
Westcott, Bucks