It has been a good week for numbers of moths in the garden with the average over the last seven nights being 394 individuals of 32 species. Monday night provided the best count of individuals (468), while last night was the best for species (41) and might have been best on both counts if I'd been prepared to sit out in the drizzle just before dawn because Lunar Underwings were still arriving in their droves at that point. The 2020 garden total for Lunar Underwing should pass 1,700 tonight, while Deep-brown Dart and Black Rustic are currently at 238 and 282 respectively. For Deep-brown Dart that's already nearly double the previous highest annual count here.
While numbers may have been good there have been no migrants here and few new species for the garden year-list, with only four added over the period:
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| Cacoecimorpha pronubana, Westcott 16th September |
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| Merveille du Jour, Westcott 21st September |
The Merveille du Jour was my earliest ever garden record, 26th September (in both 2013 and 2018) being the previous first date for the site.
A late record for Notocelia uddmanniana on the 20th, a regular garden visitor not seen here since 11th August, is suggestive of a second brood. A female Ostrinia nubilalis (European Corn-borer) appeared on the 21st, the eighth to visit this year since the first on 30th June, whereas I've only had the moth sporadically as singletons in past years. Clifden Nonpareil hasn't appeared again since a pair on the 13th, but I have had several Red Underwings over the past week.
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| Notocelia uddmanniana, Westcott 20th September |
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
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