Westcott, Bucks

Not a lot has happened in the garden since the report last Wednesday.  Storm Alex brought a lot of rain over several days, so since 2nd October I've reverted to "winter trapping mode" using just the twin-30wt actinic light.  The accompanying MV will only be brought out again if the weather really warrants it.  Four adult moth species have been added to the garden year-list:

(30th Sept)  Agonopterix purpurea, Figure of Eight

(1st Oct)      Feathered Thorn

(6th Oct)      November Moth

Feathered Thorn, Westcott 1st October

 

November Moth, Westcott 6th October

The male November Moth was a typically drab specimen and had its genitalia checked.  For the benefit of our newer contributors/readers, November, Pale November and Autumnal Moths are all found throughout our area and the first two are particularly common.  Males can't be safely identified to species without reference to their genitalia (refer to the text in the Field Guide) and the females, usually obvious by their different wing shape, can't be separated at all.  They need to be recorded as November Moth agg. unless they've been checked.     

There have still been reasonable numbers of moths to see every night, even through the torrential rain on Sunday 4th when numbers dipped to just 19 individuals of eight species.  The following night (Monday 5th) was more representative of current catches, producing 54 moths of 18 species.  Beaded Chestnut is still increasing in numbers although it never gets anywhere near the same totals here as Lunar Underwing which is definitely tailing off now (current count for the year is 2,821).  Mallow had a record year here in 2019 with 32 seen as opposed to the usual two or three.  It is doing quite well again this year too and numbers have already reached 16 since the first on 14th September.  Another Dark Sword-grass visited on the 2nd and that same night saw my first Satellite of the current season.  

This year's Clifden Nonpareil explosion shows no sign of abating yet and two more examples turned up during the week even though the nearest aspen is a kilometre away (there are poplars within 200 metres however).  On 30th September it was sadly just a set of wings on the lawn found before dawn, presumably a bat casualty, while on the 5th a rather worn example entered the trap.  They take this year's total here to seven over nearly two months:

13th August:  one to wine rope

26th August:  one to wine rope

3rd September:  one to light (twin-30wt actinic)

13th September:  two to light (one to 125wt MV, one to twin-30wt actinic)

30th September:  likely bat casualty, wings on lawn adjacent to the 125wt MV trap

5th October:  one to light (twin-30wt actinic)

With five found at other sites in Bucks that takes me to a dozen individuals in 2020.  Who would have thought even last year that we would be seeing so many of these wonderful moths now?!

Clifden Nonpareil, Westcott 5th October

Dave Wilton Westcott Bucks