Westcott, Bucks

It seems that this year is far from over yet.  The past seven nights have been quite good in the garden, culminating in an interesting catch of 115 individuals from 34 different species last night (20th) even though there was nothing new amongst them.  In fact the only moths new for the garden year-list over this past week have been as follows:  (14th) Sprawler; (16th) Acleris sparsana; (18th) Pale November Moth.

Sprawler, Westcott 14th October

Acleris sparsana, Westcott 16th October

The Sprawler seemed quite early but on looking back at my own records I see that this one equals my earliest date (14th October 2006) and it often appears during the third week of the month.  The Pale November Moth sighting resulted from me deciding to check all seven males which came to the trap on the 18th and they proved to be November Moth (3) and Pale November Moth (4), so job done for this year and they'll all go down as the aggregate from now on.  If it appears at all, Autumnal Moth can wait until I get an obvious candidate as per the markings mentioned in the field guide.   

Proving the point about how reasonable the catches here have been, the following is a list of all 55 adult species seen here over the past seven nights (14th to 20th October inclusive):

15.010	Caloptilia stigmatella							20
41.003	Blastobasis lacticolella			16	17		19
45.044	Emmelina monodactyla					18	19
49.039	Epiphyas postvittana	14			17	18	19	20
49.069	Acleris sparsana			16
49.070	Acleris rhombana				17
49.071	Acleris emargana					18
49.077	Acleris variegana		15			18		20
62.075	Hypsopygia costalis							20
70.070	Mallow			16			19
70.077	Pine Carpet			16
70.095	Red-green Carpet		15	16		18	19	20
70.097	Common Marbled Carpet	14		16	17			20
70.106	Winter Moth				17
70.107	November Moth (and agg.)	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
70.108	Pale November Moth					18
70.244	Feathered Thorn			16				20
70.258	Willow Beauty						19	20
70.283	Light Emerald							20
72.002	Straw Dot			16			19	20
72.013	Yellow-tail							20
73.015	Silver Y				17		19
73.033	Figure of Eight	14	15			18	19
73.065	Sprawler	14
73.068	Green-brindled Crescent	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.095	Pale Mottled Willow					18	19	20
73.113	Angle Shades	14					19
73.123	Rosy Rustic		15				19
73.180	Barred Sallow	14	15	16	17	18	19
73.181	Pink-barred Sallow	14	15	16	17	18	19
73.182	Sallow	14	15	16			19	20
73.183	Dusky-lemon Sallow					18
73.186	Beaded Chestnut	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.189	Red-line Quaker	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.190	Yellow-line Quaker	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.192	Brick	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.193	Lunar Underwing	14	15	16			19	20
73.194	Chestnut	14	15	16	17		19
73.195	Dark Chestnut	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.201	Pale Pinion			16
73.202	Grey Shoulder-knot					18
73.206	Blair's Shoulder-knot			16	17	18	19	20
73.210	Satellite			16			19	20
73.224	Merveille du Jour				17	18	19	20
73.225	Brindled Green							20
73.233	Black Rustic	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
73.297	White-point							20
73.319	Turnip Moth						19	20
73.325	Shuttle-shaped Dart		15	16		18	19	20
73.327	Dark Sword-grass							20
73.342	Large Yellow Underwing	14		16		18		20
73.343	Broad-bordered Yellow U'wing							20
73.345	Lesser Yellow Underwing					18	19	20
73.357	Square-spot Rustic					18
73.359	Setaceous Hebrew Character	14				18	19	20

Winter Moth (17th) and Pale Pinion (16th) were new for the current season although both were seen back in the Spring.  The Winter Moth is actually my earliest ever record, beating the previous one by five days.  It doesn't normally appear until the first week of November.  The Yellow-tail last night would seem to be an attempt at a second brood, something I've noticed before in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Winter Moth, Westcott 17th October

Yellow-tail, Westcott 20th October

Although we've had south to south-easterly winds for the last three nights the only obvious migrant here was last night's very dark female Dark Sword-grass, although other possibles have included Turnip, Angle Shades and Pale Mottled Willow.  Four Angle Shades together on the 19th was definitely unusual here.  

Dark Sword-grass, Westcott 20th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks