There's very little to say about the last seven nights in the garden. There were no blanks but it came close to that on three of them with just a single moth turning up. Altogether six different adult species appeared, of which the macros comprised December Moth, Winter Moth, Mottled Umber and Chestnut, while another Angle Shades caterpillar was found on the 14th. The two micros seen were Mompha subbistrigella and an Acleris species, the latter appearing on the 13th which was the night that produced the best result of the week (a whole five moths of four species!).
 |
| Acleris species, Westcott 13th December |
I imagine this will turn out to be the infinitely variable Acleris hastiana because there is the vaguest hint of concavity along the costa and there are some rough scales there too. However the moth is definitely on the small side for hastiana so I've kept it back in case it might be the rather rare Acleris umbrana, another variable species which isn't yet known from Bucks although has been found in some of the surrounding counties. Whichever one it turns out to be will be new for the 2020 garden list, a welcome event so late in the year.
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
Hi Dave
ReplyDeleteThe line of raised scales across the forewing, along with the fact that you say it is small for hastiana leads me to conclude that this is very likely schalleriana.
Martin