There's been very little activity here in the garden over the past week. Pale Brindled Beauty, Early Moth and Chestnut have all appeared again when the weather has been suitable, but only as singletons. The only new species for the year was the flightless female shown below which I happened to notice on our conservatory roof this morning. She was very much on her last legs.
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| Westcott 29th January |
As far as I can see the two bands on the vestigial forewing make this a female Scarce Umber, which seems very late indeed for that species still to be around. The males are regular in the garden but almost without exception in November only. Out of some 500 records for Bucks the latest believable one for an adult is 3rd January 1974 (from Howe Park Wood, Milton Keynes). Only a couple of those records are of females and they seem to have been reared from larvae, so finding the female in the wild appears to be quite unusual locally.
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
Dotted Border
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