Westcott, Bucks

With Marc Botham having already had Common Quaker and Charles Godfray a Hebrew Character, things are obviously starting to move now but the moths are clearly avoiding me at the moment.  Robin Knill-Jones had yet another Black-spotted Chestnut in Denham, Bucks last night and it is surprising to me that other recorders in that far south-eastern corner of our area haven't yet had the pleasure of seeing it.  At its present rate of progress (or lack thereof) that's one I probably shouldn't expect here for a decade or two!

Here at Westcott I had no moths at all during the last couple of days of January and I've had something to light twice only so far this month.  Wednesday night (3rd) brought in Pale Brindled Beauty and Spring Usher while last night (4th) I got Pale Brindled Beauty and Chestnut plus my first identified micro of the year, a rather battered Acleris cristana.   

Spring Usher & Pale Brindled Beauty, 3rd February

Acleris cristana, Westcott 4th February

Amongst the non-moths brought to light, an ichneumon wasp which I would previously have called Ophion obscuratus (now part of a group, it seems) put in its first appearance on 28th January while the following night I had a surprise visit from the small long-horn beetle Pogonocherus hispidus.

Pogonocherus hispidus, Westcott 29th January

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks