Westcott, Bucks

This week started off well and included the season's second 100+ species night for the garden on 2nd July, but since then the counts have dropped significantly again thanks to the less than optimum weather.  

     (1st)  209 moths of 84 species; Anarsia innoxiella, Pterophorus pentadactyla, Apotomis betuletana, Buff Arches, Pine Hawk-moth & Shark all new for the garden year-list.  Orange-tailed Clearwing came to the VES lure in the daytime.

     (2nd)  310 moths of 114 species; Scythropia crataegella, Blastodacna hellerella, Archips xylosteana, Pandemis heparana, Aleimma loeflingiana, Epinotia signatana, Gypsonoma sociana, Cydia splendana, Pammene regiana, Delplanqueia inscriptella, Dioryctria sylvestrella, Phycita roborella, Hypsopygia costalis, Ostrinia nubilalis, Elophila nymphaeata, Leopard Moth, Peach Blossom, Small Fan-footed Wave, July Highflyer, Scarlet Tiger, Obscure Wainscot & Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing all new for the year. 

     (3rd)  151 moths of 68 species;  Grapholita funebrana & Brown Scallop both new for the year.  As mentioned here a Japanese Silk Moth Antheraea yamamai also appeared in one of the traps.

     (4th)  169 moths of 60 species;  Acleris schalleriana, Large Emerald, Yellow-tail & Dun-bar all new for the year.

     (5th)  128 moths of 57 species (just a single trap run due to heavy rain overnight); Endotricha flammealis, Single-dotted Wave, Lunar-spotted Pinion & Brown-line Bright-eye all new for the year.

     (6th)  98 moths of 41 species; Common Rustic agg. the only species new for the year.

     (7th)  155 moths of 54 species; Mompha ochraceella the only species new for the year.

Mompha ochraceella, Westcott 7th July

Pandemis heparana, Westcott 2nd July

Delplanqueia inscriptella, Westcott 2nd July

Buff Arches, Westcott 1st July

Large Emerald, Westcott 4th July

Obscure Wainscot, Westcott 2nd July

The species count for the year here has now risen to 382.  The garden has achieved 600 or more moth species annually for the past seven years but for that to happen in 2021 is now becoming rather a tall order.  The total will need to rise to around 500 by the end of this month because the period from August through until December generally doesn't add more than 100.

As you'd expect, even in the poorest of years there are always some winners.  It struck me that the hawk-moths seemed to have done rather well in the garden so far this year so I've had a quick check of the figures.  Eyed (6), Lime (8) and Privet (11) have indeed done at least as well as they usually do and Privet has equalled its highest ever garden total - not many I know but prior to the last decade it was hardly ever seen here at all!  Those three are probably just about over by now.  Pine (2 so far) has only recently started flying so I should expect to see more of them yet.  Small Elephant (62) has produced its best score here since 115 appeared in 2015 and is another one coming to the end of its flight season, although I did have a couple of August records in both 2010 and 2020 which may indicate an attempt at a second brood - it is double-brooded on the continent.  Elephant (71) is still going strong at the moment and could continue for a few weeks yet.  The average for the garden is 48 per year so it is doing well although unlikely to surpass the 130 achieved in 2018.  Finally Poplar (47) is on course for a record total with last year's count of 56 to beat.  Having two broods annually means that it could be around until the beginning of September.  Not a hawk-moth but another "crowd-pleaser", Buff-tip (94) is still going strong here and has already beaten every annual count in the garden apart from last year's total of 133. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks