As an illustration of how dodgy it can be to claim records of Hoary Footman without looking at the hind-wings (which are white), I had this candidate in the garden last night but it proved to be a worn Scarce Footman when the hind-wings were checked (creamy yellow). Scarce Footman can fade quite significantly as its flight season progresses. Luckily it doesn't usually last much beyond the third week of August and Hoary Footman can be found into October, so there's less of a problem as the summer goes on. Up here in mid-Bucks I didn't start to see Hoary until 2014 and still only get two or three per year, so while it seems to have a toe-hold locally it is still far from being common.
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| Scarce Footman, Westcott 1st August |
Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks
Just checked my first one and the hind wings were pure white so off to a good start!
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
DeleteA few of us trapped on Wildmoor Heath last week and we had hundreds and hundreds of Scarce footman. There were a lot of candidates for Hoary but all that were checked have been Scarce, some of which I've dissected to be 100% sure. They didn't even appear to be especially worn just a lot paler.
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