Westcott, Bucks

Just to complete the story for July, here are details for the last three days of the month at Westcott.  The new additions bring the garden species total up to 530 for the year, suggesting that we're still about 30 species behind because that total was achieved on 22nd July in 2020, but in actual fact there must be at least that number of moths awaiting dissection here which will need to be added to the list in due course so the catch-up will almost certainly have happened at last.  

     (29th)  391 moths of 97 species; Eulamprotes atrella, Acleris aspersana, Copper Underwing & Dark Sword-grass all new for the garden year-list 

     (30th)  194 moths of 67 species; Bryotropha domestica, Depressaria ultimella (retained) & Rosy Rustic all new for the year-list.

     (31st)  291 moths of 68 species; Ghost Moth the only species new for the year-list.

Bryotropha domestica, Westcott 30th July

Likely Depressaria ultimella, Westcott 30th July

Ghost Moth female, Westcott 31st July

Rosy Rustic, Westcott 30th July

There was nothing much in the way of interesting new species and the two micros illustrated above certainly don't get awards for being the prettiest of moths, but they all count!  Depressaria ultimella is an assumption at the moment but I've had it confirmed here several times previously at this time of year and the possible confusion species, Depressaria daucella, would be new for the garden.  Ghost Moth only used to make very intermittent appearances in the garden but has been an annual since 2017, although with only one or two records per year.  That's surprising really as it is a common moth and we have plenty of suitable habitat for it locally.  As the month ended it was still the Footman moths which were achieving the highest counts, Dingy increasing and Common and Scarce now reducing in number.  We're also in a change-over period with the "grass moths", Chrysoteuchia culmella winding down and the Agriphila species only just getting under way.  Nothing else is showing up in any significant numbers.  

The two Copper Underwing species are now on the wing.  For an acceptable record to species they need to have the underside of the hind-wing checked (illustrations are given in the Field Guide).  A view of the underside inside a pot isn't sufficient to see what is required.  The moth will need to be handled and the wing carefully extended but with practice this can be done easily with the loss of very few scales and it can then be released unharmed.  The alternative is to record them as the aggregate.  Forewing markings and the colour of the palps can be used as a guide on fresh specimens but they've been found to vary too much to be acceptable for ID purposes. 

Copper Underwing, Westcott 29th July

Copper Underwing, Westcott 29th July

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks