Westcott, Bucks

As can be seen from the data below there has been some considerable fluctuation in results from the two garden traps over the past week, with Sunday's catch more than acceptable for the time of year on what was probably the last relatively warm night for a while, but fewer than half the number of both moths and species turned up the following night.  Of the 268 individuals on Sunday, 88 were Lunar Underwing and 43 were Setaceous Hebrew Character.  However, despite southerly winds on both Saturday and Sunday no migrants found their way here and the only one over the entire period was another Dark Sword-grass last night (28th).  

     (22nd)  90 moths of 27 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (23rd)  80 moths of 22 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (24th)  118 moths of 23 species; nothing new for the garden year-list. 

     (25th)  147 moths of 32 species; Green-brindled Crescent & Brindled Green new for the year.

     (26th)  268 moths of 40 species; Choreutis pariana & Red-line Quaker new for the year.

     (27th)  108 moths of 18 species; Blair's Shoulder-knot new for the year.

     (28th)  118 moths of 26 species; Lyonetia prunifoliella new for the year. 

Choreutis pariana, Westcott 26th September

Lyonetia prunifoliella, Westcott 28th September

I was particularly pleased to see Choreutis pariana which came to the MV light.  Similar in size and behaviour to the Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana which is also around in some numbers at the moment, it has been recorded here during the daytime more often than at night but this is my first sighting of it in the garden for five years.  Apologies for the rather poor picture of it but, needless to say, Lyonetia prunifoliella is another completely new species for the site and as this moth is spreading so fast we can all expect to see it sooner or later.  Unfortunately the specimen was found deceased and in poor condition in one of the egg-trays at the very bottom of the MV trap, covered in a pile of similarly deceased small black flies, and goes to show the wisdom of checking thoroughly amongst the debris!

Short-cloaked Moth, Westcott 22nd September

A second-generation Short-cloaked Moth on the 22nd was unusual, it was nice to see Dewick's Plusia again as singletons on both the 26th and 27th, while my first Satellite of the autumn appeared on the 27th.  Amongst the micros it was good to find Epermenia chaerophyllella (25th), Zelleria hepariella (26th) and Ostrinia nubilalis (26th) in the traps as a change from the usual handful of autumnal tortrix species.

Update:  Another late specimen I had meant to mention then forgot about was a Pale Prominent on 22nd September.  I have had one previous September record (2nd September 2014) but this seems very late indeed and is perhaps indicative of an attempt at a third generation.  The moth certainly did exceptionally well here this year in its earlier broods.

Pale Prominent, Westcott 22nd September

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks