Westcott, Bucks

There were a fair few moths around in the garden during the first week of September but only one or two were of any significant interest.  Brimstone Moth, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Square-spot Rustic and (in particular) Common Wainscot have been appearing in very large numbers.  I haven't had a Gypsy Moth for a few nights now but Jersey Tiger is still appearing regularly with another two last night accompanied by a fully-formed Clifden Nonpareil. 

     (1st)  288 moths of 51 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (2nd)  376 moths of 69 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (3rd)  251 moths of 56 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (4th)  282 moths of 52 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (5th)  349 moths of 60 species; Acleris emargana the only one new for the year-list.

     (6th)  366 moths of 58 species; Orange Sallow new for the year-list.

     (7th)  385 moths of 68 species; Caloptilia cuculipennella & Beautiful Marbled new for the year-list (in fact both completely new for the garden).

Caloptilia cuculipennella, Westcott 7th September

Migrant activity during the week included Nomophila noctuella (two on the 1st, three on the 2nd) and Dark Sword-grass (singletons on 3rd and 6th).  I haven't yet joined this year's Cydia amplana club but I was more than pleased to "make do" with the moth below!

Beautiful Marbled, Westcott 7th September

The excellent weather of the last few days has brought about a "last hurrah" from the micros and, for example, it was good to see 22 different species amongst those trapped on the 6th, including Hedya salicella (my third September record after individuals in 2016 and 2018, perhaps suggestive of attempts to establish a second brood) and Oncocera semirubella (my second ever September record but in poor condition so may just have been a long-lived individual).  Over the week more than 50 different micro species came to light in the garden.  

Hedya salicella, Westcott 6th September

Noteworthy macro-moth sightings here have included Heart & Dart (4th, my first anywhere since 1st August), Buff Ermine (5th, the first since 10th August and my first ever September record) and Poplar Hawk-moth (7th, only my second September record after one on the 2nd in 2006).  

Buff Ermine, Westcott 5th September

The appearance in the table above of just four new species this week belies the fact that the 2021 garden list has now risen to one short of 600 for the year.  To make up for the lack of adult moths I've made a bit of an effort with leaf-miners which has added a dozen or more species to the list.  I had to give our alder a serious trim and the leaves on the cut branches were closely inspected but, yet again, I was presented with two vacated nepticulid mines so I'm still none the wiser as to whether I've got Stigmella alnetella or Stigmella glutinosae here (one day I'll get to find an active mine!).  Unfortunately the Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni found the tree this year and its little black larvae made a right mess of most leaves on the lower branches, but other mines found did include those of Phyllonorycter rajella and Phyllonorycter klemannella as well as the fly Agromyza alnivora and saw-fly Fenusa dohrnii.  A single mine of Stigmella tiliae was found on our lime, not an annual here so always good to see, but the best discovery by far was on Orache, a common weed growing in an old flower pot.  On the 4th I noticed nine active mines of the tiny gelechiid Chrysoesthia drurella on its leaves.  I've had daytime sightings of the smart little adult in the garden a few times in past years (although not since 2015, the last one illustrated below) but this was the first time I'd found evidence of it breeding here.

Mines of Chrysoesthia drurella, Westcott 4th September

Chrysoesthia drurella adult, Westcott 25th May 2015

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks