Westcott, Bucks

Last night (21st) was a foretaste of what's to come now, with the temperature falling to 5C before midnight under clear skies with a bright moon.  With so little likely to be happening in the garden from here onwards it is probably not worth continuing with these weekly summaries for much longer but I'll do so until the end of this month before reverting to the occasional post when or if something interesting is seen.

The third week of October produced only two new garden species for the year and little sign of any migrant activity here despite favourable conditions several nights running.  However, the Oleander Hawk-moth taken on the 19th by Steve Nash in Highworth, Wilts (only a mile or two from the Berkshire border) just goes to show that really nice things can turn up absolutely anywhere - so we all need to keep trying.  Thanks very much to Steve for allowing the use of his image below.  What a stunning moth!

Oleander Hawk-moth, Highworth 19th October (Steve Nash)

     (15th)  29 moths of 13 species; Pale November Moth was new for the garden year-list (its octavals were checked).

     (16th)  55 moths of 18 species; nothing new for the year-list.

     (17th)  20 moths of 10 species; nothing new for the year-list.

     (18th)  60 moths of 21 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was a single migrant Udea ferrugalis (Rusty Dot Pearl), while singletons of Blood-vein and Brimstone Moth seemed rather late but both do appear fairly regularly in October these days.

     (19th)  21 moths of 10 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was the first record here this autumn of Acleris hastiana.

     (20th)  40 moths of 19 species; Sprawler was new for the garden year-list.  Of note was a single migrant Dark Sword-grass. 

     (21st)  6 moths of 6 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was the second Large Wainscot of the year (the species isn't an annual visitor here).

Acleris hastiana, Westcott 19th October

Sprawler, Westcott 20th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks