Red Sword-grass

At 6pm last night I was minding my own business, out trapping in south Bucks to check on whether one of our rarer moth species had started flying, when I got a message from my wife Val back at home saying "do you know what this is on the kitchen window?" with an accompanying not-too-helpful phone photo of a moth's undersides.  Having persuaded her to go outside and pot it up, I was then sent another phone picture from which its identity became clear - a Red Sword-grass - and I only just managed to resist the sudden urge to pack up and drive straight back home!

Red Sword-grass, Westcott 9th November

The moth is resident on the west side of the UK but is rarely seen on the east side where it is most likely an immigrant, or at least a long-distance wanderer.  This example is the seventh record for VC24, the only other post-millennium sightings having been at Longwick (2005), Chorleywood (2014 & 2016) and Lavendon (2017), three widely-spaced locations.

Red Sword-grass is the fourth macro-moth to be added to the Westcott garden list this year and the 450th macro overall, so quite a significant visitor.  The remainder of last night's garden collection included my first Scarce Umber of the season and a late Merveille du Jour (the first here for nearly three weeks), but otherwise it was a fairly typical catch for early November of 26 moths from 12 species. 

Back to last night's visit to woodland near Marlow, Bucks where I was checking to see if the nationally scarce Plumed Prominent was on the wing yet.  Although its larvae feed on Field Maple, which is widely available, the moth itself is restricted to a handful of sites in southern England and one of them is the area around Marlow and Henley on the Bucks/Oxon border.  Bonfire Night is the trigger to think about searching for this late-flying species and the earliest date I've seen the moth locally is 6th November, but in the past I've had quite a few failures before about mid-month.  Last night was successful, though, with two males turning up between 6.30 and 7pm.  If you haven't seen a male by about 8.30pm it is time to pack up because they fly quite early (the females are supposed to fly later in the night although the only one I've ever seen, out of about 80 individuals, appeared early with the males).

Plumed Prominent, 9th November

The above picture is not the best of images, taken on the sheet under the MV trap in the light of my head-torch, but it shows the massive antennae quite well.  Other species seen before I packed up at 8.30pm were Diurnea lipsiella, Acleris sparsana, December Moth, Barred Hook-tip (a very late specimen), Red-green Carpet, Spruce Carpet, Feathered Thorn, November Moth agg., Green-brindled Crescent, Red-line Quaker, Yellow-line Quaker, Brick & Barred Sallow.

Diurnea lipsiella, 9th November

Barred Hook-tip, 9th November

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks