Westcott, Bucks

This brings noteworthy sightings in the garden here at Westcott up-to-date to the end of October.  The period from the 26th through to the 28th in particular offered the possibility of migrant activity although it needed bricks inside the trap and bungee cords to keep the trap together in what were very gusty conditions.  Needless to say very little of interest ventured this far inland, but if you don't try you don't get!  October has seen a total of 84 different adult moth species recorded in the garden (23 of them micros), down from 175 adult species (69 micros) in September.  22 leaf-mining early stages were also added over those two months and the garden list for 2021 currently stands at 640 species although there are a good number of dissections still to be carried out which should add significantly to that total.  This suggests that the garden will end up with quite an acceptable number of species for the year, but I'm sure the overall count of individual moths will be well down.  We'll see when I eventually catch up with inputs to MapMate.   

     (22nd)  43 moths of 12 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (23rd)  54 moths of 19 species; Tawny Pinion was new for the garden year-list.

     (24th)  26 moths of 13 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (25th)  21 moths of 7 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was a migrant Dark Sword-grass.  

     (26th)  75 moths of 23 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note were the first garden adult of Caloptilia stigmatella this year (already recorded as a leaf-mine) and migrant Udea ferrugalis (2).

     (27th)  69 moths of 19 species; Cydalima perspectalis was new for the garden year-list.

     (28th)  64 moths of 23 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note were migrant Udea ferrugalis (2).

     (29th)  27 moths of 13 species; nothing new for the year list.  Of note were the first Winter Moth here of the season and another migrant Udea ferrugalis. 

     (30th)  11 moths of 6 species; nothing new for the year list.  Of note was yet another migrant Udea ferrugalis (something different would have been nice!).

     (31st)  10 moths of 5 species; nothing new for the year list.

The Tawny Pinion (23rd) was especially welcome because the moth only seems to put in an appearance here every three or four years if I'm lucky and this was the first since 2017.  Stable-mate Pale Pinion, on the other hand, is an annual visitor.  The Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis was interesting.  With none seen here during the summer I hadn't expected to record it at all in the garden this year but then two turned up on the 27th and one more on the 28th on what were very windy and wet nights - migrants, perhaps?  The moth first appeared in the garden in September 2017 and a further singleton followed in August 2018.  None was seen in 2019 but two more visited in July 2020.  I know some people have been absolutely inundated with this pest species from the Far East but luckily I've not had that experience - yet.  The first Winter Moth of the year (29th, a poorly-marked example) might seem a little early but appearances during the second half of October are becoming more and more frequent these days.  Last year the first garden record was on 17th October which remains my earliest ever date for the species. 

Tawny Pinion, Westcott 23rd October

Cydalima perspectalis, Westcott 27th October

Winter Moth, Westcott 29th October

Found indoors on the 28th, scurrying around on the inside of an upstairs window pane, was a Nepticulid which hopefully will be identified by dissection in the fullness of time, although with a fore-wing length of just under 2mm its bits must be miniscule!  The appearance of the moth itself should help to narrow down the pool of suspects (dark scape, whitish head and eye-caps and the position beyond mid-wing of the lighter fascia).  Trying to use the key in MoGBI vol.1 proved unsuccessful but that key is 40 years old and I suspect a lot more has been learned about these tiny species in subsequent years.  

Stigmella species, Westcott 28th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks