Small Eggar

This delightful but rarely seen little moth is now flying and will be on the wing for the next month.  It is restricted in range in our area, so is a species to look out for if you live in the far north of Bucks or the west of Oxfordshire. 

Small Eggar (male, reared), Westcott 17th March

This was one of five males which emerged here yesterday, resulting from a small batch of caterpillars liberated from a larval web found at the beginning of June last year on a roadside hedgerow north of Olney, Bucks (the second web I've found in that same area over the last few years).  If a female emerges she'll be taken back there.  The records from north Bucks form the western extent of a larger population covering northern Bedfordshire.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks