Ian Esland has reported Berkshire's first ever record of Alder Kitten, with some superb photos to support the record. This is a moth with a curious distribution - it has populations in East Anglia and the far south-east corner of England (mainly Kent and Sussex I think), and is quite widespread in Wales and western England, but there is a big gap in the middle of England. And until Ian's discovery the Upper Thames area was in that gap!
I'm not aware of any records for Bucks or Oxon but the other county recorders will be able to confirm if that is the case.
Ian's moths were found in his garden in Crowthorne last Friday and Saturday. As always it will be fascinating to see if this is a one-off or the first sign of a range expansion.
 |
| Alder Kitten - photo by Ian Esland |
 |
| Alder Kitten - photo by Ian Esland |
 |
| Ian's photo annotated to highlight the ID features |
What brilliant news! There is a single odd "record" for Bucks from 1982 (Pitstone Fen) which was ignored for the on-line Atlas because there's no evidence to substantiate the claim.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very few that I've seen (out of our region), it is the easiest of the Kittens to identify and shouldn't present any problems for recorders if it is indeed spreading. Heathland along the Thames Valley would seem to be ideal territory for it.