Westcott, Bucks

The second half of May didn't see much of an improvement in garden moth catches at Westcott.  While new species did turn up each night, overall numbers have been very disappointing and look set to remain so until we get rid of these chilly north-easterlies at night (which the forecasts suggest won't happen for at least another couple of weeks 😞).  New arrivals here have included the following:

(16th)  Puss Moth, Treble Lines
(17th)  Aethes smeathmanniana, Notocelia cynosbatella, Clouded Border, Scorched Wing, Poplar Grey,

           Rustic Shoulder-knot

(18th)  Aproaerema anthyllidella, Pyrausta aurata, Common Swift, Silver-ground Carpet, Ochreous Pug,

           Coxcomb Prominent, Chocolate-tip, Marbled Minor sp. (retained)

(19th)  Turnip Moth

(20th)  Platyptilia gonodactyla, Eyed Hawk-moth, Bright-line Brown-eye

(21st)  Ancylis badiana, Sandy Carpet, Dark/Grey Dagger (retained), Heart & Dart, Small Square-spot

(22nd)  Fox Moth, Buff-tip, Toadflax Brocade

(23rd)  Eudonia angustea, Nutmeg

(24th)  Cauchas rufimitrella, Tinea trinotella, Phyllonorycter harrisella, Scrobipalpa costella, Crambus

            lathoniellus, Figure of Eighty, Freyer's Pug, Cinnabar

(25th)  Light Emerald, White-point

(26th)  Lychnis

(27th)  Hedya pruniana, Phycitodes maritima, Common Marbled Carpet

(28th)  Nemapogon cloacella

(29th)  Brown Rustic, Small Clouded Brindle, Setaceous Hebrew Character

(30th)  Endrosis sarcitrella, Phtheochroa rugosana, Celypha lacunana, Common Carpet, Willow Beauty  

(31st)  Scoparia pyralella, Garden Carpet, Shears, Dark Arches, Mottled Rustic   

Sandy Carpet, Westcott 21st May

Ochreous Pug, Westcott 18th May

Toadflax Brocade, Westcott 22nd May

Small Clouded Brindle, Westcott 29th May

The one moth doing well here (= appearing in reasonable numbers, as opposed to just ones and twos) is Treble Lines which by the 31st had achieved a count of 366 individuals, already well past last year's garden total of 267.  However, this is a species whose fortunes fluctuate quite significantly from year to year, the lowest recent count being 38 (in 2013) and the highest 639 (in 2020).    

As of 31st May the garden moth species count for 2023 stood at 194.  That is actually a fairly average figure for this point in the year and is certainly quite a bit better than the counts achieved by the same date in other years in recent memory:

 

2013:    94 species	2015:  145 species	2017:  252 species	2019:  244 species	2021:  155 species
2014:  174 species	2016:  144 species	2018:  192 species	2020:  272 species	2022:  231 species

In 2013 the first half of the year was dire weather-wise, but things improved dramatically during the second half to make it one of the best years ever in the garden.  We live in hope that the same will happen in 2023!  

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks