Westcott, Bucks

We're now half-way through June and (depressing thought) rapidly approaching the shortest night of the year.  Overall moth abundance is still rather in the doldrums but species numbers in the garden here have certainly picked up.  The following have been added since the beginning of the month:  

     (1st)  Cochylimorpha straminea, Scoparia ambigualis, Buff Ermine, Large Nutmeg

     (2nd)  - nil - 

     (3rd)  Anania hortulata, Common White Wave, Common Wainscot

     (4th)  Shoulder-striped Wainscot

     (5th)  Nematopogon metaxella, Rhodophaea formosa, Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Grey Pug, Pale Oak Beauty, Burnished Brass, Pale Mottled Willow, Small Dotted Buff

     (6th)  Argyresthia trifasciata, Udea olivalis, Clouded Silver, Peppered Moth

     (7th)  Neocochylis molliculana, Grey Pine Carpet, Buttoned Snout, Middle-barred Minor

     (8th)  Straw Dot, Angle Shades

     (9th)  Isotrias rectifasciana, Hedya nubiferana, Ancylis achatana, Notocelia trimaculana, Parapoynx stratiotata/Ringed China-mark, Elephant Hawk-moth, Treble Brown Spot, Toadflax Pug

     (10th)  Orange-tailed Clearwing, Red-belted Clearwing, Currant Clearwing (all by day to lures), Nemophora degeerella, Morophaga choragella, Nemapogon clematella, Paraswammerdamia albicapitella, Plutella xylostella, Hofmannophila pseudospretella, Bryotropha affinis, Teleiodes luculella, Archips podana, Pandemis cerasana, Clepsis consimilana, Tortrix viridana, Agapeta hamana, Cydia pomonella, Myelois circumvoluta, Homoeosoma sinuella, Ephestia woodiella, Anania fuscalis, Eudonia lacustrata, Eudonia pallida, Chrysoteuchia culmella, Acentria ephemerella, Blood-vein, Green Pug, Brown Silver-line, Snout, Light Arches, Heart & Club, Flame, Ingrailed Clay

     (11th)  Argyresthia cupressella, Luquetia lobella, Elachista argentella, Celypha striana, Eucosma cana, Riband Wave, Four-dotted Footman, Blackneck, Beautiful Hook-tip, Miller, Uncertain, Obscure Wainscot

     (12th)  Pseudoswammerdamia nebulella, Metzneria lappella (to be checked), Gynnidomorpha alismana, Lathronympha strigana, Anania perlucidalis, Crambus pascuella, Crambus perlella, Currant Pug, Marbled White Spot

     (13th)  Red-tipped Clearwing (by day to lure), Clepsis spectrana, Pseudargyrotoza conwagana, Privet Hawk-moth, Small Dusty Wave, Barred Yellow, Smoky Wainscot

     (14th)  Lyonetia clerkella, Prays fraxinella, Blastobasis lacticolella, Ditula angustiorana, Hedya ochroleucana, Anania coronata, Elophila nymphaeata/Brown China-mark

     (15th)  Aethes beatricella, Neocochylis hybridella, Orthotaenia undulana, Hypsopygia costalis, Pine Hawk-moth, Dwarf Cream Wave, Yellow Shell, Mottled Beauty, White Satin, Round-winged Muslin, Rustic, Brown-line Bright-eye, Double Square-spot

The weekend of 9th/10th June saw us lose those dreary easterlies which made the nights so chilly.  The wind has since returned to that direction but at least the days have been hot and the nights sufficiently warm to give some reasonable results.  In fact the sessions on 10th and 15th June both proved to be 100+ species nights here, the earliest in a season that I've ever passed that threshold.  As of 15th June the garden count for 2023 had reached 309 species (with an assortment of Nepticulids, Coleophorids and others to be added after dissection).  Compared to the recent past, that total is behind 2022 (324) & 2020 (343) but ahead of 2021 (280) & 2019 (275), so things would seem to be roughly where they should be at this point in the season despite the cool, wet spring.

Treble Lines has continued to do well, with a further 267 examples appearing by last night to take this year's garden total to 633, now just six behind the record of 639 in 2020 which is sure to be overtaken.  The Minors are doing well and numbers of Heart & Dart and Dark Arches are slowly beginning to build, but few other species are showing any sign of turning up in large quantities.    

Morophaga choragella, Westcott 10th June

Nemapogon clematella, Westcott 10th June

Luquetia lobella, Westcott 11th June

Gynnidomorpha alismana, Westcott 12th June

Buttoned Snout, Westcott 7th June

Obscure Wainscot, Westcott 11th June

Of the new arrivals over this period, the large tineid Morophaga choragella (10th) is a rare visitor here and the last record was in 2015, while its smaller relative Nemapogon clematella (also 10th) might be relatively common according to the books but this was only my fifth sighting in Bucks and it was a first for this site - lepidoptera species number 1,099 on the garden list.  Luquetia lobella (11th) is only an occasional visitor here but I've had two more since that first one and it has appeared elsewhere while away trapping, so perhaps the moth is having a good year.  Aethes beatricella (15th) & Gynnidomorpha alismana (12th) are described as 'local' nationally but both are regulars here.  The latter feeds on water plantain which I suspect must be in some local garden ponds as we're not that close to any flowing water course.  Buttoned Snout (7th) has to be breeding in the garden as we have a lot of wild hop but the moth doesn't show itself that often.  I have as many records from lit windows or forays around the garden by torchlight as I do to the traps. Obscure Wainscot (11th) is only the fourth record for the garden after singletons in 2018/2021/2022 but these appearances suggest that it may now be a local resident.  Pine Hawk (15th, one to each trap) was the last of the common resident hawk-moth species to turn up this year.  I would expect to see the migrant Hummingbird Hawk-moth fairly soon and it is certainly about time that a Striped Hawk-moth showed its face here! 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks