Westcott, Bucks

Overall, the second half of July has been rather disappointing in the garden at Westcott.  The two traps did achieve a combined 100+ species on a couple of nights (23rd & 27th), but otherwise the catches were poor and new species for the year were down considerably over what would normally be expected at the peak of the season.  Last night (31st) I got only 173 individuals of 57 species thanks to the wind and the only thing seemingly on the increase now is the number of wasps - the "August lull" may have arrived early!     

     (16th)   - nil -

     (17th)  Epermenia chaerophyllella, Acleris variegana

     (18th)  Ypsolopha dentella, Magpie Moth, Tree-lichen Beauty, Least Yellow Underwing

     (19th)  Yponomeuta rorrella, Bryotropha senectella, Canary-shouldered Thorn, Jersey Tiger

     (20th)  Catoptria falsella, Copper Underwing

     (21st)  Webb's Wainscot

     (22nd)  - nil -

     (23rd)  Ypsolopha sequella, Argyrotaenia ljungiana, Maple Pug, Plain Pug, Wormwood Pug, Yarrow Pug, Small Rufous

     (24th)   - nil -

     (25th)  Recurvaria leucatella, Small Waved Umber

     (26th)  Dewick's Plusia

     (27th)  Stigmella tiliae (mine, daytime), Achroia grisella, Mouse Moth, Lesser-spotted Pinion, Scarce Silver-lines

     (28th)  Straw Underwing

     (29th)  Aspilapteryx tringipennella, Ypsolopha horridella, Uncinus obductella, Sallow Kitten

     (30th)  Yponomeuta plumbella, Epinotia nisella, Crescent

     (31st)    - nil -

Magpie Moth, Westcott 18th July

Webb's Wainscot, Westcott 21st July

Ypsolopha sequella, Westcott 23rd July

Small Waved Umber, Westcott 25th July

Lesser-spotted Pinion, Westcott 27th July

Crescent, Westcott 30th July

The bulrush-feeding Webb's Wainscot (21st) first appeared here in 2014 and has been an annual visitor since 2018.  Last year's garden count reached 14 and there have been half a dozen already this year, so it is obviously well established locally (there are proper wetland sites not too far away but bulrush is also common in ditches and ponds around here).  It has been a similar story with Lesser-spotted Pinion (27th), which first appeared in 2016 and has also been an annual here since 2018.  The species took a big hit in the 1970s when there was a resurgence of Dutch Elm Disease, a fungal disease spread by beetles which killed most mature elms in the southern half of the UK.  However, there are still plenty of hedgerow elms locally, even though the disease means that they don't live for more than about 20 years, and the moth now seems to have learnt to cope with the lack of mature trees.  Let's hope that White-spotted Pinion, which uses the same food-plant, eventually undergoes the same kind of revival locally.  Crescent (30th) was an excellent catch, only the third site record for this wetland species.   

Probably the most interesting visitor over this period is shown below and, needless to say, was a first for the garden.  Uncinus (previously Moitrelia) obductella was once restricted to Kent but in recent years has spread north-westwards and had reached the Chilterns by 2020.  Its larvae feed on marjoram.  

Uncinus obductella, Westcott 29th July

An interesting individual noted on the 23rd was this very dark, almost melanic, Single-dotted Wave.  The species has been doing very well here this year and there has been quite a variation in markings, this being the most extreme I've seen.

Single-dotted Wave, Westcott 23rd July

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks