Westcott, Bucks

With the overnight temperature having dropped into single digits here for the last three or four nights it is hardly surprising that counts from the two garden traps have fallen even further (for example 80 moths of 18 species on Wednesday 13th, only one of them a micro-moth).  Numbers will pick up again shortly when species such as Beaded Chestnut and Lunar Underwing - which don't mind chilly nights - get going properly, but for now I have to be thankful that there have still been a few things of interest and that newcomers for the year-list have continued to appear:

      (6th)  Caloptilia semifascia, Pinion-streaked Snout

      (7th)  Tawny-barred Angle, Clifden Nonpareil, Black Rustic

      (8th)  Acleris emargana, Sallow

      (9th)  Cacoecimorpha pronubana, Mallow, Small Wainscot, Lunar Underwing

     (10th)  Deep-brown Dart

     (11th)  Large Wainscot

     (12th)  Brindled Green

     (14th)  Pink-barred Sallow

     (15th)  Orange Sallow, Brown-spot Pinion

Sallow, Westcott 8th September

Large Wainscot, Westcott 11th September

Orange Sallow, Westcott 15th September

Brown-spot Pinion, Westcott 15th September

Pinion-streaked Snout is the one rarity here amongst those listed above, this being only the seventh record for the garden although it has now visited for three years in a row.  This small macro-moth is easily missed amongst all the worn Scoparid micros at this time of year.  Clifden Nonpareil has been an annual in the garden since 2017 and a second example appeared on the 11th with plenty of time yet for more to show themselves.   

Other nice moths seen were Dewick's Plusia (12th, 15th) and Webb's Wainscot (6th, 8th, 11th & 12th), of which the latter has now made 26 visits to the garden this year since the first on 21st July.  Late appearances after quite a gap in sightings have included Treble Brown Spot (13th), Magpie Moth (13th) and Short-cloaked Moth (11th), all of which could potentially be attempts at an extra brood.

 

Treble Brown Spot, Westcott 13th September

Migrants over this period included Udea ferrugalis (6th, 7th, 11th), Vestal (6th, 11th), Dark Sword-grass (two on 9th, 11th),  Delicate (8th, two on 11th, 14th, 15th) & Silver Y (6th, 11th, two on 14th).  The re-appearance of Ostrinia nubilalis over the past week, as well as increased numbers of Angle Shades and Pale Mottled Willow, may also have been the result of immigration. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks