Finemere Wood, Bucks

Martin Albertini, Peter Hall and I ran five MV traps in Finemere Wood for the usual three hours last Saturday night (13th July).  The selection of moths brought to the lights wasn't as good as you'd expect at this time of year but we still managed around 100 species between us and any session to which a Lappet turns up is always noteworthy!  However, the star of the show was this Light Crimson Underwing:

Light Crimson Underwing, Finemere Wood (Peter Hall)

This is the second example of Catocala promissa to be recorded in Bucks this year after David Lees had one in High Wycombe on Friday 12th July.  The only other recent records are for Penn (July 2022), Wooburn Common (July 2023) and Farnham Common (July 2023) so the Finemere sighting was the first away from the south of the county.  There are quite a few more county records for Dark Crimson Underwing (C. sponsa) which has been seen across Bucks with getting on for 20 records since these two species became re-established locally.

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks