Caterpillar in moth trap

Just 5 adult moths to the garden trap last night, but also this dark hairy caterpillar.. My suggestion is White Ermine, but I guess there could be other candidates?

Steve Trigg, Cookham

Plumed Prominent

Ched George had a male Plumed Prominent to his outside light last night.  This is quite remarkable because Ched lives in Radnage, near Stokenchurch, so this is in a completely new tetrad and marks the first ever Bucks record from north of the M40 (all our previous sightings have been in a tight cluster to the south of the motorway).  Could this smart little moth be on the move?  Or maybe we've been overlooking it away from the usual sites!  

Plumed Prominent, Radnage 11th November

Bordered Beauty

I was a bit surprised to find this in the trap this morning, since the flight period is quoted as Jul-Sept. The Moth Atlas histogram shows one tiny bar at the end of Oct/beginning of Nov, but it looks like a 1970-1979 record, and indeed it suggests the flight period has moved earlier. Could it be a second generation, or is it just very late?

Phil T

Red Sword-grass

At 6pm last night I was minding my own business, out trapping in south Bucks to check on whether one of our rarer moth species had started flying, when I got a message from my wife Val back at home saying "do you know what this is on the kitchen window?" with an accompanying not-too-helpful phone photo of a moth's undersides.  Having persuaded her to go outside and pot it up, I was then sent another phone picture from which its identity became clear - a Red Sword-grass - and I only just managed to resist the sudden urge to pack up and drive straight back home!

Red Sword-grass, Westcott 9th November

The moth is resident on the west side of the UK but is rarely seen on the east side where it is most likely an immigrant, or at least a long-distance wanderer.  This example is the seventh record for VC24, the only other post-millennium sightings having been at Longwick (2005), Chorleywood (2014 & 2016) and Lavendon (2017), three widely-spaced locations.

Red Sword-grass is the fourth macro-moth to be added to the Westcott garden list this year and the 450th macro overall, so quite a significant visitor.  The remainder of last night's garden collection included my first Scarce Umber of the season and a late Merveille du Jour (the first here for nearly three weeks), but otherwise it was a fairly typical catch for early November of 26 moths from 12 species. 

Back to last night's visit to woodland near Marlow, Bucks where I was checking to see if the nationally scarce Plumed Prominent was on the wing yet.  Although its larvae feed on Field Maple, which is widely available, the moth itself is restricted to a handful of sites in southern England and one of them is the area around Marlow and Henley on the Bucks/Oxon border.  Bonfire Night is the trigger to think about searching for this late-flying species and the earliest date I've seen the moth locally is 6th November, but in the past I've had quite a few failures before about mid-month.  Last night was successful, though, with two males turning up between 6.30 and 7pm.  If you haven't seen a male by about 8.30pm it is time to pack up because they fly quite early (the females are supposed to fly later in the night although the only one I've ever seen, out of about 80 individuals, appeared early with the males).

Plumed Prominent, 9th November

The above picture is not the best of images, taken on the sheet under the MV trap in the light of my head-torch, but it shows the massive antennae quite well.  Other species seen before I packed up at 8.30pm were Diurnea lipsiella, Acleris sparsana, December Moth, Barred Hook-tip (a very late specimen), Red-green Carpet, Spruce Carpet, Feathered Thorn, November Moth agg., Green-brindled Crescent, Red-line Quaker, Yellow-line Quaker, Brick & Barred Sallow.

Diurnea lipsiella, 9th November

Barred Hook-tip, 9th November

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks          

Stoke Goldington, Bucks

 A reasonable night with a garden record of 10 Sprawler (none of which were actually inside the Skinner trap). Also, this rather plain looking micro which I'm making guess at Blastobasis lacticolella, but willing to be corrected.

Westcott, Bucks

December Moth put in its first garden appearance of the year here last night with four individuals turning up, all of them male.

December Moth, Westcott 8th November

They were accompanied by Acleris variegana (1), Acleris kochiella (1), Red-green Carpet (6), Winter Moth (1), Feathered Thorn (1), Silver Y (1), Sprawler (14), Yellow-line Quaker (1) & Beaded Chestnut (1), so quite an acceptable result for this point in the year.  Sprawler seems to be doing reasonably well at the moment as that's 37 of them I've had here over the past four nights, taking this season's garden total to 55.  However, the moth will have to get a move on to reach 2018's count of 154!  Acleris kochiella is a regular here (there is plenty of elm both locally and within the garden) although the only other example to appear at Westcott this year was also a winter specimen back in February.  I keep hoping for the rather similar Acleris logiana (a birch feeder) which visited the garden a couple of times in 2020 but has yet to put in an appearance this year.  It is another one which over-winters as an adult.

Acleris kochiella, Westcott 8th November

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

A bit of a challenge

I will be pleasantly surprised if anyone can ID this little chap, found in a crack in the plaster at my grandchildren's house and rescued by the post-booster NHS leaflet which I had on me at the time. Moths very sparse now but I've had interesting encounters with a very lively hedgehog, a drowned baby grass snake and a roadkill otter, found on the Banbury Road verge. The Environment Agency collected it the following morning to send to Cardiff University where otter autopsies apparently provide lots of interesting info.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon

Acleris sparsana - at last

Acleris sparsana is an annual visitor to the garden although I only get one or two each season.  I was beginning to give up hope this year but then this rather tired-looking and poorly-marked specimen turned up last night.

Acleris sparsana, Westcott 6th November

The results from the last two nights have actually been quite reasonable for the time of year, with 12 species on each of them (for a combined total of 17 different species).  Red-green Carpet (6) and Feathered Thorn (6) provided the highest counts on the 5th while Sprawler (10) was the winner last night. 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Dusky Brocade?

 

Now things have quietened down (only one moth last night!) I'm going through my photos trying to identify some of those I deferred identifying at the time. This was recorded on 12th July and I think it's a Dusky Brocade, but I'm far from certain, so would appreciate confirmation or otherwise.

Thanks

Phil T

Mottled Umber

There have been no blanks yet here in the garden although it came close on Tuesday night with just a pair of Sprawlers turning up.  Last night's collection (eight species) included another Dark Sword-grass and my first Mottled Umber of the season.

Mottled Umber, Westcott 3rd November

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Another couple of queries

I think the top one, from mid-October is a very dark Lunar Underwing, but the wingtip shape looks more like Beaded Chestnut - and it's SO DARK!

The second looks like an Acleris or Pandemis to me, but no species in the book looks quite right. Is it one of the very variable ones?

And No3 is so featureless, I'm not sure at all - is it just a very plain Chestnut?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

David

Westcott, Bucks

This brings noteworthy sightings in the garden here at Westcott up-to-date to the end of October.  The period from the 26th through to the 28th in particular offered the possibility of migrant activity although it needed bricks inside the trap and bungee cords to keep the trap together in what were very gusty conditions.  Needless to say very little of interest ventured this far inland, but if you don't try you don't get!  October has seen a total of 84 different adult moth species recorded in the garden (23 of them micros), down from 175 adult species (69 micros) in September.  22 leaf-mining early stages were also added over those two months and the garden list for 2021 currently stands at 640 species although there are a good number of dissections still to be carried out which should add significantly to that total.  This suggests that the garden will end up with quite an acceptable number of species for the year, but I'm sure the overall count of individual moths will be well down.  We'll see when I eventually catch up with inputs to MapMate.   

     (22nd)  43 moths of 12 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (23rd)  54 moths of 19 species; Tawny Pinion was new for the garden year-list.

     (24th)  26 moths of 13 species; nothing new for the garden year-list.

     (25th)  21 moths of 7 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was a migrant Dark Sword-grass.  

     (26th)  75 moths of 23 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note were the first garden adult of Caloptilia stigmatella this year (already recorded as a leaf-mine) and migrant Udea ferrugalis (2).

     (27th)  69 moths of 19 species; Cydalima perspectalis was new for the garden year-list.

     (28th)  64 moths of 23 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note were migrant Udea ferrugalis (2).

     (29th)  27 moths of 13 species; nothing new for the year list.  Of note were the first Winter Moth here of the season and another migrant Udea ferrugalis. 

     (30th)  11 moths of 6 species; nothing new for the year list.  Of note was yet another migrant Udea ferrugalis (something different would have been nice!).

     (31st)  10 moths of 5 species; nothing new for the year list.

The Tawny Pinion (23rd) was especially welcome because the moth only seems to put in an appearance here every three or four years if I'm lucky and this was the first since 2017.  Stable-mate Pale Pinion, on the other hand, is an annual visitor.  The Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis was interesting.  With none seen here during the summer I hadn't expected to record it at all in the garden this year but then two turned up on the 27th and one more on the 28th on what were very windy and wet nights - migrants, perhaps?  The moth first appeared in the garden in September 2017 and a further singleton followed in August 2018.  None was seen in 2019 but two more visited in July 2020.  I know some people have been absolutely inundated with this pest species from the Far East but luckily I've not had that experience - yet.  The first Winter Moth of the year (29th, a poorly-marked example) might seem a little early but appearances during the second half of October are becoming more and more frequent these days.  Last year the first garden record was on 17th October which remains my earliest ever date for the species. 

Tawny Pinion, Westcott 23rd October

Cydalima perspectalis, Westcott 27th October

Winter Moth, Westcott 29th October

Found indoors on the 28th, scurrying around on the inside of an upstairs window pane, was a Nepticulid which hopefully will be identified by dissection in the fullness of time, although with a fore-wing length of just under 2mm its bits must be miniscule!  The appearance of the moth itself should help to narrow down the pool of suspects (dark scape, whitish head and eye-caps and the position beyond mid-wing of the lighter fascia).  Trying to use the key in MoGBI vol.1 proved unsuccessful but that key is 40 years old and I suspect a lot more has been learned about these tiny species in subsequent years.  

Stigmella species, Westcott 28th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Stoke Goldington. Another late Vine's Rustic?

 Captured on 27th Oct, I am assuming a pale, late Vine's Rustic?

A couple of queries

 Hi there,

I'm a bit confused about these two. The first I make either a very dark form of the variable Beaded Chestnut or the highly contrasted form of Dark Chestnut - but the wing shape looks too curved for that.

The second is, I think, a Pale Mottled Willow, but I'm not familiar enough with that species to be sure.

Can someone sort me out, please? Many thanks, David

Records for 10km square SP53

Last Sunday I spent just under an hour walking a footpath in the area between Brackley (Northants) and Turweston (Bucks) to try and get some micro records for the hectad SP53, only a tiny proportion of which lies in VC24.  So far as Bucks is concerned that 10km square has now gone from zero micro records to nearly thirty with the leaf-mining species listed below, so it was definitely a worthwhile afternoon's work.

On Apple:  Phyllonorycter blancardella/hostis (some retained to rear), Parornix scoticella

On Blackthorn:  Stigmella plagicolella
On Bramble:  Stigmella aurella

On Dog Rose:  Stigmella anomalella

On Dogwood:  Antispila metalella

On Elm:  Stigmella lemniscella, Stigmella ulmivora, Stigmella viscerella, Phyllonorycter schreberella,

               Phyllonorycter tristrigella

On Field Maple:  Stigmella aceris, Phyllonorycter acerifoliella

On Hawthorn:  Stigmella oxyacanthella, Stigmella regiella, Phyllonorycter corylifoliella, Phyllonorycter

               oxyacanthae, Parornix anglicella, Lyonetia clerkella

On Sycamore:  Stigmella speciosa, Phyllonorycter geniculea

The above were all in SP5936.  Numbers were limited by the vegetation on offer and I had to move north into the adjacent 1km square, SP5937, to find some different food-plants:

On Hazel:  Stigmella microtheriella, Phyllonorycter coryli, Phyllonorycter nicellii, Parornix devoniella

On Sallow:  Stigmella salicis, Phyllonorycter sp (some retained to rear)

Stigmella lemniscella on elm, 24th October

Stigmella salicis (group) on sallow, 24th October

Recent DNA work has suggested that Stigmella salicis is actually a group of cryptic species but the taxonomic situation doesn't seem to have been resolved yet.  In the meantime it is at least worth recording the side of the leaf on which the eggs are laid (underside on both the active and vacated mines in the image above). 

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

Scarce Bordered Straw

Ched George had a Scarce Bordered Straw to his overnight trap last night in Radnage, Bucks.  The only other migrant was a single Udea ferrugalis (Rusty Dot Pearl).  

Scarce Bordered Straw, Radnage 26th October

Westcott, Bucks

Last night (21st) was a foretaste of what's to come now, with the temperature falling to 5C before midnight under clear skies with a bright moon.  With so little likely to be happening in the garden from here onwards it is probably not worth continuing with these weekly summaries for much longer but I'll do so until the end of this month before reverting to the occasional post when or if something interesting is seen.

The third week of October produced only two new garden species for the year and little sign of any migrant activity here despite favourable conditions several nights running.  However, the Oleander Hawk-moth taken on the 19th by Steve Nash in Highworth, Wilts (only a mile or two from the Berkshire border) just goes to show that really nice things can turn up absolutely anywhere - so we all need to keep trying.  Thanks very much to Steve for allowing the use of his image below.  What a stunning moth!

Oleander Hawk-moth, Highworth 19th October (Steve Nash)

     (15th)  29 moths of 13 species; Pale November Moth was new for the garden year-list (its octavals were checked).

     (16th)  55 moths of 18 species; nothing new for the year-list.

     (17th)  20 moths of 10 species; nothing new for the year-list.

     (18th)  60 moths of 21 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was a single migrant Udea ferrugalis (Rusty Dot Pearl), while singletons of Blood-vein and Brimstone Moth seemed rather late but both do appear fairly regularly in October these days.

     (19th)  21 moths of 10 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was the first record here this autumn of Acleris hastiana.

     (20th)  40 moths of 19 species; Sprawler was new for the garden year-list.  Of note was a single migrant Dark Sword-grass. 

     (21st)  6 moths of 6 species; nothing new for the year-list.  Of note was the second Large Wainscot of the year (the species isn't an annual visitor here).

Acleris hastiana, Westcott 19th October

Sprawler, Westcott 20th October

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks

A couple of queries

 Hi - these two seem to me probably to be White-point and Vine's Rustic, but maybe surprising at this time of year? Comments please! Best wishes

David

Bucks 10km Square Records

Hopefully of passing interest, at least to readers in Buckinghamshire, is this updated map showing the number of moth species recorded in each 10km square which lies wholly or partially within VC24 (data now correct to the end of 2020):  

1000+ species should really be achievable in every 10km square.  We're already there with nine of the 36 squares and at least two more could well have passed that total when this year's data is added, but a little bit of work still needs to be done elsewhere.  We're not overly concerned with the poor showings in SP53 or TL00 and TL01 because only a very small percentage of each of those squares lies within Bucks.  In the case of SP53 it is just a tiny area on the eastern side of Brackley which VC24 lays claim to, although there is potential to increase the species total significantly there just with a few leaf-mine records (the micro count is currently zero!). 

The best recorded square is SU98 which includes Stoke Common and Burnham Beeches, the Rothamsted Insect Survey trap at Burnham Beeches having been instrumental in providing a good number of new micro records for the county post-millennium.  Surprisingly, SU98 doesn't have the highest macro-moth count and actually lies in fourth place with 519 species when looking at them alone.  Six squares have achieved 500 or more macro species and top of that league is SP84 (northern Milton Keynes) with 548.    

The area of most concern is still SP82 (total species count 384) which is by far the most under-recorded 10km square wholly within Bucks.  To be fair the area doesn't have very much going for it, being mainly arable farmland with no sizeable woodland at all.  Compared to elsewhere it is also poorly served by garden recorders, but it must still be possible to find many more species within the square than have been seen so far.  That's a task for 2022 if anyone nearby fancies some trapping away from home.  Better still would be to find potential new recorders who actually live in places like Whitchurch, Wing, Stewkley or Stoke Hammond! 

Update:  at the request of Phil Tizzard (see comments below) I've added a second 10km square map showing the macro-moth totals.

White Ermine

 An unexpected White Ermine turned up here on Thursday night as well as my tenth Clifden Nonpareil of the year. 

Andy Newbold, Sibford Ferris, Oxon.