New Moth - Migrant or Local Breeder?

I ran my moth trap for the first time in over 2 weeks overnight on August 17th and caught a rather uninspiring 75 macro moths of 30 species, of which 23 were Large Yellow Underwings. New year ticks were Orange Swift, Pretty Chalk Carpet, Dusky Thorn, Pebble Prominent, Flounced Rustic and Old Lady. Surprisingly, 1 Old Lady actually entered the trap (they tend not to, usually being seen somewhere nearby), 1 ended up in the lounge and the other flew off! However, best of all was a White-point, which is a new addition to the garden list - picture attached. White-point is a migrant moth, which appears to have established itself on the South coast, so it is interesting to speculate on the origins of this moth. It does appear quite fresh, which might point to a locally bred moth. The first Bucks record was in 2005 and there have been a few more since, but I think that there are still fewer than 10 county records.

Butterflies Continue to Arrive

2009 has been a great year for butterflies. The buddleia is unfortunately going over and numbers of Painted Ladies have fallen away, but on August 16th, I observed 5 Small Tortoiseshells nectaring. This is particularly pleasing for two reasons - firstly, this is not a butterfly that I have seen very often in the garden, so a multiple occurrence is very unusual; secondly, this butterfly has seen a drastic national decline over the past couple of years and this year appears to be showing a reversal in its fortunes - long may it continue.

Yet another Silver-washed Fritillary was seen today (August 16th). I watched it sailing up and down the back garden, before it eventually alighted on the patio table to sun itself. This allowed me to identify it as a rather worn male.

On the avian front, an adult Hobby was watched flying westwards over the garden mid afternoon. Adults show red 'trousers', whereas juveniles do not.

Silver Ys

The evening of August 6th found me on the back patio trying to emulate the previous evening's migrating Whimbrel - no such luck! However, what was obvious was the arrival of quite a few Silver Y moths. These moths are migrants and have obviously appeared in large numbers this year. I watched them bombing about between the trees and then descending to nectar on the patio flowers.

Migrant Flock of Whimbrel

I enjoyed a rare birding event on the evening of August 5th - I popped out into the garden to enjoy an unusual dry evening and was sitting on the bench when at 8:50pm, I noticed a flock of birds in fairly rigid V formation flying south down the valley, slightly to the east of me. Unusually, I had left my bins inside the house, but was able to retrieve them fairly quickly and get on to the birds as they were just past me. They were obviously large waders, although I couldn't get anything on the bills. They were all similarly marked, brown above, brown necks and pale underwings, with no wing bars. They had to be Whimbrel - and then one bird called to clinch the ID. They had disappeared past a neighbour's house at this stage, so I ran through the house and down the drive from where I can see some distance down the valley. I picked up the birds again and tried to count them - I got to 22! They seemed to be following the valley bottom.

Recovering from the shock of the sighting, I texted Alan Stevens who lives to the south of me (the birds would have been long gone by then) and asked if he had seen or heard the birds. Remarkably, he phoned back to say that his wife had picked up a large flock of birds from the garden and he had caught them disappearing in the direction of Little Marlow GP.

Having subsequently read about Whimbrel in 'The Birds of Buckinghamshire' and 'The Birds of Bedfordshire', it appears that large flocks of Whimbrel of about this number are seen on occasion at this time of year and often tend to migrate either at dusk, night or dawn, so not unprecedented, but a great garden record!

Butterfly Numbers Increase

The buddleia bush is in full flower and has been attracting an ever increasing number of butterflies. On August 2nd, another Silver-washed Fritillary made an appearance, unfortunately it was too brief to allow identification to gender. The most obvious increase in numbers has been Peacock and Painted Lady, with Large White also appearing in impressive numbers. I suspect that the end of July and beginning of August saw the emergence of Painted Ladies resulting from the invasion in June. The peak counts, also on August 2nd, were 15 Painted Ladies and 20 Peacocks.

I saw my first Migrant Hawkers of the year on August 2nd, when 2 flew over the back garden and performed aerial circuits for a while. These rather small Hawkers are usually quite obvious because of their size and also their habit of flying in circuits at quite a height above the ground, say 20 feet.

Another Volucella inanis was observed feeding on bramble outside the kitchen window on August 3rd. I thought it was a male, but inspection of the attached photo appears to show a female.

New Micro Moth

I ran my moth trap for the first time in 2 weeks on August 1st. Conditions weren't great and I only trapped 75 macro moths of 29 species. Of these, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and Straw Underwing were new year ticks, whilst Barred Hook-tip, Mocha, Small Waved Umber and Lesser Swallow Prominent were my first of the second generation. I have attached a picture of a rather peculiarly marked Maiden's Blush, showing a dark terminal band that as far as I can gather is not something that is often seen. A rather pretty micro moth, Nemapogon clematella, was new for the garden list - thanks to Martin Albertini, the county moth recorder for identifying this one. It is a notable species, but probably under recorded, whose larvae feed on tree fungi.

July Bits and Pieces

I found the first Common Darter of the year, a male on July 25th flying around the pond. This year does not seem to have been a particularly good one for the variety of dragonflies using the pond - I suspect that Southern Hawkers may have taken over!

On July 28th, a male Volucella zonaria hoverfly was seen feeding on Oregano flowers at the bottom of the drive. I do not often observe the males of these hoverflies, most of my sightings have been of females. This male seemed to be much more wary than the females I have seen and was quick to fly off if I ventured too near. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on me at the time.