July highlights / August slowdown

As most seem to have found, July really was very good for moths here in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire: numbers of individuals in the trap were over 300 a number of times, almost hitting 400 on 20th July and eventually breaking that barrier with 413 on 26th July, and were over 80 species on several nights (84 on the 26th): the total number of species we totted up was 233, with good numbers of species new to the garden. Among those were a handsome Vapourer, a female Bulrush Wainscot, Lunar-spotted Pinion, Least Carpet and Nut-tree Tussock; while familiar species we were glad to see included Drinker, Eucosma cana and Maiden's Blush.

Female Bulrush Wainscot, 25/7/14

Drinker, 18/7/14

Eucosma campoliliana, 16/7/14

Least Carpet, 13/7/14

Lunar-spotted Pinion, 11/7/14

Maiden's Blush, 26/7/14

Nut-tree Tussock, 21/7/14

Vapourer, 15/7/14

August for the time being has gone rather quiet, with an abrupt end to the warmer weather, although recent additions to the garden list have included nice species such as Oblique Carpet, Tawny-barred Angle and Twin-spotted Wainscot. All of which leaves my current total as 368: 352 moths and sixteen butterflies.

Oblique Carpet, 6/8/14

Tawny-barred Angle, 5/8/14

Twin-spotted Wainscot, 4/8/14