Thursday 13 July 2017

August or September?

Some productive nights in our garden in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, with a few lifers and good numbers of NFYs. The most striking of the former, although the photo is not exactly classic, was the distinctive micro Stathmopoda pedella on 5th July; Scorched Carpet (6th July), Lunar-spotted Pinion (6th July) and Least Carpet (12th July) are far from annual - we've only had the former once before, in 2014 - and although I'd normally expect to get Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (9th July) annually, it's always a rather gorgeous visitor to see.

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, 9/7/17

Least Carpet, 12/7/17

Lunar-spotted Pinion, 6/7/17

Scorched Carpet, 5/7/17

Stathmopoda pedella, 5/7/17

A couple of slight puzzles: from the pictures and description in the Bible, I'd say this is a Knot Grass rather than a Poplar Grey, but would be grateful to know if others agree:

Presumed Knot Grass, 12/7/17
And I'm in two minds about this thorn - on balance, I'd say its characteristics in terms of a slightly kinked outer cross-line point to August Thorn, but its rather plump body and, perhaps, the angle of its wings towards September: again, any thoughts on this? (apologies for the profusion of photos of it: I wanted to get as many of its characteristics as possible).

August or September Thorn, 12/7/17

August or September Thorn (view from below), 12/7/17

August or September Thorn, 12/7/17

August or September Thorn, 12/7/17
Steve Goddard

2 comments:

  1. Yes to Knot Grass (grey hindwings compared to white in Poplar Grey). The cross-line in the thorn are quite extreme, but I suspect it is Dusky Thorn.

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  2. Thanks, Martin -- it didn't even occur to me to check Dusky Thorn (misled by the time of year, I think).

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