National Moth Night - 12th-14th October 2017 - IVY

Advance notice. 

Start looking out for local sheltered patches of ivy blossom, especially those which can be visited after dark with a torch. 
The theme for National Moth Night this year is ivy/ ivy blossom. Daytime searches or traps set on Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday
Looking first during the day is a good idea then you can avoid nocturnal visits to any stands of ivy which are covered with social wasps - they may also be there in numbers at night, indicating a nearby nest.....but there should be plenty of ivy around to investigate.

More information may be available on the Atropos website but it is undergoing some reconstruction at the moment so keep checking.

Atropos - National Moth Night

Annulet and Orange Swift

A fair night on the coast last night produced 42 macro and 17 micro species.
Weighted heavily in favour of Large Y/u (69) as you would expect, closely followed by flame Shoulder or Flamethrowers as someone has recently named them... and I'm afraid it has stuck in my head! ;-)
Annulet 3 and Orange Swift 3 were the favourites.

Annulet

Antler

Brussels Lace

Common Plume

Orange Swift

Pinion-streaked Snout - or Concord flies again

Setacious Hebrew Character

Tawny Speckled Pug

Rusty-dot Pearl

Small Argent and Sable

Presumably a second generation moth along the forestry track above Tyn Y Graig (Mynydd bach forest).  Its quite high, 371m at the trig point, where the track goes just below it and has edge vegetation of heather, bilberry, tormentil and bedstraws.
Its ironic that the gaps in the forestry now present glimpses of the habitat which would have been on the hills before the sheep plague; at the time we all thought afforestation was the end of the world.  I can't envisage what unexpectedly beneficial side effects there might be to the creation of vast sheep lawns.
 Pic below is of 'improved' grassland above Soar Y Mynydd where I saw 1x Sm A&S in early June on a remnant patch of bedstraw along the track to Tyn Cornel. You can't see the huge amount of subsidised fencing which now nets this moorland.

Small Rufous and Small Wainscot

If I have identified it correctly, this is a moth I wasn't aware of. Tony's updated moths of Ceredigion  shows very few records in the county when I was trapping in the late1980's, though is is apparently more commonly recorded now. I don't know why I gave it a second look, I wonder how many I have recorded as Small Wainscot in the past, though seeing the two side by side they are not at all alike.

 
 

E.nisella

Epinotia nisella as discussed below.
Despite 3 days in cold 'solitary' this moth would still not obey me and lie still for a pic.  I was a bit mystified by the strange shape of the wings like a miniature small angle shades and the brightness of the orangey area.  It has now made a bid for freedom so this is the best pic from...rather a lot!

Four-spotted Footman

New Quay garden trap 06/08/2017.

We had the fourth Four-spotted  Footman of the year last night. all have been males.

Also our second Blue-bordered Carpet -

and a first for the garden - Six-striped Rustic

Old Lady

We were pleased to find an Old Lady in our catch this morning - an infrequent visitor to moth traps.

Carolyn & Evan