Got this one yesterday at Llanerchaeron on the meadow. It's not ideal that the rear top of the wing is missing but you can just see a portion of the lighter panel in the wing displayed in E. cana and E. obumbratana. I was leaning towards E. cana. LERC's AI had it down as E. obumbratana but it also has similarity to E. fulvana but I think this would make it a county first. Anyone with a firm thought (just for fun - I am not trying to claim a county first here ☺️).
This small pug was in my trap on 18 June. I took two photographs to try on Obsidentify. One it suggested was Valerian Pug as a 100% certainty; the other it offered Lead-grey Pug at 60%.
I don't think it is Common Pug (central spot absent, white spot on termen appears to be present); we have plenty of red valerian (Centranthus ruber) in the garden, but the nearest Valeriana officinalis I know of is 6 miles away on Tregaron. As for Lead-grey, there is or was cow-wheat less than a mile from here.
Not many moths in the garden trap last night, but a few migrants was an encouraging sign: Dark Sword-Grass, Silver Y (3) and Diamondback. Later, doing my gardening chores this afternoon, I disturbed a Bordered Straw which had presumably been attracted to the light but avoided the trap.
A short walk (that took a long time!) around the dunes at Ynyslas on Tuesday evening. I was pleased to see Shaded Pug (2), but most noticeable were rose feeders: around 150 Acleris bergmanniana in the slacks and along the side of the golf course, and Notocelia roborana (1) and Hedya ochroleucana (c20).
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| Shaded Pug |
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| Acleris bergmanniana |
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| Celypha cespitana |
Busy night in the mothing world, last night, and busy for me this morning, going through over 150 moths in and around my home-made LED trap. In all, 51 species, including a Blomer's Rivulet, new for me - and rather surprising, as I am not aware of any elms in the immediate area. A lovely moth.
Others, good to see included Grey Arches, Alder Moth, Beautiful Carpet and Sharp-angled Peacock. Like others, I have had numerous Treble Lines this year, including thirteen on 17 May.
A mild, damp night (23rd May) gave me a busy morning, with over 140 moths of 44 species coming to my LED trap light. Standouts included Square Spot, Beautiful Snout, Little Emerald, Green Arches, Rivulet and several Peach Blossom. I have the impression that several moths are appearing a little earlier in the season than usual?
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| Brown Rustic |
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| Little Emerald |
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| Beautiful Snout |
Had a nice privet hawk moth at Aberaeron yesterday and a what I think is a scorched carpet. When I entered it into the recording spreadsheet it asked for a photo so presumably we don't get many in Ceredigion? It was my first to the garden at least.
Another new Hawkmoth for our Aberystwyth garden last night.
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| Privet Hawkmoth |
A good night for the garden trap, with this Hawkmoth on the outside:
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| Lime Hawkmoth |
A strong supporting cast included Devon Carpet:
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| Devon Carpet |
Also FFY Figure of Eighty, Poplar Grey, Clouded Silver, Buff Ermine, Elephant Hawkmoth, Mottled Pug, Willow Beauty, Peppered Moth (3), and I was pleased to see a Scorched Wing, Peach Blossom, Puss Moth, Common Wave and 3 Buff-tips.
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| Figure of Eighty |
In 40 years of mothing I have never had a more spectacular catch in my garden as I did last night. Certainly not at the start of May! 43 species and 193 moths plus numerous May bugs filled my MV trap and carpeted the surrounding grass under goat willow and a mixed thorn hedge.
The pick of the catch were Orange Footman and Barred Umber and it was great to see species like White Ermine and Scorched Wing in double figures. A spring Setaceous Hebrew Character was a first for me as was Grey Pine Carpet.
Having bemoaned the lack of visitors to my garden trap, last night they came. Knot Grass and Light Knot Grass, Bactra lancealana (3), and Dioryctria abietella. Also first for year Golden-rod Pug, May Highflyer, Swallow Prominent, Heart and Dart, Mottled Rustic, and Azalea Leaf Miner.
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| May Highflyer |
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| Swallow Prominent |
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| Azalea Leaf Miner |
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| Knot Grass |
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| Dioryctria abietella |
A mine that I collected from a tree last November, that I had labelled as Acer sp. but which I now believe to be Oriental Plane, hatched today: I think it is Phyllonorycter platani.
The ox-eye daisies in Aberystwyth cemetery are just starting, and I was pleased to find two Bucculatrix nigricomella and a Dichrorampha acuminatana yesterday evening. Also c30 Glyphipterix fuscoviridella, Aspilapteryx tringipennella, Monopis laevigella, and the now ubiquitous Tachystola acroxantha.
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| Bucculatrix nigricomella |
And finally, an Ochreous Pug on my walk to work this morning.
At last a trapping session in woodland in the Rheidol Valley last night. Forty different species, with most numerous being Brindled Pug (25), Great Prominent (23) and Scoparia ambigualis (12). Good to see moths that rarely venture into the garden, including Nut-tree Tussock, Peach Blossom, Water Carpet, Red-green Carpet (2), Scorched Wing (3), Pebble Hooktip, Marbled Brown (4), Oak Nycteoline, Chinese Character, White-pinion Spotted and Pale Pinion. This Square-Spot and White Ermine decided to spend the night together:
Now is the time to look for the alien micromoth Pachyrhabda steropodes and there has been a spate of records in the last week from Carmarthenshire after I prompted local moth`ers to look for it. It occurs on soft shield-fern, a species growing on slightly base-rich soils and is often associated with hart`s-tongue fern and a cover of ash trees in woods or hedgerows. Soft shield-fern is not rare in Ceredigion.
Where established this tiny moth (at first glance it can look like a pale-golden gnat to the uninitiated) can engage in courtship swarms of the host fern, but where newly-established it can occur as singletons or in small numbers. In dull weather it can be flushed by gently tapping the fern with a stick (or your foot) - it usually returns to the same or nearby spot.
Later in the summer/autumn/early winter, the elongated larval spinnings distinguish it from other fern spore-eating micros.
It is spreading really well in SW England (where it originated from gardens in Abbotsbury) and it has now been found in most parts of Carmarthenshire (it was first seen at the National Botanical Gardens at Llanarthne in the Tywi Valley in the early 2000s). It is also spreading well in Pembrokeshire.
Come on, Ceredigion recorders! - it must be in south Ceredigion by now (it`s in the Teifi Valley area of Carms).
I'm posting this 20 plume as Shane has joined our blog and this is a challenge to him to produce one of his magical super micro images! Its so difficult to see the actual plumes in detail but despite their delicate appearance I have never seen a battered one! So Shane keep a lookout for this one, frequently found indoors, please!
Other moths of interest last night: May Hiflyer almost bang on time, and surprisingly a Red Green Carpet which according to the book must be an over wintered female. It lacked the usual colouration but then I suppose it would be a bit faded if it had spent the winter in my garden.
Welcome back to action Pete!
This tiny moth was walking around our house yesterday evening. We don't have any lime trees!
