Cors Ian

A visit to Cors Ian this morning yielded N. degeerella by the car park, as well as Oblique Carpet and Bactra lancealana further on near the pond.

A supporting cast of C. culmella and C. lathoniellus.
Simon

Peach Blossom

David Woolley recorded this Peach blossom and 3 Campion in his trap at Rhos Llawr Cwrt last night. The Campion is a regular at the site but the Peach blossom is only the second recorded there. As reported by Adrian Fowles 30 years ago, the Peach blossom is widespread in wooded localities, though rarely encountered in large numbers.

Tony

And Another One

The Early Thorns I bred out from eggs - see earlier post - I was feeding on Hawthorn from a local hedge. One of the branches had a leaf spinning, so I put it in another pot and waited.
This emerged this morning.

Hedya nubiferana

Ina

Daytime Micros

When the sun reappeared in our Ceredigion skies we ventured out on a micro hunt. Here are a few photos of some we found.

Ancylis badiana

C.culmella - pale form

Scoparia pyralella

Homoeosoma sinuella

Epiblema scutulana

And one for Mr H. - Dichrorampha sp?

Ina and Tony

May Highflyer

We had eleven macro species from our garden trap this morning with the star of the night being our first ever May Highflyer.  There are plentiful Alder trees near our property, its larval foodplant.  The Ruby Tiger made its first appearance for this year.  Numbers are still very low though the White Ermine and Brown Silver-line reached double figures.  The two micros were the Small Magpie and Light Brown Apple Moth.

Carolyn & Evan

May Highflyer

Ruby Tiger

Early Thorn Update

I am afraid the conditions I have kept my Early Thorn babies in was just a tad too warm.
They have started to emerge this morning a month too early - 15 so far!

Wings developing

Why do they always manage a coy look?

Errmmm

What you lookin' at!!

Ina

Death's Head Hawkmoth

The remains of a Death's head hawkmoth were found last Saturday, 30th May, by Cathryn Brown near Wallog just north of Aberystwyth. She reported her find to the Wildlife Trust who notified us and we were able to collect the specimen yesterday. Despite its bedraggled state and a missing wing, it is unmistakeable. The wing length is 55mm.

It was found underneath this hive and may have fallen out after some recent work. The hive and colony was inspected on September 23rd last year so we assume the moth entered some time after that. Most of these moths arrive over here in September and October. It either died or was killed by the bees and remained inside the hive until now.

These immigrant moths are recorded in small numbers in most years, usually in the south and east of England, so this is quite a rarity. In fact there are ten records for Ceredigion the most recent being in 1983.

Tony & Ina