Sallow and Feathered Gothic

Despite the rain we put the garden trap out last night and recorded 15 macros and 8 micros. There was nothing too surprising (we are still waiting for the Convolvulus hawkmoth to be attracted to the Nicotiana flowers), but the presence of Sallow, Angle shades, Feathered gothic and Garden rose tortrix makes us think we have missed out on Summer.

Garden rose tortrix (Acleris variegana)

Feathered gothic

Sallow

Tony & Ina

Small Wainscot

Despite a moonlit night we had 31 macro species in three traps this morning.  These included Small Wainscot, two variations of the Square-spot Rustic, Canary-shouldered Thorn, Blue-bordered Carpet and Devon Carpet.

Carolyn & Evan

Small Wainscot

Square-spot Rustic 1

Square-spot Rustic 2

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Chevron

There have been very few moths in the trap over the last couple of nights, but this one, which I take to be a Chevron, is new to me and I think a first for Llawrcwrt

Straw dot and Adder

It was rather breezy walking round Cors Fochno this afternoon so we saw few moths although there was a good number of butterflies which included Red admiral, Peacock, Painted lady, Brimstone, Gatekeeper and Meadow brown.

But our favourite for the day was this little Adder

Tony & Ina

Clouded-bordered brindle

This is the specimen we caught in the trap last night. According to Waring & Townsend the single generation extends to late August in Northern uplands, eg. Lancashire. The distribution graph for Ceredigion shows a single peak at end of June beginning of July and extending from May to end of August.

Tony

Poplar Hawk-moth

    A nice Poplar Hawk-moth in the trap this morning. The last one I caught was on the 20th July so I wonder if  this is Second generation. I read that there is sometimes a partial second generation in the South but I wonder if it is common in Ceredigion.

Yellow underwings

31 species in the garden trap this morning the vast majority of them (70) were Large yellow underwing but also Lesser yellow underwing, Lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing and a single, slightly battered, Broad-bordered yellow underwing. 7 Setaceous Hebrew character were the first we have seen this Autumn. A surprisingly fresh looking Coronet which is quite late for its normal flight period. Others included Dark arches, Clouded-bordered brindle, Ruby tiger, Spruce carpet, Pine carpet, Shuttle-shaped dart, Antler, Chinese character, and Rosy minor.

Broad-bordered yellow underwing

Brown china-mark

Coronet

RSPB Ynys-hir Moth Event

Saturday night/Sunday morning here in north Ceredigion was wet, windy and warm.
There was a brief, brighter spell of weather on Sunday morning and a few hardy souls ventured out to inspect our catch. Thanks to all for coming, it makes our job worthwhile.
Despite the weather we had a reasonable catch of approximately 50 macro species and half that number of micro species, if not for the wind we could well have had a lot more.
The most numerous was undoubtedly Eudonia mercurella, not counted due to time constraints but triple figures in and around the traps.
Three traps were under cover as we were expecting the forecast heavy and blustery showers to be a problem and moths had not submitted their swimming certificates in advance, so thought it best to keep them as dry as possible!
We had another trap in a remote part of the reserve where we recorded August Thorn, a very much declining species, although on the main part of the reserve we only found September Thorn.
One Svensson's Copper Underwing which now seems to predominate over Copper Underwing in the county.
I will not waffle on any longer but will leave you with a photograph of Zelleria hepariella, a micro that feeds on Ash, this is only the third record for vc46.

Zelleria hepariella

Ina and Tony

Another Hook-tip

30 macro species from our garden trap last night included these three 2nd generation moths - Oak Hook-tip, Gold Spot & Pale Prominent.  The most attractive of the four micros was this Catoptria pinella.

Carolyn & Evan

Oak Hook-tip

Gold Spot

Pale Prominent

Catoptria pinella

Sharp-angled Carpet

We caught this moth today and spent some time trying to decide whether it was a Sharp-angled Carpet or a Wood Carpet.  We opted for the former and wonder what other people think?  Apologies for the photo quality but it flew away before we could take a better one.

Carolyn & Evan

Cilgerran Moth Course - 5th Sept.

If there is anyone out there interested in a micro moth/leaf mine course at Cilgerran on the 5th Sept, Dave Grundy still has some places left. He also has other courses running in other parts of the country so best to contact him direct for the list.

Please book direct with Dave Grundy, by phone, post or preferably email and ask if you want more details on any course.

DGCountryside,  5 Melrose Avenue, Woodfield Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, B12 8TG.
Tel: 0121-446-5446 or Mobile: 0777-898-0924 or Email: dgcountryside@btinternet.com

 

Ynyslas dunes

The search for Portland moths must go on as last night's trap produced only 15 macro and 4 micro species, most interesting being Tawny speckled pug, Galium carpet, Archer's dart, Agriphila tristella (swarms around the trap site), Cnephasia longana and conspersana, Aspilapteryx tringipennella.

Archer's dart

Galium carpet

Tawny speckled pug

Tony & Ina

Tissue Moth Distribution Map

Betty,

An excellent catch and here is the distribution map for you.

Evan

Tissue moth

Betty Loyn recorded this Tissue moth from woodland near Bont Goch yesterday. There are ten county records since 2000 and only 81 records in total. This moth is interesting because it over-winters as an adult, re-emerging in April and May. It is reported to spend the winter in caves, disused buildings, outhouses and bunkers, sometimes in large aggregations. We have one record of hibernating Tissue moths. It was from the Banc Ty-Hen mine near Talybont on 28th Nov 1976, where it was recorded as "numerous in two levels of old mine". Of all the other records only one was recorded post hibernation, in April 1940.

Tony

Three Drepanidae

A bumper night produced 50 macro species in three traps.  A high spot was these three Drepanidae - Pebble Hook-tip, Scalloped Hook-tip and Chinese Character.  The most numerous were Black Arches reaching double figures and others included Gold Spangle, Orange Swift, Cloaked Carpet, Yellow-tail, Flounced Rustic and an end of season Gothic.

Carolyn & Evan

Pebble Hook-tip

Scalloped Hook-tip

Chinese Character

Black Arches

Gold Spangle

Flounced Rustic

Orange Swift

Nice to find something new to site hidden away in a heaving mass of Large Yellow Underwings. I caught one a few days ago but it escaped rather than submit to photography. I was doubly careful with this one found in the trap this morning.

Another Blue bordered carpet…and lessons.

Thanks David for posting your BBC as it alerted me to one in my catch yesterday which I had, in a rush, logged as Purple Bar.  This was caught at Coed Y Bont where there is ample alder and birch in the wet woodland.  A pretty moth with a size comparison here which alone should have alerted me.



Second lesson is not to disbelieve the weather forecast!  A very floriferous private site at Hafod was available so Red and I set 4 traps and got 3 buckets of water…no, not entirely!  As you can see the promised muggy air produced an unusual density of moths with 50 species but hundreds of moths; probably the entire population of Dingy foots in Cere though here is a good number of LYU's and Dark Arches.  3 Clay Triple Lines was probably the most interesting catch though mine flew before good pics were taken due to the downpour at 6 this morning.

Distribution Map for the Blue-bordered Carpet

David,

A good catch!  I thought you might like to see a distribution map for this carpet.

Evan

Blue- bordered Carpet

 

It's carpet week at Llawrcwrt. This turned up this morning, not in the trap but on the trap. It is the first I have seen and a first for the site. Alder and Backthorn are abundant here and the site fits the description in the book very well, so I'm a bit surprised that one hasn't turned up before.

Old lady alive and well

Our best night of the year so far with 1MV light and 1 actinic in a cracking woodland at Furnace catching hundreds of moths with 62 macro species and 36 micros (and still counting). Ina has been trying to attract an Old lady using sugaring, without success, but one was in the trap.

Blood vein & friend

Double kidney & friend

Honeysuckle moth & friend

Large emerald and friend

Old lady

Tony & Ina

Another Dark Marbled Carpet

Another Dark Marbled Carpet. This time I took Tony's advice and looked at the underside of the wings. This is supposed to be the way to separate them from Common Marbled Carpets. I must say I didn't find it conclusive when comparing it with the Waring and Townsend illustration. I see there is an Arran Carpet, what price a Cardi Carpet?

Rosy Marsh Moths

Last night was forecast to be warm and damp, ideal moth'ing conditions on Cors Fochno. Other commitments meant we would not have much time this morning so we used just one Skinner trap with a 15W actinic light. The catch was 187 macro moths of 40 species. The stars were of course 10 Rosy marsh moths. There were 50 True lover's knot but only 19 Large yellow underwing, Dingy, Scarce and Rosy footman, Smoky and Southern wainscot, 9 Marsh oblique-barred, Garden and Ruby tiger, Drinkers, Scalloped hook-tip and Yellow tail amongst the rest. We also had our first ear moth of the year, its size and the habitat suggests Large ear but they require dissection to be certain.

"Large" Ear moth

Rosy marsh moth

Tony & Ina

Thank goodness for Large Yellow Underwings

After what seems like weeks of very windy weather we have returned to very cold nights. We put the garden trap out last night and caught 70 macro moths, 47 of which were LYU in a wonderful variety of colours and patterns. We had Pebble hook-tip, Double-striped pug and Early thorn, all presumed to be from the second generation. Amongst the others were Peppered, Buff ermine, Riband wave, Swallow prominent (2), Slender brindle, Dark arches and Lesser yellow underwing.
11 species of micro moth were identified including Lyonetia clerkella, Lozotaenia forsterana, Cydia splendana, Epinotia ramella, and a selection of grass and scoparia moths.

Tony & Ina

Marbled Green

Pete Skinner found this moth yesterday morning resting on the wooden wall of an old shed just above the trap at his home near New Quay. This is the first record for VC46 although it is locally distributed along the coast of south Wales. We have established that no one living near to Pete had been south and accidently transported it back. The area contains some old buildings and stone walls and Cae Bach beach nearby used to have two lime kilns. It is likely that the moth could be moving north due to climate change, so watch out for it along the west coast.

Tony