Prochoreutis myllerana

This turned up in my trap on Aug 24th and I took notice because I like Nettle taps and this one was small and very bright.  Peter Hall very kindly did the deed and confirmed that it was this one and not sehestediana which has been found once before in Cere I think.
There is some skullcap down on the bog only 500m away so I'm lucky it came up to my trap instead of Tillo's Roth trap close by…though it unfortunately shared the same fate anyway.

Apparently there has been a late blooming of Anthophila fabriciana in Somerset with large numbers seen recently. I saw one a few days ago on ragwort down at the Llanon beach carpark but it wasn't as pretty as this.

Scalloped Hazel caterpillar?

I think this is the scarce green lichen form of the Scalloped hazel caterpillar.  Climbing into a crevice or down the trunk* on a birch along the railway line Cors Caron tonight so apologies for the photo: it was so dark!  It is the end of its larval period so looks fat enough to pupate.
 * Can't tell which is the front end!

Leafmines - Cwm Clettwr and Cors Fochno

As mentioned in my previous post four of us went leafmining yesterday and came back with approximately fifty species from the two locations.  Not all mines, some larvae, pupae and a couple of adults too. Ten or so of these will need to be bred through to be sure of the species.

Tischeria ekebladella on Oak

Phyllonorycter sorbi on Rowen

Clouded Magpie larva on ?Elm

Does anyone have any idea on this as yet unidentified larva, still happily eating it's way through the leaf as I type.  Hairy and similar to some plume larva but a little too big I think.

Ynys-hir 24th Sept

We had visitors from Lancashire over the weekend who kindly offered to help us out with the micros/leafmines. See next post for leafminers.
Due to some heavy rain showers the catch was not as good as expected and we very nearly got washed away while emptying the traps hence there are not a lot of photos.
Twenty species of macros identified and nine micros plus a few aggregates. Common Marbled Carpet was the most numerous, Spruce Carpet, Pine Carpet, Grey Pine Carpet and this unusual Red-green Carpet which was actually yellower than it appears on the picture.
Autumn moths are putting in an appearance now in greater numbers - Chestnut, Red-line Quaker, Pink-barred Sallow, Autumnal Rustic, Black Rustic, Small Wainscot and we also had one Small Angle Shades which is only the fourth September record for the county.  The most striking micro for me was this Acleris cristana which I can't help but name Darth Vader...well that is what the black and white form reminds me of anyway!! ;-)

Acleris cristana

Red-green Carpet

convolvulous hawkmoths on Skokholm

The Skokholm blog reports their 7th CH of the autumn!  Its a well illustrated read which though majoring on birds (it now has Obs status) always comments on its moth catch.

Another C.H. and a vc46 First

This one is alive, well just about.  This Convolvulus Hawkmoth walked into a house in Borth and is the tenth found at or in the same house and garden over the last few days.  Amazing! There is one lonely Nicotiana plant in the front garden...but that may be all it took.

The second piece of good news this morning is L-album Wainscot in one of our own traps at Wallog.  There are no other records in the data so county first it is then!

I'm very excited, can you tell? ;-)
More later maybe.
Ina and Tony

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

We were contacted yesterday by Peter Trudgill to say he had a Hawkmoth, found on the steps in his garden.
The photograph below confirms that it is indeed a Convolvulus Hawkmoth in poor condition and looks as though it could have been 'cat assisted' to it's final resting place.
This moth missed us by a matter of a few hundred yards! There must be more out there folks.
There are still some scales near the base of the r/h wind, more visible on the second photo.
Tony & Ina

Blood-Vein

This turned up in the trap this morning. Tony tells me that it is the latest ever county record by 10 days. He also advises that there are normally two generations, but there are some records, particularly in the south of the country, of a partial third generation. The thought is that, as it is pretty fresh, there has been a warm spell lately and it is so much later than former records, it may well be a third generation.

It is only the second record from Llawrcwrt the first being on the Open Day on the 2^nd July.

Flounced chestnut

A cold, moonlit night was not ideal for moths but we had 28 moths of 17 species (12 macro and 5 micro) in woodland at Furnace. In the mix were Common marbled carpet, Brimstone, Canary-shouldered thorn, Purple bar, Snout, Pine carpet, Green carpet, Engrailed, Silver Y, Pink-barred sallow, Flounced chestnut, Rush veneer, Acleris rhombana, Pandemis cerasana, Pandemis cinnamomeana, Ypsolopha parenthesella.

Flounced chestnut



Distribution map

Flounced chestnut records per year (7 in 2015)

Flounced chestnut is not very common in Ceredigion but it does seem to be increasing. There are 107 records in total of which 8 were between 2000 and 2010, and 28 from 2011 to 2015. This is one of the species identified in "The State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013" as having declined by 94% over the 40 years up to 2007.

Tony & Ina

Gold Spot

I am experimenting with posting to blogger from my iPhone. Will this photo of a Gold Spot that I caught on Monday 12 September appear? Fingers crossed as I have been struggling to post from devices other than my pc.

Convolvulus Hawk moth

I was lucky enough to catch a Convolvulus Hawk moth on Tuesday 13 September in my garden at Cross Inn, Llanon. Almost exactly a year ago, and before I had really got interested in moths, a friend had one land on her washing line and took this charming photo of her daughter admiring it. Last night the best I could manage was a single Silver Y.

Red-line Quaker

Autumn fast approaches. Tony tells me that the earliest county record for the Red-line Quaker is the 12th September, so this on the 14th is quite early.

After 20 macros yesterday, nothing in the trap this morning, not even Caddis flies or midges., and it wasn't a particularly cold night.

Where have our moths gone?

The weather last night was very good for mothing and yet a Robinson trap with a 60W Actinic light in our garden on the edge of a village, caught just 18 moths of 11 common species. They were: Common marbled carpet, Green carpet, Silver Y, Square-spot rustic, Large yellow underwing, Brimstone, Setaceous Hebrew character, Garden carpet, Lesser yellow underwing, Light brown apple moth and Firethorn leaf miner.

Tony & Ina

Autumn moths at Ynys-hir

Today's event at the RSPB reserve produced some seasonal moths showing that Autumn is here, even though the weather has been more like Summer recently. There were 31 macro species and 7 micros. Most numerous by far were Common marbled carpet, followed by Green carpet, Brimstone moth and Snout. Apart from those in the photos below, we had Copper underwing and Svensson's copper underwing, Silver Y, Angle shades, Spruce carpet, Brindled green, September thorn, Canary-shouldered thorn, Peach blossom, Flame (2nd generation), Gold spot, Rosy rustic, Small phoenix, Common carpet, Flame carpet, Chevron and Straw dot. In the micros were Rush veneer, Blastobasis adustella, Bactra lancealana, Tinea semifulvella, Acleris emargana and Pandemis cerasana. Three leaf mines found in the car park were Phyllonorycter nicellii on Hazel, Stigmella tityrella on Beech and Phyllonorycter coryli on Hazel.

Centre-barred sallow

Chestnut

Stigmella tityrella (mine on Beech)

Pink-barred sallow

Frosted orange

Sallow

Red-green carpet

Acleris emargana

Pinion-streaked snout

Thanks to everyone who came along,
    Tony & Ina

Scalloped Hook-Tip? and Square-spot Rustic

I've caught several what I take to be Scalloped Hook-tips in the trap recently. They are all similar but differ quite a bit from the illustrations I have seen. The inner cross band is markedly bent, there is no dark central dot mentioned in the book, also it's not very "hooky". I've not seen them before. Perhaps they are very variable or have I got something else.
Also another first for Llawrcwrt and me, a Square-spot Rustic.

Ynys-hir on Sunday 11th Sept

Just a reminder that we will be opening traps at RSPB Ynys-hir on Sunday morning if anyone would like to come along you will be very welcome.
Normal admission charges apply for none members wanting to go onto the reserve.
This event had been missed off the RSPB web site so please pass the word around to anyone you may think will be interested to see what is flying at this time of year in a mainly woodland habitat.
Fingers cross for the good (mothing) weather to continue.

Ynyslas Dunes

Twenty three macro and seven micro plus two still to be determined on a warm night in the dunes.
The local population of Green Carpet is not in danger as we had 104 in the trap plus dozens that flew off before they could be counted when I fell down a hole while carrying the trap!
Eight Lime-speck Pugs were very nice to see, by far my favourite Pug...mainly because it never gives you a headache wondering what species it is!!
Feathered Gothic, Archer's Dart and Mullein Wave also featured.
We also had a wandering Marsh Oblique-barred, this dispersion technique is something they do on very warm nights as proved in the past by being found miles from any suitable habitat.  So, if anyone out there is wondering what that triangular shaped micro is that they have had recently... it may well be you are looking in the wrong book. ;-)

Mullein Wave

Sallow

Lime-speck Pug

Silver Y and Green Carpets

Tan-y-bwlch - sheet and light

Thanks to Chloe for organising the event last night with Penparcau Community Wildlife Group.

There were around a dozen people came to see the moths, but not many moths wanted to see us last night unfortunately.
Fifteen species as I remember but Chloe was keeping count so will put me right if I missed one  or two I'm sure.

Flounced Rustic, Small Square-spot, Square-spot Rustic, Common Carpet. Feathered Gothic, Orange Swift, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Flame Shoulder.

Captotriche marginae, Common Plume (Emmelina monodactyla), White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella), LBAM (Epiphyas postvittana), Celypha lacunana, Celypha striana, Bactra lancealana.

Coptotriche marginea

Coptotriche marginea (Tony liked this pic)

Orange Swift - Library picture

Feathered Gothic - Library picture

Heath Rustic Distribution Map

Here is the distribution map for the Heath Rustic.

Evan

Heath rustic and friends

A Heath trap in the local woodland last night produced 22 macros and 3 Micros. Most numerous were Eudonia Mercurella, Spruce carpet, Common marbled carpet, Brimstone, Flounced rustic and Purple bar. Pick of the bunch were Heath rustic, Treble-bar, Tawny speckled pug, and Magpie moth. The guide books say that Heath rustic and some brightly marked examples of White-line dart are similar, so compare this one with the White-line dart posted a couple of days ago.

Heath rustic

Treble-bar

Tawny speckled pug

Magpie moth

Tony & Ina

Pen Dinas Moth Night

Just a reminder about the event Chloe has organised for tomorrow night.
Please see  Pen Dinas Moth Night post of the 7th Aug.

It's looking fine for Friday night, so come out and Meet our aMazing Moths!  We'll be gathering round the base of Pen Dinas, (Penparcau, Aberystwyth), right at the end of Felin-y-Mor Road (aka Tip Road), where the turning circle is, at 8.30pm.  We'll meet Tony and Ina, our local moth specialists, who will be ready with their moth trap to show us how beautiful and diverse our Night-time Citizens are.  Suitable for all 8+.  

Do remember to wrap up warmly and bring yourself a torch, as there are no street lamps at the end of the lane.  For those of you driving, it would be great if you could leave your cars a bit further up the lane, as there is very limited space at the turning circle, there should be on-street parking where the houses are.  Please remember not to look at the very bright light of the moth trap directly.

A Pug

Many of the pugs I catch are in pretty poor condition, but I find even the better ones still difficult to identify. This is a good example as it doesn't appear to be too badly worn. Golden Rod Pug has been suggested. I tried to print 5mm squares however on careful measurement they are nearer 6mm squares so it is 9mm maximum.  Is that a bit small? Comments please.