Llanrhystud 29/04/2017

In a quest for greater biodiversity (!) I set a trap on the coast at Llanrhystud. Not massively succesful in terms of numbers (7) but I had a couple of species that I'd not previously seen at Cross Inn - Brimstone moth, and Dark Sword-grass. Whether it was worth the walk is debatable - but I did see a really good sunrise as well................. Edit:- Having looked in Fowler, Dark Sword-grass is noted as 'rare before July'. Not sure if this is still the case??

Ruddy Highflyers

At last a decent night to go looking for Ruddy Highflyer on Cors Fochno and we were not disappointed, with 17 in and around the trap this morning. Also in the total of 20 species, were: Early tooth-striped, Shoulder stripe, Square spot, Red chestnut, Herald (2), Pale pinion, Red sword-grass, Grey birch (8), Powdered quaker, Common white wave, Small phoenix, Brimstone(2), Pebble hook-tip, Scalloped hazel, Autumn green carpet. The last 6 in the list were all firsts for the year for us. The Autumn green carpet is unusual in that only the females hibernate and re-emerge in the Spring. Of nearly 500 county records there are only 12 for the Spring, hopefully because the females are not so attracted to light rather than failure to survive the winter. Red Liford also reported that he had 1 attracted to a lighted window recently.
Tony & Ina

Autumn green carpet

Herald

Scalloped hazel

Small phoenix

Plastic-eating greater wax moth may help solve pollution crisis

This article appeared on Sky News yesterday. No plastic pots or synthetic coats near this one perhaps? And my moth traps are made of plastic too...

http://news.sky.com/story/plastic-eating-greater-wax-moth-may-help-solve-pollution-crisis-10849437

 

Peter Hall

Cross Inn, Llanon

Last night I put my trap on inside the house close to a closed window and was pleasantly surprised to find a number of moths had been attracted to it and had settled on either the window or the walls.
New to me were a Streamer, Shoulder Stripe and Dotted Border. The reason I had the lamp indoors was that I had foolishly allowed a battery to totally discharge and somebody told me that the only way to 'repair' it was to charge it while under load.
I'll try again tonight.

White-spotted Pug

This Pug was caught last night near Llanrystud by Aline.
You can clearly see the white spots on the side of the abdomen.

Away fixture

I also trapped away from home yesterday evening, in woods just outside Aberystwyth. In 45 minutes the trap attracted Brimstone (2), Small Phoenix (4), Water Carpet (3), Purple Thorn (2), Least Black Arches (2), Pale Prominent, Early Tooth-striped and Brown Silver-lines. Also found this Caloptilia cuculipennella at dusk:

Flame Carpet

Following on from my earlier post, I think I have resolved my iPad problem by using Chrome as my browser instead of Safari.

Cross Inn, Llanon

Its still pretty quiet in our garden but I had an early Flame Carpet last night together with the ubiquitous Hebrew Characters.

I seem to have a total nightmare with blogger when I try to upload photos from my iPhone or iPad. If I can see photos at all, the screen is very unstable and starts wandering all over the place!  Are their any other Ceredigion Moths Bloggers who use either of these with greater success so that I can perhaps have a chat? I'm trying to work out if it is blogger or me. There used to be a blogger app but it is no longer available.

Llain, Cross Inn

Visiting friends I ran one white Hall-Robinson trap in their garden last night and the night before. Excluding the male emperors, the garden recorded 24 species on the 19th and 20 on the 20th. I have some pugs to chop, I'm not as good as Ina at id'ing them. Just under 30 species for the 2 nights effort and some very well fed bats. Topping the count list was Hebrew Character with a 2 night tally of 68, followed by Common Quaker with 47, then Brindled Beauty with 35. Nice to record Frosted Green, Lunar Marbled Brown, Powdered Quaker, Dark Sword Grass and Oak Nycteoline amongst the usual crew. The garden brambles that I helped restore back to the boundary had Stigmella aurella mines and inside the house (don't tell them!) there was Endrosis sarcitrella.Peter Hall

Llain: Dark Sword-grass

Llain: Grey Birch

Llain: March

Llain: Powdered Quaker

Llain: Yellow-barred Brindle

 

Blossom_underwing

Ina discovered another moth from last nights trapping, and it is our second Blossom underwing of the year, following one at Ynys-hir on the 28th March. This is the 12th county record since 2000 and the 74th in total. The recent 3rd edition of the field guide does not show Ceredigion on the distribution map, but this should be corrected in the forthcoming atlas. Its national status is "Local and Immigrant". All records since 2000 have come from Tregaron northwards with no coastal records, which could indicate that they are resident.
Tony & Ina

Rhos Glendenys

Having been a bit disappointed with moth trapping in my garden so far this year I decided to venture a mile or so down the road to Rhos Glendenys. Result is that I nearly doubled my year to date total albeit 54 of the moths captured were Hebrew Character. Other species included Early Tooth-striped, Powdered Quaker.

Micro Moth Field Tips - Ben Smart

The above publication is now available to pre order at a discount.

The Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Society are pleased to announce the forthcoming publication “Micro Moth Field Tips”, an introduction to finding the early signs of micro moth larvae throughout the year. The authoritative accounts written by Ben Smart, who is rapidly becoming well-renowned for his expertise in this area, are arranged in a chronological sequence to enable moth enthusiasts to indulge in their passion throughout the year.

 Details here.

Ina

Talybont last night.

Only seven species in the garden last night.
Common Quaker; Pine Beauty; Lesser Swallow Prominent; Clouded Drab; Hebrew Character; Great Prominent and last but not least...well actually it is the smallest...Emmelina monodactyla (Common Plume).

Emperors

I'm visiting the area for a couple of days, staying at Llain, not far from New Quay. My captive bred Emperors are busy hatching at the moment, so I brought the females along with me. Currently 15 females still emitting pheromones. I put them out just after 2pm, which meant I had just under 2 hours of flying time to attract any males in the area. In the end I managed 3. Here's a short video of number 2 arriving. https://youtu.be/cDos780WPtA
Peter Hall

Aspilapteryx tringipennella

Anyone out and about at this time of year keep an eye out for folded leaves on Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). The larvae first mine the leaves which becomes a large blotch which then contracts and pulls the leaf together as in the photos below. Sorry for the poor quality photos.(Ynyslas yesterday).

Folded Leaf

Larva - grey with black head

Aspilapteryx tringipennella - Adult;June'16

Moth morning at Ynys-hir

A small but enthusiastic group met at the RSPB reserve to see what had been attracted to the overnight moth traps. The numbers were not great, probably a reflection on the weather, but we had about 100 moths of 24 species, 3 of them micro moths. Firsts for the reserve this year were Great prominent, Golden-rod pug, Lesser swallow prominent, Shoulder stripe and Water carpet. The micros were Acleris literana, A. cristana and Dyseriocrania subpurpurella.

Tony & Ina

Great prominent

Lesser swallow prominent

Lunar marbled brown

Yellow-barred brindle

Ynys-hir Moths

Marvellous Moths at Ynys-hir.

Easter Monday from 9:00 to 11:00 am on the reserve car park.
Free event but normal fees apply if you wish to enter the reserve.

Streamer

A pretty moth to enjoy on a Good Friday morning. I don't see many of these at Llawrcwrt

Playing dead

Question.
I know that moths often play dead. This morning my trap contained just 4 moths. All of them Hebrew Characters. All of them quite happily lay on their backs and rattled around my collection pots making me think that I had killed them. When I released them they just fell down onto the leaves either the right way up or upside down but eventually came back from the dead. Has anybody spotted whether this response is seen in some species more than in others?

Another Grey Birch

A first for my garden in Gilfachreda -

 

Grey Birch

Also first of the year -

Oak-tree Pug

Grey Birch

Our first Grey birch of the year with our first Golden-rod pug on Cors Fochno last night. The other nine species were: Early tooth-striped(7), Early thorn(2), Common quaker(2), Twin-spotted quaker(1) Hebrew character(4), Double-striped pug(2), Dotted border(2), Clouded drab(4), Brown silver-line(1).
Tony & Ina

Emperor Video

Sorry I couldn't make it any bigger.

Nut-tree Tussock

Two first for the year at Gilfachreda - 2 x Purple Thorn and this Nut-tree Tussock.

Emperor Moth - Saturnia pavonia

First and joint earliest Emperor - to lure just north of Tre'r-ddol Thursday afternoon.
Sixth of April seems to be their preferred date to show themselves.
Only one and didn't hang about long so sorry no photo.
The promised warm weather over the weekend may be good for finding more, easier for those of you with a lure.

Rhigognostis incarnatella

This little moth appeared in south Ceredigion in 2013 - a second was found the year after a little further north but as two more have been found in the last few days at Llanon and Bow Street I thought I should ask people to keep an eye out for something that, on first appearances, looks like a large Diamond-back.
Most regular moth-ers will I am sure recognise that it is something a little different but to give you an idea here is a photo of the first - a female, and one of the more recent - the dead one.

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella

 Given the shorter nights we decided to put out three traps last night which included our garden and oak woodland.  We were rewarded with 185 moths comprising 23 macro and three micro species.  The micro Dyseriocrania subpurpurella (photographed through glass) was the first we had had for a couple of years.  Others included Early & Purple Thorn, Frosted Green, Lunar Marbled Brown, Brindled Beauty, Early Tooth-striped, Water Carpet & Dark Sword-grass.  The other micros were Emmelina monodactyla & Acleris literana.

Carolyn & Evan

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella (fl 6mm)

Purple Thorn

Frosted Green

Brindled Beauty

Water Carpet

This Water Carpet was caught last night by a visitor to the county - near Aberaeron.
They will be putting a MV trap out tonight so more may follow.
Thank you Paul for the photo.
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