Aberystwyth on Monday

My garden trap held two surprises on Monday: my first Bulrush Wainscot (I read that they are prone to wandering) and Gypsonoma dealbana.

Orange Swift

A bumper catch last night of 51 macro species from two traps included this attractive Orange Swift.

Carolyn & Evan

Wallog

Two traps on the coast on Thursday night produced over 1500 moths with many more escapees particularly the Crambidae family. The traps were heaving with Dark Arches (300+) and Large Yellow Underwing (100+). Hidden beneath all these was a moth which was new to both of us, a Brown-line Bright-eye. Apparently a "common" moth but this is only the 4th Ceredigion record since 1992, the first since 2014.
Tony & Ina

Brown-line Bright-eye

Marbled Coronet

Mullein Wave

Crescent Dart

Grass Emerald

Small Blood-vein

Rosy Minor

Small Yellow Wave

Galium Carpet

Agapeta Zoegana

Llawrcwrt - Size extremes

I moved the trap 40 yards down on to the wet grassland by a pond. Not nearly as many species but these two never appear up on the bank by the house.   A nice new Old Lady and what I think is a Small Dotted Buff. 

 Old Lady

 

Small Dotted Buff

Barred Carpet

Monday night/Tuesday morning we recorded moths at Melindwr Farm near Eglwys Fach, as part of a WWBIC recording day. We had hundreds of moths resulting in 123 species, 92 macros and 31 micros. What a delight to catch a Barred Carpet, which may be a first for Ceredigion. There are no records in the county database, but Waring and Townsend says it was discovered in Cardiganshire in the 1980's. If anyone knows about this old record, please get in touch.
Tony & Ina

Barred Carpet

Northern Eggar

Grass Emerald

Small Seraphim

Six-striped Rustic

Double Kidney

Devon Carpet

Silky Wainscot

The larvae of the Silky Wainscot are unusual because they are omnivorous, feeding on living or dead invertebrates as well as Common Reed.

RSPB Ynys-hir - Cancelled

Please note we will not be doing the moth event at Ynys-hir on

               

Sunday 25th Aug 2019

Not sure if staff/volunteers will be running one so please check if you were thinking of coming along but to our knowledge it has not been advertised so far.

Sorry for any inconvenience

Tony and Ina

Common Rustic Agg.

If there are any others like me who need a little helping hand now and again, here are 3 photos to illustrate some of the variation within a species.
Thank you to Tony for confirming my suspicions that they are all to be recorded as the same species - Common/Lesser Common Rustic  Agg.

Felin Bedw moths

Despite the damp weather the moth event yesterday proved very successful with about 100 species in total (some micros still to be determined). Of the 67 macro species, 10 had not previously been recorded in that 10km square (SN35).
Tony & Ina

Waved Carpet

Sharp-angled Carpet

Double Dart

Dot Moth

Buff Arches

Large Emerald

Gothic

Slender Brindle

Large Tabby

We found this Large Tabby in our living room last night.  We live in sheep country with a poultry keeping neighbour but have never seen this large micro before.  It proved to be a diagnostic challenge.  When it tried to escaped we noticed that it scuttled around rather than flew as described the books.

Carolyn & Evan

Scarce Silver-lines

A little belatedly, we had this Scarce Silver-lines in our oak woodland trap last weekend - a first for us, with a complete absence of our usual Green Silver-lines this year

Carolyn & Evan

Aberystwyth micros

Little of interest in my garden trap to keep macro-enthusiasts enthusiastic this week (my first short-cloaked moth of the year). But micros have been interesting, with several species that I rarely (if ever) catch:over 50 Aphelia paleana, Batrachedra praeangusta, Ptycholomoides aeriferana, Acrobasis advenella and marmorea, Spilonota ocellana, Grapholita funebrana and (I think) Gypsonoma sociana.

Dunes moths

Good numbers of moths at Ynys-las last night with about 40 species. Large numbers of Smoky Wainscot and Scarce Footman, 15 Garden Tiger (which take up a lot of space in a small trap). Also plentiful were Clay, Rosy Minor, Dark Arches, White-line Dart, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Least and Lesser Yellow Underwing. We had 7 Shore Wainscot, only the 20th county record and all from Ynys-las. Also Archer's Dart, Southern Wainscot, and Common Wainscot.
Tony & Ina

Shore Wainscot

Lime-speck Pug

Archer's Dart

White-line Dart

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Good year for Cinnabar moths

Small Argent and Sable

Sunday night saw one or two species which are quite rare visitors to our Talybont garden.
Tony & Ina

Small Argent and Sable

Four-dotted Footman

Red-necked Footman

Gold Swift (F)

Scarce Footman