Tony Allenby

 You will be greatly saddened to hear that Tony Allenby died yesterday.   He had been our County Moth Recorder for almost 10 years and was instrumental in setting up this blog.    During this time he created the invaluable document 'the State of all Macro Moth Species in Ceredigion' which can be accessed on this site and which hopefully will continue to be updated.

He was a dedicated and much respected moth-er and he and Ina were a great team spending many happy hours in the field trapping in the county.    As County Recorders they were very approachable and willing to share their expertise with all and sundry.    Being a recorder in the manner they did it was more a way of life than just a voluntary occupation.

On a more personal level we have fond memories of shared weekly trapping sessions with him up our valley prior to Ina's arrival and attending a number of David Brown's moth courses together.

He will be greatly missed.

Carolyn & Evan.

Early Mottled Grey

 We had this very early Mottled Grey in our woodland trap last night.

Carolyn & Evan

Late or early?

Tempted by the migrants seen in Carms, I put the trap out a couple of times over the weekend. The only possible migrant was a Silver Y. I was more impressed with a Merveille du Jour, and surprised by a Heart and Dart - did it think it was spring already?

Merveille du jour

Heart and Dart

Aberystwyth Cemetery

A circuit of the cemetery last night (since the forecast didn't look good for the trap) with torch and net. I was pleased to catch a Brick, which I don't see very often. Also Black Rustic, Rusty-dot Pearl, LBAM and T. acroxantha.

Brick

 

Rusty-dot Pearl

Tachystola acroxantha

Vestal

 To top off the recent migrants we caught a Vestal on 22/10/22 together with a Large Wainscot which must have dispersed some way to reach us [kindly amended by Tony from earlier misidentification of Bulrush Wainscot].

Carolyn & Evan

Vestal

Large Wainscot

Hier soir, Aberystwyth

I put the trap out in the garden for a couple of hours yesterday evening before the wind got much stronger. It was worthwhile! Two french-speaking moths, in addition to a Silver Y, Square-spot Rustics and LBAMs:

Clifden Nonpareil, Merveille du Jour

Brown-spot pinion

 I was feeling left out as well until this moth, which has been reported close by in previous years, paid a visit on Tuesday night!  Dull and brown blotchy....nooooo, subtle I say.

Garden above Aberporth

Cross Inn

 Hooray! I’m no longer a Vestal Virgin!

My first Vestal last night plus my first Oblique Carpet for the year at my house in Cross Inn, Llanon.

Llanrhystud migrants

 Silver Y, Rush Veneer and this Vestal at Llanrhystud this morning, perhaps thanks to the southerly winds.

Anomalous

 A selection of late summer moths from our neighbour's arboretum last night.

Carolyn & Evan

Anomalous

Feathered Gothic

Autumnal Rustic

August Thorn

Tawny Speckled Pug

Hedge Rustic

Cross Inn

 ‘Lifers’ for me this morning were a Turnip Moth and Dark Sword Grass

Lesser-Spotted Pinion

An away fixture in Comins Coch, just over the hill, attracted my first Lesser-spotted Pinion on Sunday:

Also Pyrausta purpuralis, Meal Moth and Ypsolopha horridella.

New for the garden (Aberystwyth) on Monday was Cherry Bark Moth:

and this morning, Cloaked Carpet and Nephopterix angustella, a spindle feeder:

Yellow-legged Clearwing

 This very rare moth was reported by Marc Hughes of the RSPB, Ynys-hir. It was discovered during some maintenance work on an Oak tree stump. This is the first county record for an adult of the species. Many thanks to Marc for the photos.

A very rare visitor to Ceredigion

 This Straw Underwing, Thalpophila matura, was recorded by Marc Hughes just south of Aberystwyth on the 3rd August. This is only the 4th county record, and the first since 1977.

Cross Inn, Llanon

Given that the size of this pug is only about 21mm, I’m thinking second generation Currant Pug rather than Wormwood Pug even though it seems to lack a prominent white tonal spot.

Any comments welcome.

I accidentally ‘unpublished’ this after Tony had commented that a Triple-spotted Pug fitted the photos and description. Sorry Tony. I always seem to have problems with Blogger when it comes to adding comments. I’ll record it as Triple-spotted Pug. I’d rather dismissed this possibility as it is described as Local and Rare for the county.

I put it in a tube on Tuesday. When I went to photograph it, our dog knocked the tube out of my hand and it flew off in the kitchen. Later that evening it reemerged so I got a couple of photos before releasing it.

Moths from the bog

 I also tried to make the most of the hot weather earlier in the week, with only partial success. Trapping just outside Llanbadarn on Sunday night went well, with almost 70 species, though not more than ten of anything. Highlights included Phoenix, Drinker, Limnaecia phragmitella, Rush Veneer, Water Veneer and Pammene aurana.

Drinker

Limnaecia phragmitella

The next evening I went to Borth Bog at dusk, but rather few of the bog specialists: Southern Wainscot, Round-winged Muslin, Chevron, and Chilo phragmitella. The garden trap did better, with more than 70 species including Marsh Oblique-barred and Four-dotted Footman. So perhaps I should have stayed at home! Two days later, a Round-winged Muslin in the garden trap, one of fewer than 30 species.

Chilo phragmitella

Southern Wainscot

 

Round-winged Muslin

Clouded Magpie

 A record night at the end of the heat wave produced almost 200 moths of 51 macro and 16 micro species from the trap in our field near a pond.  The highlights of the night were this beautiful fresh Clouded Magpie (we know of no elm trees in the vicinity) and our second Double Kidney of the week.  

Carolyn & Evan

Clouded Magpie

Double Kidney

Silver Y caterpillar

Disappointed that the first thing I read when googling images of SilverY caterpillar was that they are a pest species!  The headline from 1.8M results!  On the cliffs at Aberporth this is one of their foodplants.
 

Llawrcwrt

 

 

New for this year in the trap this morning, a pretty pristine Antler Moth and at the other end of the scale, a rather tatty Double Line

 

Pontsaeson, Cross Inn, Llanon

 2 lifers and a few ‘new for the year’ last night.

Barred Straw

Large Fruit-Tree Tortrix

Lychnis

Dot

Spectacle

Common White Wave

Mottled Rustic

Ingrailed Clay

Swallow-tailed Moth

 An impromptu mothing with two traps in our local oak woodland last night produced 39 macro species.  The star of the night was this very fresh Swallow-tailed Moth. Also included were two beautiful Scallop Shell and our first Barred Straw of this year.

Carolyn & Evan

Swallow-tailed Moth

Barred Straw

Scallop Shell