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
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| Swallow-tailed Moth |
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| Barred Straw |
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| Scallop Shell |
I disturbed this little moth this morning on the edge of the wood but it obligingly settled on an apple tree. It's just the second Waved Carpet I've had here.
I also had a Hummingbird Hawk-moth nectaring on Primula chungensis two days ago. Paid no attention to nearby white-flowered red valerian.
I am trapping in Devon this week and a casual perusal of the Devon moths blog turned up this recording of a talk about the reasons for some moths to be increasing in range and abundance nationally.
In my Devon childhood I used to hate the irritating clouds of flies following me in the woods of mid summer but no such problem yesterday when visiting a friend's woodland nature reserve on the fringe of Dartmoor, so I was as usual moaning about insect armageddon but this video gives a more measured assessment of the situation as pertains to moths
https://youtu.be/GMSQ6VkdsQw
I was on the blog site to check on Royal Mantle which I saw during a walk, new one for me.
Devon tv news last evening featured a man rearing and releasing Privet HM's by the hundred; I think he must live nearby as I've had mutiples in my trap!😁
Like Simon we had a very productive night with over 200 moths including 52 macro species and our first ever migrant Small Mottled Willow.
Carolyn & Evan
I trapped on the WT reserve at Pant Da (in the Rheidol Valley) last night. A bit damp this morning, but over 50 species recorded, dominated by Mottled Beauty (25) and Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (35). Lots of firsts for the year, including White-pinion Spotted, Burnished Brass, Green Silver-lines, Rustic, Brown Rustic, Purple Clay, Map-winged Swift and Double Square-spot; among the micros Archips xylosteana, Aleimma loeflingiana, Argyresthia conjugella, Cochylis nana, Eudonia delunella and (new for me) Strophedra nitidana.
Numbers in the garden trap are starting to rise (but still no Poplar Hawkmoth!), with Uncertain, Pale Mottled Willow, Bright-line Brown Eye and Fanfoot new for the year this week.
The leipdopteran highlights of a trip to Cors Fochno for the Nightjars on Wednesday were Pinion-streaked Snout, Four-dotted Footman and Ancylis geminana.
Not to be outdone, Aberystwyth skate park (not somewhere I spend alot of time, but surely there are Scarlet Tigers there in the Comfrey) produced Argyresthia spinosella and Epiblema foenella on Thursday evening, with Coleophora mayrella and Cochylis rupicola in the cemetery.
Our 60W Actinic light attracted 34 moth species to the garden last night, 9 of them were micros. The more notable and new for the year are shown below.
Tony & Ina
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| Small Elephant Hawk-moths |
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| Ghost Moth (f) |
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| Dark Arches |
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| Large Yellow Underwing |
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| Shark |
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| Miller |
This Map-winged Swift was a new moth for me in the woodland at my house in Cross Inn last night. Also had my first Drinker for the year after seeing a Drinker caterpillar earlier on Trychrug.
We caught this very fresh "Belle" along with 35 other macro species from our neighbour's arboretum last night. On balance from its features we think it is a July rather than a Lead Belle.
Carolyn & Evan
After a few unsuccessful searches for this moth, Ina finally attracted it to a pheromone lure near the willow carr on Cors Fochno.
A mild windy night produced 136 moths of 43 macro species from three traps in garden and woodland. They included these three aptly named beautiful moths.
Carolyn & Evan
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| Beautiful Carpet |
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| Beautiful Snout |
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| Mottled Beauty |
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| Mottled Beauty f. conversaria |
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| Broom Moth |
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| Treble Lines |
