Small elephant and a Red-necked footman

 David, there should be one record for Small elephant HM south of you as I caught one here in Aberporth July1st 2021.

I was very excited this morning to find a Red necked footman in the bottom of a full trap, a first for me. I remember Arthur Chater telling me that he had once walked into an emergence of a large number up near Black Covert Trawcoed some years ago and thus I have always wanted to see similar; however one will have to do!  Rhos Pilbach.

Busy time in Llangeitho

 The steamy warmth of last night prompted me to trap on a path above a rough grassy bank and adjacent to shrubbery. My reward was dealing with over  90 moths, 38 species. New to the garden were (I believe) a hyperactive Small Yellow Wave, Dingy Shell, and Red-necked Footman. Other nice moths were a Miller and two Waved Carpet.

Red-necked Footman

Dingy Shell in typical pose

Small Yellow Wave - sorry about poor phone photograph

Waved Carpet

A first for Llawrcwrt

 

Small Elephant Hawk Moth

Galvanized by Ina's splendid record, I put out the trap out for the first time this year and - surprise - a new record for Llawrcwrt. I see that Small Elephant Hawkmoths are more common in the north and east of the county. There is only one recent record to the west of Llawrcwrt and none to the south.

Lime Hawk-moth and Obscure Wainscot

 The end of May and beginning of June has seen moth numbers pick up, thank goodness.  There are quite a few species that I have missed out on this year but at 22:45 on 31st May I looked out of the window to check the trap before going to bed and got a surprise!

Not believing my eyes I had to unlock and go outside to get a better look.  My eyes were not deceiving me,  it was a Lime Hawk-moth the first in 75 years and only the second recorded in vc46.

My next treat was at Ynys-hir on the morning of the 3rd June.  Pot that up for later was all that went through my head as there were quite a few individuals surrounding and on the outside of the trap.  about an hour later...right, "What's this odd looking Wainscot" I ask myself.  I've seen one of these before but what the devil is it called?... Thinking cap firmly on and daylight dawned, eventually.  Not called Obscure Wainscot for nothing.

Ina Smith

 

 I notice from Tony's excellent Macro Moth document that this little moth has been a regular contributor from these parts. I set the trap in a neighbour's more sheltered and more floriferous garden adjacent to some splendid meadows and although the catch was small it did include this one.

Not quite as exciting as Ina's Lime jobby but nice in a delicate sort of way!