Cors Fochno

Two heath traps on the west boardwalk last night.
Nothing special to report, most numerous moth was Heath Rustic with Canary-shouldered Thorn, Chevron and Brimstone next in line.
A Light Emerald that seemed not to want to leave the shelter of the trap, Small Wainscot, Sallow, Black Rustic and a couple of carpets Common Marbled and Spruce.
Sorry, no photos - breakfast was calling!!
Ina & Tony

Cilgerran Moth Course

Thanks to all who attended the excellent Introduction to Micros Moths course at Cilgerran yesterday (21st).

Special thanks to Dave Grundy for his engaging tuition, WWBIC for funding towards the event, Cilgerran Wildlife Centre for the venue and, last but by no means least, to Liz Snell for her hard work in organisation of the event.

I am expecting lots more vc46 micro records next year with your newly acquired knowledge! ;-)

Regards
Ina Smith

Late Elephant

This was a surprise in the trap this morning.  Very fresh. Last date from Fowles is 20/08.  Any other late records Evan?

I also had 19 other species inc first Black Rustic, what a stunning moth it always reminds me of astrakhan collars! Also first Red line Quaker and a smart Gold spot.

Lower pic was even more of a cardio workout, a Black V moth which was hard to track down as it has green veins…OK so I was in France at the time but only just: Normandy 2 nights ago.  This moth is now apparently extinct in UK but it could come back given climate change . 

A Surfeit of Square-spot Rustics

I hope the title doesn't suggest we ate them!!
We (Mike, Tony & myself) sat for nearly two hours last night at Ynyslas with the mv light and managed three species.  As you can gather from the title most numerous were S-s Rs.  We did get a little over excited on occasion when something looked a little different, but no, you guessed, just a variation on the theme for the night.
There were two other singletons, an Anomalous and a rather fetching female Shuttle-shaped Dart.


Shuttle-shaped Dart

Anomalous

Anomalous - in bubble bath!

Hope for better mothing Saturday into Sunday.
Ina and Tony.

Ynys-hir moths

Ran two traps at the RSPB reserve, one in woodland and the other in an open area next to a paddock. The woodland produced 15 macro species and 8 micros, the other gave 19 macros and 2 micros. Two of the macros were firsts for us this year, Autumnal rustic and Brindled green (which looked greener in the sunlight than it does in the photo).

Autumnal rustic

Brindled green

Most numerous amongst the micros were Ypsolopha ustella and Acleris laterana. Interesting were Anania lancealis, which was a bit later than the normal flight period, Pandemis cinnamomeana (a male with its white face) and Argyresthia semitestacella.

Anania lancealis

Pandemis cinnamomeana

Tony and Ina

Ynyslas dunes again

Two actinic heath traps in the dunes last night caught 93 moths of 18 macro species and no micros. 58 of the total were Square-spot rustic. There were 3 Anomalous, 2 Purple bar, 2 Galium carpet, Gold spot, 6 Hedge rustic. Two firsts for us this year were a Feathered gothic and Pink-barred sallow.

Feathered gothic

Pink-barred sallow

Tony & Ina

Pine carpet

With the prospect of not quite such a cold night last night we set two actinics in the garden. Result was 18 moths of 12 species. Rosy rustic, Flounced rustic, Lesser yellow underwing, and Light brown apple moth were the only species which were not singles. Most interesting was this Pine carpet, which was a long way from any of the documented food plants. Back in May this year we had a Pine carpet at Ynys-hir, and one was recorded at Ynyslas. Have they found a new food plant or do they fly considerable distances from their normal habitat?

Pine carpet

Tony & Ina