Allt y Crib

Three Early Thorn and a Brindled Pug was all we had last night but the walk up the hill must have done us good!

Dates for you Diary

Some dates for events at RSPB Ynys-hir are now on the EVENTS page.
There will be more events to come so please keep checking.
Tony and Ina

Butterfly Collector Prosecuted

"Butterfly Conservation has today welcomed the prosecution of a collector found guilty of illegally catching and killing the UK’s rarest butterfly."

Not only rare butterflies but moths too.  Follow the link to read about it here.

Herald & Red Chestnut

Last night we ran 2 Heath traps in a small oak woodland near Talybont, and recorded 106 moths, 14 macro and 5 micro species. 3 of them; Herald, Red Chestnut, and Diamond-back, were new to us this year. Most numerous were Small Quaker (16), Engrailed (14), Brindled Pug (13), Early Grey (10), Diurnea fagella (13), Tortricodes alternella (10).

Tony & Ina


Diamond-back

Double-striped Pug & Hebrew Character

Herald

Pale Brindled Beauty

Red Chestnut

Dotted Border female

I have not been enthused enough to search diligently for the wingless females of some of our wintertime moths so this one came to see me!
With its big wing stubs it is the most interesting to look at.

 I didn't, however, expect to find it underneath our plastic soffit at least10m as the bug crawls from a gappy willow hedge and much further from any other food plant.  When released onto the shaded base of a large moss covered oak tree it immediately scuttled off sideways like a crab to hide under a longer frond of the moss.

Pale Pinion

I'm still only getting a handful of moths of two or three species. However this rather tatty specimen turned up today which is probably a first for the site. I don't recall having seen one before.

V-pug

Pete Skinner, fresh from his travels, put his trap out last night and recorded 47 moths of 17 species. Amongst them was a very early V-pug. The previous earliest county record was on 30th March. In the new edition of the Waring and Townsend field guide, the flight period of the first generation is given as Apr - Jun, which is a month earlier than in the previous edition.

Tony