Welsh Wave

Another visit to the local woodland came up trumps with 2 Welsh Wave so now we know that they survived the "beast from the east". The 55 macro species included Suspected (19th county record), Swallow-tailed Moth (our first this year), Riband Wave (loads), Satin Lutestring, Coronet, Clay Triple-lines, and Scarce Footman.
Tony & Ina

Welsh Wave (missing part of left wing)

Suspected

Swallow-tailed Moth

Coronet

Common Emerald

Barred Straw

Rosy Footman

Scarce Footman

Clay Triple-lines

Cross Inn

A few from last night.
Muslin Footman, Early Thorn, Coronet, Single-dotted Wave, and Dark Dagger/Grey Dagger.

Clays - A lesson learnt.

On 1 July I trapped my first Clay. It looked exactly like the illustration in Townsend and Waring. Here it is on the top.
Today I caught the moth in the bottom photo and asked Tony for advice. Looking at my book I thought it might just be a Neglected Rustic (because of the colour) - but I did realise this was very unlikely.

However, it turned out to be another Clay. Lesson learnt. There can be a lot of variation in colour within a species - don’t allow yourself to be fooled by a single illustration in one book. The illustrator is having to make difficult choices when deciding which individual to use.

Cross Inn/ Nebo/ Rhos Gledenys

Met with Phil for a bit of joint trapping, followed by walk round Rhos Glendenys.

My trap produced 20 species - good for me - including Lead Belle, Brussels Lace, Snout and Lilac Beauty which I haven't had before.

Walk round Rhos Glendenys found a Scarlet Tiger and seven Five-spot Burnet.

If anyone is local to the reserve it's worth a walk round at the moment - teeming with butterflies and grasshoppers.
(but also still quite wet so wear wellies)

Llawr-cwrt moths

The moth group event at Llawr-cwrt saw over 400 moths with 76 macro species and about 25 micros (some still to be identified). The hoped-for V-moth did not put in an appearance. Some of the more photogenic moths are shown below. Thanks to everyone who came along and to David for hosting the event and his daughter for making us cups of tea and delicious scones with cream and jam.
Tony and Ina

Eyed Hawk-moth (photo Chris Wood)

Pebble Prominent (photo Chris Wood)

Beautiful Golden Y (photo Chris Wood)

Map-winged Swift

Green Arches

Plain Golden Y

Sharp-angled Peacock

Ingrailed Clay

Thank you to Tony for helping me identify that both of these are Ingrailed Clay. I hadn’t realised just how much variation there is within the species. For a while I thought the bottom one was something rather more exciting. If it helps others, Tony’s tip was, “ Both have the small black dot between the oval and trailing edge.”

Cross Inn, Llanon

54 moths of 23 species was a good haul for me. When I see how many bats we have roosting in the disused chapel I do wonder if they take a lot?
This Phoenix was a new species for me.
The Scarlet Tiger was a colourful addition.