Sunday 25 May 2014

Cwm Taf Fechan NR

A wet morning spent at Cwm Taf Fechan nature reserve, just north of Merthyr Tydfil. The main purpose was birding, but I also had a quick look around the scrub on the calcareous grassland, at Gurnos quarry.
The first find was this attractive larva, found munching holes in the lower epidermis of a birch leaf. It was tiny (6-7mm long) and moved about by looping. Does anyone have any ideas where I should start looking for this one? Sorry about the quality. It wouldn't sit still for a second.



I next came across this long-horn. Which appears to be Adela (Cauchas) rufimitrella. The fact that it was on Cuckoo Flower was a big clue. This seems to be a new record for SO00.



On some of the small birch I found Coleophora cases, such as these. Am I right in thinking they are C. serratella?

  




Also on a birch, only a couple of feet high were these blotch mines. I think this is Incurvaria pectinea and if so this would be the first modern record of it in SO00.



3 comments:

  1. I seem to remember Brindled Beauty

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  2. ...looking like the larvae in early instars [sorry for truncated post - blooming ipad!]

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  3. Blooming early instars! Thanks for that, Barry.

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