Cadoxton Ponds

Put the trap out last night and despite it being windy (resulting in very few moths outside trap i think) i still managed a good haul of 70-odd species I think. Just the one migrant (Diamond-backed moth) but plenty of reedbed and wetland species as you'd expect. Highlights were definitely silky wainscot and is this a brown-veined wainscot?

Other wetland species: Chilo phragmitella, Calamotropha paludella, small china-mark and is this a southern wainscot?

Other highlights/new for me this year were yellow-tail, latticed heath, canary-shouldered thorn, lime-speck pug, small waved umber, garden tiger, brown-line bright-eye (and a few bright-line brown-eyes...) and lackey. As well as what i believe is straw underwing?

Micros were dominated by Blastobasis adustella and plenty of grass moths. A few i would like confirmation of though I'm afraid:

1. Blastobasis lacticolella?

2. Crambus perlella?

3. Depressaria daucella?

4. Depressaria radiella? (poor photo sorry)

5. Dichrorampha sp.?

6. Eudonia pallida?

7. Well-marked but no idea annoyingly...

Broughton night of 27Jul14

Some nice hot sticky weather, a caravan by the sea. Where better to try out our new Actinic Heath Trap?

Well it did not disappoint (29 species / 33 moths), the first moth staring at us the following morning was a fine Grass Eggar along with a personal favourite of ours- Canary-shouldered Thorn. A few interesting micros included Depressaria daucella (tbc), Cochylis atricapitana, Acleris aspersana, Grey Tortrix Cnephasia sp. Other highlights were The Drinker, Single Dotted Wave, Red Twin-spot Carpet, Poplar Hawkmoth, 2 Yellow-tail, 2 Dingy Footman, 2 White-line Dart, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Triple-spotted clay, Small Wainscot, The Clay, Knot Grass and a lovely Cloaked Minor.

We also recorded 12 species of Butterfly over the weekend: Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Small Blue, Small Heath, Large White, Small White, Grayling, Peacock, Red Admiral and 4 Small Skipper.

Mike & Emma

Kenfig Industrial Estate, near Port Talbot

Spotted this Brown-veined Wainscot at a lighted window of my Factory - RPC Ltd, last night - new for the 1km Square. Eglwys Reservoir reedbed is about 1/2 mile away

Scotland.

                      Mike and Jake at Talisker

                     Transparent burnet

                    Narrow bordered five spot burnet,  ssp jocelynae

                    Dotted carpet

                   Pale eggar

                  Cousin german

                 Grey mountain carpet

                 Heath rivulet

                 Rhopobota ustomaculana

                Mike at Cairngorm.
                Mike Powell, David Gilmore and I spent 3 days in Scotland last week.
                Skye was our first stop for the two rare Burnets at Talisker, both were
                seen well in the sunshine and the weather stayed sunny and hot for the
                whole trip. Mike had forgot to get fuel for the generator so the first nights
                trapping at Kylerhea only lasted 55 minutes with very little coming to the
                traps. The second night we trapped at Corrieshalloch gorge, just south of
                Ullapool and a very busy night followed. Good numbers of moths were
                seen (i'm sure Jake has more details on numbers) including Heath rivulet,
                Beech green carpet, Barred carpet, Dotted carpet, Lempke's gold spot,
                Ruddy highflyer, Welsh wave and Rhopobota ustomaculana.
                      The third night found us 1900ft up Cairngorm near Aveimore and
               hundreds of moths came to the traps including an incredible 200+ True
               lovers knot. Also seen were Scarce silver Y,  Cousin german, Double dart,
               Pale eggar, Pretty pinion and Gold spangle.
                      We also saw Golden eagles, White tailed sea eagles, Ospreys, Twite,
               a male Red backed shrike, Red and Black throated divers, Hooded crow,
               Scottish crossbill, Scotch argus, Large heath, Northern marsh orchids,
               Creeping ladies tresses, Common seal, Otter, Mountain hare and, best
               of all, a cracking Pine Marten close up in the headlights of the car for
               at least a minute.

Tyle Haidd, Merthyr Tydfil. 26th July.

With another fine, dry (0% chance of rain, according to the met Office, Brecon Beacons mountain area forecast) night in store, I decided to take advantage of the mild overnight temperatures and run the trap on the Taff trail, north of Merthyr Tydfil, in the relatively under recorded 10km square SO01. The night started well, with the trap being switched on at 21:45, but at around 23:00, there was a sharp shower (so much for the forecast), lasting around 15 minutes, which had me scurrying around trying to cover the lamp, generator and eventually had me standing holding a golf umbrella over the trap.

I had planned to make it a relatively short session, but inevitably I ended up trapping until 03:15, as the moths just kept coming. By far the most numerous group were the Crambidae, with the mass of Scoparia ambigualis, Eudonia mercurella and Dipleurina lacustrata numbering several hundreds. After each visit to the trap, I came away with so many clinging to my trousers that as I stamped my feet to dislodge them, they filled the air like confetti.

In the end, 96 species were recorded, 15 of which were new to SO01 and of those 7 were macros.

Highlights included Argyresthia bonnetella, Acleris forsskaleana, Catoptria margaritella, Udea olivalis, Acrobasis advenella, Orange Swift, Large Emerald, Chinese Character (I don't get many of these), a stunningly marked Dark Marbled Carpet, Black Arches, Dingy Footman, Scarce Footman, Buff Footman, Dark Swordgrass, Dark Spectacle and Marsh Oblique-barred.
Continuing Adam's thread a little, I also had 7 Cydia splendana, but these are nothing unusual up here and I have often had good numbers of them in the past.

Bridgend garden overnight 25Jul14

MV trapping again was productive last night with 47 species (181 individuals).

The highlight for us was our first Ringed China-mark (363rd species for garden). Others new for the year were Carcina quercana, Yellow-barred Brindle and Lesser Yellow Underwing.

The trap was dominated by Light Brown Apple moth, Dark Arches, Brimstone, Willow Beauty and Marbled Beauty, though some other nice species to note were Oegoconia (agg) sp, Mother Of Pearl, Red Twin-spot Carpet, August Thorn, Dingy Footman, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Smoky Wainscot, Knot-grass, Dun-bar, Silver Y and Snout.

On another note, Emma and Holly noted a Pyrausta cingulata in the undergrowth at Twlc Point, Broughton during the week.

Mike & Emma

Possible Caloptilia semifascia?

Does this look good for C semifascia?  The moth is a more dark brown/chocolate colour than the photo appears.  If I'm right it would be the second modern Glam record for this species. 

We have a lot of Field Maple locally which was planted in possibly excessive quantities (imho!) as part of the original landscaping scheme for Rhoose Point.

Llyn Fach last night

Mark Evans organised a trapping session at Llyn Fach (SN9003)  last night, with Carys Solman of WTSWW and one of their volunteers (Graham?). It was a pleasantly warm night for an upland site, with the temperature holding up at about 16.5C, and the moths kept rolling in until we called it a day at around 2am. I recorded 83 species at my MV and two actinics, and there were a few extra species in Mark's MV trap.

The highlight was this probable Acleris caledoniana at Mark's trap, which would be the first VC41 record since 1980. But it will need dissecting to be sure it isn't rhombana.

Other highlights included Scarce Silver Y, lots of Twin-spot Carpets, Galium Carpet, Minor Shoulder-knot, Scallop Shell, Double Line, Beautiful Yellow Underwing, Epinotia cruciana and Lathronympha strigana.

Beautiful Yellow Underwing

Also a couple of Fen/Small Square-spots which look like the former, but the split between these species is a bit contentious.

George

Parc Slip Wednesday night

Another trap full of lively moths awaited me yesterday morning, as did a family of far-too-keen robins...over 400 moths of 100 species with 75 macro species. Highlights were chocolate-tip, oak hook-tip, chinese character, leopard moth, double kidney, blue-bordered carpet, small rufous, beautiful hook-tip, diamond-backed moth, ruby tiger and tawny-barred angle (both versions). Many micro species too - without Paul's help this week i had to ignore the many, many scoparines I'm afraid but i have quite a few for id below (apologies for how many there are but I hate letting any go unidentified (apart from the scoparines...)

1. Acleris comariana??

2. Agonopterix sp.

3. Ampblypilia punctidactyla?

4. Caloptilia sp.

5. Caloptilia sp.

6. Epinotia sp.?

7. Elachista sp.?

8. Mompha propinquella?

9. Epinotia sp.?

Jersey Tiger

A Jersey Tiger in the trap this morning!  A spectacular moth, and the second garden / 4th? Welsh record.  If more turn up this year I guess there is a strong possibility this species is continuing its range expansion and we may have a small colony on this side of the Bristol Channel....

George - do you want to use this pic on the BC Wales FB site, and can you extract this image from here (using magic or something), or do you want me to email a copy?

Caloptilia hemidactylella?

I caught a specimen of what appears to be this species in my garden last night. It looks like C betulicola but has distinct lines in the terminal cilia, which apparently is diagnostic for hemidactylella.

This is a very rare species but with several recent records in new areas of England. It would presumably be new for Wales.

Click to enlarge - ciliary lines clearly visible...but it will need dissecting to be sure.

 

49 species in Bridgend overnight

Our MV Trap was busy again last night, 136 individuals of 49 species.

The highlight was our first Agriphila geniculea and Fern taking the garden list to 362 species (260 macro).

Other species new for the year were Cydia splendana, Agriphila straminella (last caught in 2012), Common Pug, August Thorn, Pebble Prominent (2011), and Small Wainscot (2008). Otherwise we recorded lots of Eudonia lacustrata, Brimstone, Swallow-tailed moth, Marbled Beauty and Dark Arches.

Mike & Emma

ohridella on the move

I caught 5 C. ohridella last night, despite being several 100m from the nearest Horse Chestnut. I also had a couple of them last time I ran the trap (18th).

A good catch of 65 species last night - but not quite matching last July's heatwave (perhaps because last year was a late season, so many species were still flying in mid July which this year will have gone over). Nothing new for the garden, but a few species I record only occasionally - Sallow Kitten, Yellow-tail, DBTS Carpet, Catoptria margaritella, Endotricha flammealis, Ancylis badiana and Batrachedra praeangusta.

Mewslade

Belated post of the results of 3 traps set in the Nitten Field, Mewslade on the weekend, which produced 934 individuals of 136 species, those of note including: Paraswammerdamia albicapitella 1 (new for SS48), Diamond-back Moth 14, Coleophora trochilella 3 (non-critical det., but keys out nicely using MoGBI. I'll post a pic later, Dave, I don't mind if this doesn't end up on the county list), Acleris holmiana 1, Endothenia quadrimaculana 1, Eucosma obumbratana 1, Agriphila inquinatella 1, Meal Moth 1, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 1, Dark Umber 1 (new for SS48), Narrow-winged Pug 2, Brussels Lace 5, Rosy Footman 25 (1 f. flava which I can't recall ever seeing before. Anyone else seen this in the county?), Crescent Dart 13, Dark Sword-grass 1, Marbled Green 1 & Silver Y 1.

Paraswammerdamia albicapitella

Coleophora trochilella

Acleris holmiana

Dark Umber

Rosy Footman f. flava

Marbled Green

Hummingbird Hawkmoth in Porthcawl

We were walking from Porthcawl to Rest Bay when we ran in to a Hummingbird Hawkmoth making its way along the seaward side of the coastal wall before disappearing up on to Lock's Common. This is the second one we've run into this summer, the first was last weekend on Burry Holms on Gower.

Gatekeepers are abundant now as we recorded 27 along with 7 Meadow Brown, 2 Common Blue, 1 Red Admital and the remains of a Cinnabar moth.

Bridgend overnight 20Jul14

We were MV trapping too in our garden on a warm night and we caught 47 species (100 individuals). It often pays to be up at dawn as we recorded a 50 / 50 split both in and out of the trap. Our resident House Sparrows are very resourceful so we have to be quick off the mark!

The highlight for us was four new species for the garden:- Nut Bud Moth and Epinotia immundana which took our micro list for the garden past 100; Barred Straw and Dark Umber were most welcome too - not very often we get two macro lifers in one night. This takes our garden list to 360 species (259 macro).

Also new for the year were Diamond-backed moth, Gypsonoma dealbana (2008), Codling moth (2009), Small Fan-footed Wave, Early Thorn, Rosy Footman, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Gothic, Coronet and Dun-bar.

Later in the day we recorded our first Gatekeeper of the year for the garden - only the second record for the site. It was happily feeding on Potentilla.

Mike & Emma.

Rhoose friday night

Like Mark, I too had my trap out on Friday night.  By the morning I had a few over 80 species in the trap, including a number of the commoner migrants (9 Diamond-back, 3 Dark Sword -grass, Silver Y, a few small ermines and a single Rush Veneer.  There were also a couple of Cydia splendana which I have only recorded once before at home, and the book suggests this species may also be augmented by migration.

Other highlights included Dusky Sallow, Ypsolopha scabrella, Blackneck, Fern, Calamatropha paludella, Donacaula forficella and Lesser Wax Moth.  I also have a small cochylid still in the fridge which looks like either Cochylidia implicitana/heydeniana or subroseana.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's the mystery Cochylid:


 Any ideas as to which it might be?


 








Also struggling a bit with this one - could it be a unusual colour form of Diamond-back possibly?

Coed-y-bedw last night

Paul Parsons, Marc Botham and I joined Vaughn and others from WTSWW for a bit of a mega session at Coed-y-bedw last night, to make up for the cancelled Moth Night event at the site. We had 5 MVs and 3 actinic traps between us. It wasn't quite as warm as previous nights, with the sky clearing by dusk (not in the forecast), but it stayed above 15C.

I'm not sure what the final species total will be but I had over 100 species at my traps. Among the macros, highlights were Triple-spotted Pug, Lesser Cream Wave, Beautiful Hook-tip, Beautiful Carpet and Clay Triple-lines, as well as a number of the woodland moths for which the north Cardiff woods are a stronghold: Blomer's Rivulet, Clouded Magpie, Satin Lutestring & Pretty Chalk Carpet.

Triple-spotted Pug

There were several notable records among the micros, including Epinotia signatana (3rd modern record), Archips rosana (1st modern record east of Kenfig), Eana incanana (5th VC record), Cydia fagiglandana (also 5th VC record) and another Spatalistis bifasciana (6th VC record, the 3rd this year).

Eana incanana. We caught a few of these.

Epinotia signatana (worn specimen)

Epinotia brunnichana/solandriana (specimen retained)