Scarlet Tigers in Barry and Beyond this week

Last year in Llantwit we had a Scarlet Tiger in the trap which had sadly evaporated come the next morning. I was therefore overjoyed to find not one but two in the box Wednesday morning!

Then, bizarrely, while I was walking back to Cardiff Central station from work the same day I was buzzed by a strangely familiar looking black white and red moth flying down St Mary Street just by the railway bridge... A case of waiting ages only for three to come along at once?

Last night in Bridgend

We had 140 moths of 58 species last night (23 of which were micros), excellent fayre, so much to sort out but here are a few of the best ones including two new species for the garden (Now 426 species) for us in Cherry Fruit Moth and Sycamore.

New for the year were Cypress Tip Moth, Coleophora trifolii, Blastobasis adustella, Mompha propinquella, Gypsonoma dealbana, Bramble Shoot Moth, Bud Moth, Udea prunalis, Wax Moth, Acrobasis advenella, Ghost Moth, Scalloped Oak, Turnip Moth, Miller, Coronet, Cloaked Minor and Beautiful Hook-tip. We also had a hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum (sensu stricto).

Abercregan last night.

                          Dotted carpet

                         Dotted carpet

                         Satin beauty

                         Rhyaciona pinicolana

                        Tawny barred angle.
                        Way too many midges to sort through a busy trap last night,
                        so I picked through the best ones. Beautiful snout, Northrn spinach
                        Green arches and hundreds of Water veneer the highlights.
                        Plus these.

Cosmopterix pulchrimella

I found a single mine of Cosmopterix pulchrimella on Pellitory-of-the-wall at Pennard Pill (SS541884) yesterday. I think this is only the second VC41 record of this recent Welsh colonist following mines at Port Eynon in 2013.

I've looked for mines in Cardiff without success, but Pellitory is quite thin on the ground here and usually growing on sunny pavement edges (the moth prefers shaded plants with larger leaves). Worth keeping an eye out for the mines if you spot any Pellitory.

Nantyffyllon garden trap last night.

                          Acrobasis repandana.

                         Argyresthia dilectella.
                         50 species in total, with 4 new for my KM square, taking my total
                         to 692 species. Not sure of the status of A. repandana. It's not in
                         The moths of Glamorgan book....

Cream Bordered Green Pea

Sorry about all the posts!!

I also caught this last night in Port Eynon, which I take to be the above species; not seen one before and I just read the post from Barry...

Help with some Darts?

Another light in Port Eynon last night, and I have some "Dart" type individuals I could do with some help with; these are not things I see at home...

Also, this Wave...

Thanks!

Dave Morris

Port Eynon - with a micro for id?

Trapped in my mum's garden in Port Eynon at the start of our annual summer week down here from Buckinghamshire.

A few new for my year list included Elephant Hawk-moth, Buff Arches, Light Arches, Anania coronata, Crescent Plume, Lackey, Fox Moth, Barred Yellow, Peppered Moth, Dot Moth, Clay, Clay Triple-lines, Bright-line Brown-eye, Small Angle Shades, Grey Dagger (agg), Clouded-bordered Brindle and Fan-foot. Plus this micro, which I just can't get:

Dave Morris

Caerau old pit reclamation site, Maesteg [SS8694]

4 Forester were seen today all pretty worn, also seen  were a 1000+ 5-spot Burnet. I have recorded both species of 5-spots here in the past [through larva ID] and both colony areas had adults on the wing. The other feature of today were the large number of butterflies on the wing which included 100 Small Heath, 50 Meadow Brown, 10 Ringlet, 40 Common Blue, 5 Dark Green Fritillary, Small Copper, Speckled Wood, 10 Small Skipper, 5 Large Skipper and a single Dingy Skipper.

 Forester

 Typical Forester habitat

 5-spot/Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet

 Small Copper

Dingy Skipper

Forest Farm

Gareth Stamp and I ran a moth morning for Innovate Trust's Green Days Project at Forest Farm this morning. We had an excellent catch with the 3 traps left on site overnight being busy with moths this morning.

The highlight for me was the gelechiid Monochroa lucidella, which I've never seen before, though it has to be said that no-one else seemed very excited about it and much preferred the Elephant Hawks (8 of those), Poplar Hawks, Buff Arches, Pretty Chalk Carpet, Green Arches and emeralds. We also caught 4 Obscure Wainscots - this species must be breeding in the reedbeds nearby.

Obscure Wainscot

Monochroa lucidella

  And especially for Dave, here's a Common Wainscot (hindwing checked).

Common Wainscot

The attendees, all adults with learning difficulties, were really enthusiastic about the moths and seemed to get a lot out of it. They all got to handle an Elephant Hawk or two

I also took along some moths from the garden trap, which included this worn Aleimma loeflingiana new for the site.

Aleimma loeflingiana

Creigiau - 16 June

Box out on a breezy Saturday night but the temperature stayed up (min 13C) and I had 39 species in/around the trap. First ever Light Arches & Small Elephant Hawk-moth and a few for which the ID is eluding me.

Could this be Crambus uliginocellus or (more likely) the more common C. pascuella ?

A Cnephasia sp ... ?

and these two are just annoying !

ooc (just) last weekend on the Mellte

Chris Manley and myself ran four 125w Skinner-type traps on the night of the 11th-12th and recorded 147 species of moth (747 individuals). Highlights included four Nationally Notable species: Cydia coniferana Nb (1), Devon Carpet Nb (1), Waved Carpet Nb (60+) (photo 1) and Blomer's Rivulet Nb (10). The total for Waved Carpet was particularly impressive from our point of view. Other species noted of interest included Map-winged Swift, Incurvaria oehlmanniella, Exoteleia dodecella, Hoary Plume, Ancylis diminutana, Ancylis mitterbacheriana, Spilonota laricana, Acrobasis consociella, Scalloped Hook-tip, Lime Hawk-moth, Smoky Wave, Clay Triple-lines, Oblique Carpet, Dingy Shell, Welsh Wave (photo 2), Narrow-winged Pug, Ochreous Pug, Clouded Magpie, Barred Umber, Satin Beauty, Dotted Carpet (photo 3), Bordered White, Beautiful Snout, Red-necked Footman, Silver Hook (photo 4) & Small Dotted Buff. Below is a sample of some of Chris's photos.

Non-lepidoteran interest was provided by Giant Lacewing Osmylus fulvicephalus, the localised caddisfly Limnephilus elegans and a leaf beetle Luperus longicornis. Also a begging juvenile Long-eared Owl was an unexpected breeding record bonus.