Last of theYear

A Winter Moth on the garden trap and a Satellite in it, after a mild, drizzly night.

Spring is here!

My last moth of 2011, is the first sign that spring is just around the corner.

This is by far my 'earliest' Hebrew Character.

Just One

Running the 22w actinic in the garden all night, resulted in just a single Winter Moth... still, better than nothing!

Abercregan last night.

                                                             Scarce umber.

December moths, Llandaff North

Four species in the MV last night: this December moth (new for garden), Acleris schalleriana, E postvittana x3 and Psychoides filicivora. Not bad for the longest night of the year.

Longest Night

A mild (7.00 C) and dry, last night, so I ran my 22w actinic garden trap and was rewarded with two Scarce Umber and nine December Moth.

Moorlakes Wood

A rather late, yet fresh-looking Scarce Umber at rest on an oak trunk yesterday.

Last night in Llanishen

The coldest night I've trapped this winter, and another new moth! And it's a moth I've been after for some time - Red Sword-grass!

More Winter Moths

These two were taken a few weeks ago:

This Winter Moth came to the trap on the 19th November.

This Northern Winter Moth came to the kitchen window on the 23rd - a new species for me!

Winter moth.

Abercregan last night.

Glamorgan Recorders Forum

Slightly off topic, but in case you've not been made aware from other means, the date and venue for the Glamorgan Recorders Forum 2012 has finalised and details can be found here.

If you wish to attend, then please let the SEWBReC team know directly.

December moth.

On Phil Hardwick's house at Ford y gyfraith, near Parc slip today.

Info - Article

A nice article by Steve Whitehouse on autumn moths in GB.
http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2991

Llandaff North

Two moths in the trap this morning, E postvittana and this rather tatty Yellow-line Quaker, which is a new species for the garden (about time too).

Cardiff

Cypress Carpet on the window of Tesco Pengam Green this am. Also Winter Moth 20/11 at Whitchurch Hosp.

Gorseinon

Still a few things flying to just about make the effort of setting trap worthwhile. In the last two nights the garden trap has caught , 4 Feathered Thorns, 1 Dark Sword-grass, 3 Chestnuts, 1 Brick, 1 Silver Y & 1 Light Brown Apple Moth.

Still catching moths...

The trap is not exactly over-flowing with stuff at the moment, but last night produced a Winter Moth, and Friday night had a Brick and Mottled Umber - the later being another new one for the garden.

Autumnal moth on Parc slip reserve centre today.

Whitchurch Hospital

A few moth species present on the windows 13/11: Blair's Shoulder-knot, E. monodactyla & Rusty-dot Pearl.

Gorseinon garden trap

Last night I ran the moth trap in the garden for the first time since the 11th October. Only seven species, but this Red Sword-grass made the effort worthwhile being a new species for the garden list.

 

The other species trapped were Streak (1), Feathered Thorn (1), Chestnut (4), Dark Chestnut (1), Brick (1) and Angle Shades (1).

Acleris notana at Kenfig Birchwood yesterday.

Grey Pine Carpet

I put most of these grey Thera type carpets down as probable Spruce, as I've tended to just get females. This is the first male I've had this year, and it's Grey Pine Carpet (based on the antennae). It was caught on Friday night.

Llandaff North - recent highlights

The warm nights of late haven't produced any big catches in the garden MV trap (generally around 4 species per night), perhaps due to the frequent deluges. Highlights include:

Acleris schalleriana (female) on 25th Oct:
















Large Wainscot on 28th (new for garden):




















Satellite on 30th (also new):





















Also Dark Chestnut (27th Oct), November moth (x2, 31st Oct) and quite a few Green-brindled Crescent.

Snail trail mines on poplar

Found this strange 'snail-trail' mine of Phyllocnistis unipunctella on hybrid black poplar in Llandaff North this week. I've been keeping an eye out for these mines for a couple of years so I was pleased to finally see one.

Mompha divisella.

Found at Abercregan last night.

Senghenydd

6 species last night: new for the year were Feathered Thorn and the Streak (10th garden record). Also Green-brindled Crescent, Red and Yellow-line Quakers and my latest date for Large Yellow Underwing.

Penarth

Hi all

Found this in the kitchen yesterday eve. I think it's a Red-green Carpet. Agreed?

Rhoose Point

Dave, on the basis that this one has white-ish hind legs I was planning to record it as C betulicola rather than elongella. Do you agree? Also trapped it next to 2 birch trees, and we have no Alder in the vicinity as far as I am aware...

Rhoose Point - help please!

Can anyone help with an id for the moth in the two pics below? Could it be Crocidosema plebejana?

And am I right in thinking the pic below is yet another variant of Light-brown Apple Moth?

Thanks, Adam

Port Talbot

There is a posting from an observer stating that he saw a Crimson Speckled at the Quays, Port Talbot this afternoon. They have had one at Portland recently. Last seen in Vc41 in June 1892 at Porthkerry.

BC South Wales Branch AGM & Members day

Just in case anyone is interested, the branch AGM & Members day is on tomorrow at Kenfig (10:30 for an 11:00 start). Non members are welcome, and speakers include George Tordoff, Chris Manley, Kathy Seddon and Stephen Lewis.
You should even have time to watch the Rugby before coming over!

Mystery Moth

Among a batch of photos I received from Jenny Colley today was this noctuid which I'm not sure about. The Brick is the closest I can get, but it doesn't seem quite right for that. I'm probably missing the obvious but any help appreciated.

Rhoose Point

I think this may be a Blastobasis lacticolella. Can anyone confirm?

Not much else to report - it's been far too windy to make it worthwhile putting the trap out despite the influx of migrants during the warm spell! Just one other item of interest, a dipteran fly, Tachina fera on 29/9 which I believe parasitises moth larvae.

Gorseinon

A Scarce Bordered Straw was the highlight in the garden trap this morning, the only other migrants being 2 Udea ferrugalis and 7 Silver Y. Singles of Merveille du Jour and Zelleria hepariella were the most interesting non-migrants.

Nantyffyllon Ivy blossom.

Green brindled crescent
The Brick.
Also - Angle shades, Red line quaker, Yellow line quaker, The chestnut and Pink barred sallow.

Small Marbled at Cwm Ivy

Received this pic of a Small Marbled from Veronica Shenston today. Caught in her garden last night.

Vale of Glamorgan

Ivy blossom at Summerhouse Pt., Boverton & Lavernock Pt.
Light Emerald, Turnip Moth, Lesser Yellow U/w, Sq.-spot Rustic, L-album Wainscot [2 at Lavernock only], Brindled Green, Satellite, Brick, Lunar U/w, Pink-barred Sallow & Angles Shades.
Migrants: Vestal [1, Boverton], Dark Sword-grass [4], Pearly U/w [1] & Silver Y [3].
Also GMRG survey at Willowbrook, St. Mellons VC35, [1/10]:
Cardiff highlights: 22 species recorded, Large Wainscot [1], Oak Nycteoline [1] & Brindled Green [1]. Migrants: Rusty-dot Pearl & Silver Y.

More migrants, Llandaff North

This Vestal was in the trap this morning, my first here, plus 4 Silver Y.

Bridgend 29th and 30th Sept and 1st Oct

We've finally managed 3 trappings in our garden this weekend. Life has been busy!

Highlights have been Eudonia angustea, Dusky Thorn, Black Rustic, Blair's Shoulder-knot, Merveille du Jour, Large Ranunculus, Brick, Pink-barred Sallow, Sallow, Yellow-line Quaker and Straw Dot.

The Yellow-lined Quaker on 29th and Brick of 30th were first for the garden (bring ing our total to 321 species of which 242 macro in 7.5 years). The Black Rustic and Pink-barred Sallow were the first records for us since 2008.

Butterflies have been scarce, just a few Red Admiral by day, but 2 Common Pipistrelle Bats love the MV!

Mike & Emma Cram.

Nitten Field

There was a good selection of migrants in two traps set in the Nitten Field last night, plus plenty of nice resident stuff too. The highlight was a single Old World Webworm (photo below), which is new for the county. Numbers of all 50 species recorded below, with migrants shown in bold - more photos here http://moonmoths.blogspot.com/:

Caloptilia stigmatella (1), Mompha subbistrigella (1), Light Brown Apple Moth (7), Rhomboid Tortrix (2), Acleris hastiana (1), Eudonia angustea (4), Old World Webworm (1), Rusty-dot Pearl (39), Rush Veneer (1), Vestal (19), Red-green Carpet (1), Common Marbled Carpet (5), Green Carpet (4), Brimstone Moth (3), Convolvulus Hawk-moth (1), Archer's Dart (1), Turnip Moth (1), Dark Sword-grass (1), Large Yellow Underwing (6), Lesser Yellow Underwing (2), Autumnal Rustic (16), Pearly Underwing (1), Setaceous Hebrew Character (52), Neglected Rustic (1), Square-spot Rustic (16), Common Wainscot (7), L-album Wainscot (5), Black Rustic (51), Green-brindled Crescent (29), Large Ranunculus (1), Feathered Ranunculus (2), Brick (1), Red-line Quaker (7), Yellow-line Quaker (1), Flounced Chestnut (4), Beaded Chestnut (5), Lunar Underwing (26), Orange Sallow (1), Pink-barred Sallow (4),  Sallow (2), Dark/Grey Dagger (1), Angle Shades (10), Rosy Rustic (6), Frosted Orange (2), Large Wainscot (4), Small Mottled Willow (1), Pale Mottled Willow (2), Ni Moth (1), Silver Y (3) & Snout (3).

Llandaff North last night

A very good night with this Euchromius ocellea the highlight - nice to get a decent migrant at last!































Also 3 other species new for the garden: Cypress Carpet, Pink-barred Sallow and Acleris sparsana.

Llanishen Stats

Back at the end of April, I got MapMate to tell me how many species I'd had in each year up to the end of that month and posted the results here. Essentially to see if the spring was really as good as it appeared. Given the poor summer, I thought it would be interesting to post the figures for my garden up to the end of September (See below). It may have been a poor summer in general, but the little bits of good weather appear to have bolstered species numbers. I've not corrected for recording effort though - I may well have trapped more regularly than previous years! Incidentally my highest year total is only 306, and I'd expect to beat this during this late summer weather!

2005 203
2006 291
2007 231
2008 200
2009 199
2010 242
2011 300

Cwm Ivy

Yesterday in an email Veronica Shenston mentioned that on the night of the 30th she trapped 9 Vestals, 16 Silver Ys ,1 Pearly Underwing and 1 Rush Veneer in the trap last night (along with all the other moths).

Coed Cae Pica

Just 7 species to actinic/sheet last night, the highlight being 1st site record of Merveille du Jour (x2), taking the total number of macro-moth species for the site to 165.

Orange Sallow

This Orange Sallow was a nice surprise in the trap this morning, as far as I know the first modern Cardiff record and new for ST17.

George (Llandaff North)

Maesteg actinic last night.

Merveille du jour
The Sallow.
Only 10 species, these two being the highlights.

Senghenydd last night

A good catch with 27 moths of 12 species in the trap this morning. Highlights: Mottled Umber, Barred Sallow, Brick and 2 Frosted Orange.

Lavernock Ivy Blossom

Ivy Blossom at Lavernock Point this evening: L-album Wainscot (5), Large Wainscot, Brick, Sallow, Silver Y (5), Rusty-dot Pearl (5) & Acleris rhombana among a total of 14 species. The wainscots are both new for ST16 I think.

Hummingbird Hawk

Seen by Peter Douglas-Jones in his Langland garden today

Roath (central)

L-album Wainscot this am. New species for garden & VC41 tick too! My first since 1995 on Scilly.

Roath (central)

Last few nights have seen good numbers of Large Ranunculus, a Sallow (4th rec. & first since 2003), Cypress Pug, Blair's Sh.-knot, Small Dusty Wave & and a very late D. lacustrata - looks like the latest VC rec. Migrants: only a Rusty-dot Pearl on 26th. Had Red Admiral today at Lavernock.
Tremorfa/Pengam Green: Lunar U/w New ST27 (26th).

Rhoose Point

20 species last night, the highlights being 20 Feathered Ranunculus, 11, Black Rustic, 1 Rusty-dot Pearl, 5 L-album Wainscot, Pink-barred Sallow, 2 Silver Y and 1 Shaded Broad-bar which was new for the garden record.

Senghenydd

Recent catches have been pretty much the norm for the time of year - 11 species on 24th being the best. Highlights: my first Flounced Chestnut (24th) & Black Rustic (21st) of the year, Dusky Thorn (24th), Pale Mottled Willow (22nd), Blood-vein (21st), Hedge Rustic (2, 16th) and Neglected Rustic (15th).

Llandaff North this week

Four nights trapping over the last week have produced some decent catches for late September, with the best catch coming last night (24th) with 19 species. Highlights: Sallow (21st & 23rd), Black Rustic (19th & 24th), Large Ranunculus (10 in total, including 6 on 21st) & first Blair's Shoulder-knot of the year last night.

Also a bit of migrant activity with Dark Sword-grass on 19th and a total of 8 Silver Y. Also seen a few Rusty-dot Pearl while out surveying in Carmarthenshire.

Roath (central)

Back trapping again after hols: Large Ranunculus (2), Blair's Shouder-knot & SilverY were last nights highlights.

Convolvulus Hawk in Cowbridge

Anthony and Kate Isles emailed me yesterday to tell me of what they thought was a Privet Hawk-moth found amongst their washing in Cowbridge on 3rd September. In itself that would have been rather exciting, given that Privet Hawk is not that common in the east of the county, so I was somewhat disappointed that it was 'only' a Convolvulus Hawk! It is only the second county record this year that I am aware of, although I've not synced with Barry for a while so there may be some other west Glam records.