Mike Hogan, Beth Evans, Graham Watkeys and I visited two disused railway tunnels and a limestone cave, in the Merthyr Tydfil and Cynon valley area, today, counting the hibernating lepidoptera and surveying bats.
In general, the number of hibernating Herald moths was down on last time, but as illness and unavailability caused the count to be done about a month later than last time, it is difficult to draw direct comparisons, but I have included the counts for the previous survey anyway.
Pontsarn/Pantcadifor Tunnel:
01/12/2013 - 37 Herald Moths.
04/01/2015 - 36 Herald Moths.
Cefnglas Tunnel:
01/12/2013 - 82 Herald Moths.
04/01/2015 - 65 Herald Moths.
Morlais Quarry Cave:
26/12/2013 - 13 Herald Moths.
2 Tissue.
04/01/2015 - 9 Herald Moths.
3 Tissue.
2 Peacock Butterfly.
Well done on keeping these surveys going Mark. Good to see the Tissue moth was recorded again.
ReplyDeleteOne winter, it would be interesting to do the count in early December and again in early February, to see how the numbers change and whether they have moved around in response to changing climatic conditions and their affect on conditions within the tunnel.
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