Antispila again

Found another vacated mine of A. metallella today. This one was also in a shady spot, by the Taff Trail at Whitchurch. I searched other bushes in the area but couldn't find any further mines.

The Dranges, Gower

Hi all,
Just a quick post to any Swansea/Gower moth-ers that fancy trapping somewhere new. WTSWW are running a (non-public) bioblitz on the evening of Thursday 3rd September/morning of Friday 4th at The Dranges nature reserve near Murton - it's mainly marshy grassland with some areas of scrub but doesn't have public access yet hence the non-public nature of the event. I'll be there with a generator and at least one moth trap but could you let me know if anyone else would like to come along and trap and we'll send you the details of how to get there/when we're meeting etc.

Another unusual leafminer at Coryton

Coryton roundabout has a history of producing interesting records, such as the scarce, supposedly ancient woodland leafminer Phyllonorycter muelleriella found there a few years ago. I stopped off for a few minutes on the way back into Cardiff this evening, and walked the path which runs between The Village hotel and the south side of the roundabout. A mine on Dogwood caught my eye, and on closer inspection at home proved to be Antispila metallella, with the distinctive cut out made by the larva to make a case for pupating on the ground.

The final photo shows two 'trial slits' at the start of the mine, made by the female ovipositor, which separates the mine of Antispila metallella from the similar mine of A. treitschkiella. There is only one previous VC41 record of metallella, made by Barry and Sandra on Gower back in 1995.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth in our garden today

About an hour ago, Emma found a Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on budleia in our garden (Bridgend). This is only the seventh we've recorded here since 2004. Despite the cool windy weather it lingered before disappearing into adjacent gardens. Also in the garden today were singles of Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Peacock, but more unusually a worn Ringlet, only the third we've recorded. There have been plenty in nearby Broadlands this summer.

We also took a short visit to Margam Abbey this morning where we logged 13 Gatekeeper, 4 Meadow Brown and a Common Blue.

OOC. Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucester on Sat. With MCP and DRWG.

                    Fontwell down

                  Marbled white

Chalkhill blue

               Dusky sallow

               Haworths pug

             Pyrausta nigrata

           Epagoge grotiana.
           We were too early for Silver spotted skipper it seems but had a good
           trapping session NE of Chepstow in the evening. 27 micro sp in my
           trap and macro highlights were Beautiful hook tip, Northern eggar,
           Satin lutestring, Four dotted footman and Scallop shell.

Creigiau - last night

A bit cooler last night, but put the trap out for GMS and managed to get everything back indoors before the heavy rain started at approx 06:00. Not a bad little haul, 59 moths of 34 species including 3 new for the year - Antler Moth, Blomer's Rivulet (only the second time I've seen this) and Udea prunalis.

Antler Moth

Blomer's Rivulet

Udea prunalis

The other highlight of the catch was my second Leopard Moth. Amusingly, when I took it out of the pot for a quick photo it played dead and lay on its side - but it curled its abdomen under and grabbed it with the hind legs ! Anyone else seen this?

Leopard Moth

Nemophora cupriacella

According to The Moths of Glamorgan, the only reference to Nemophora cupriacella occurring in the county comes from Maitland Emmet's Vice County maps, as reproduced in MBGBI vol I, and there are no further details on the scans of these maps now available online (here). So it was rather a surprise to find a swarm of these lovely little moths on the bank of the Clydach Reservoir whilst on SEWBReC's Bioblitz at Darwonno yesterday.

A rather damp and windy week...

I think our week in Port Eynon was rather blighted by wind and rain and rather lower temperatures than I was hoping for, however I did manage to put a trap out in the garden each night.

I caught a total of 117+ species, two of which - Northern Rustic and Large Tabby (below) - were lifers.

Also, several new for my year list including Crescent Dart, White-line Dart, Privet Hawk-moth, Meal Moth, Cochylis atricapitana, Pandemis heperana, Twenty-plume Moth, Rusty Dot Pearl, Dark Sword-grass, Lackey, Wormwood Pug, Brussels Lace, Buff Footman, Dingy Footman, Garden Tiger, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Cabbage Moth, Marbled Green, Bordered Sallow and Dark Spectacle.

Also, I had this pug which I'm not 100% sure on; wingspan 24mm. I'm wondering if it is Bleached??

Back in Bucks now!

Dave Morris

Gowerton last night

Last night was wet to start then clear and cold but ran the trap for the Garden Moth Scheme. Low numbers though still 34 species including this Pammene aurita which was new for the garden. As a sycamore feeder it ought to be more common.

Pammene aurita

Broughton 22Jul15

Again using our 8W Actinic at Broughton overnight we caught about 60 moths of 32 species.

Highlights were Aspilapterix tringinipella, Acrobasis suavella, Udea prunalis, query Bryotropha sp (see photo), Lackey, Peach Blossom, 3 Garden Tiger, Dingy Footman, Scarce Footman, Elephant Hawkmoth, White-line Dart, query Light Feathered Rustic (? see photo), Dot moth, Small Angle Shades.

I'm thinking Bryotropha terrella for the micro, and leaning towards a worn Light Feathered Rustic on the two queries we have.

Cheers, Mike & Emma

Penarth

WTSWW ran a public moth/bat walk at St. Augustine's Church in Penarth last night and the conditions were pretty good for both bats and moths. It's a shame we had to pack up at about 23:00 as things were starting to come in in good numbers but it was a long way from home for me!
A few pretty species turned up to keep the attendees happy including swallow-tailed moth, brimstone, common emerald and small emerald (which was a new moth for me as far as I'm aware - I've certainly never had it at Parc Slip. The most spectacular visitor though was an old lady which is another one I haven't caught at PS.
Some nice micros too including an Oegoconia sp. which was another new one for me as well as Carcina quercana, Lozotaenia forsterana, Blastobasis adustella and a white plume.

Creigiau - Tuesday night

Another good haul in the midweek trap. 50 identified species of which 14 were new for the year and two of these were new for me ( Euzophera pinguis and Small Emerald ). Some really nice looking moths, although the Yellow-tail would only settle while taking a nap!

Black Arches

Euzophera pinguis  ?

Evergestis pallidata

Slender Brindle

Small Emerald

Yellow-tail

Knot Grass

Nantyffyllon today.

                  Pammene gallicana?
                

Parc Slip addition...

Is this just a strongly marked Common Rustic? It's very attractive!

Parc Slip 21st July

I had another pretty good catch overnight on tuesday night with 86 or so species including a couple of migrants: small mottled willow (new for me here) and dark sword-grass. Other macro highlights included gothic (4th i've ever had here), large emerald (1st since 2013), purple thorn (FFY), garden tiger (bizarrely the first i've ever actually caught here), yellow-tail (2nd ever and 1st since 2012) and common rustic agg. (FFY).
A couple of notable micros too including Pseudopostega crepusculella (1st ever and not often recorded in Glam if I'm right?), red-barred tortrix (FFY), Argolamprotes micella and a few which i would like confirmation/correction for please? As mentioned on George's post we also had a Giant Lacewing in the trap.

1.Argyresthia sp.?

2.Epinotia sp.

3.Eucosma campoliliana

4.Gypsonoma dealbana?

5.Mompha propinquella

6.Not sure

7.Pammene fasciana?

8.Oddly-marked Ypsolopha parenthesella?

Llandaff 21st July

Trying to get a decent image of this ever so small and remarkably active moth even after being in fridge for a good few hours has been very difficult. I'll try again for a better image as soon as able.
It looks to me as if it's a Small Marbled. I've been trying out some close-up lens in order to hopefully get some larger images of micros till I get proper macro lens.

Y Gweira last night

I trapped for 3 hours at WTSWW's Y Gweira reserve on the edge of Llantrisant Common, with Carys Solman and three of her volunteers. The temperature held up well at 15C but it was a bit on the damp side.

The catch was good if not spectacular, with 80 species recorded between a 125W MV and a 15W actinic trap. The best records were probably Marsh Oblique-barred and Zeiraphera isertana, both of which are new for ST08 (unless Howard has caught them in Creigau - I don't have his records on my system yet).

Other nice species included Slender Brindle, Beautiful Hook-tip, Round-winged Muslin, Double Line, Small Rufous, Scallop Shell, Large Emerald, Dingy Shell, Sallow Kitten, Helcystogramma rufescens and Acleris aspersana.

Slender Brindle

 Most exciting for me, though, was the Giant Lacewing, which I've never seen in Glam before.

Giant Lacewing

Alun Valley (yet again)

I've now dissected the final few queries from last week's trapping session: Cnephasia asseclana, Eana incanana and Coleophora spinella. All are new for SS97 and the bluebell-feeding Eana is only c. 6th VC record.

Dorset over the weekend

Didn't find Speckled Footman this year but did see several we don't get here, plus Small Marbled like the one Veronica had recently.

Acleris umbrana

Synaphe punctalis

Anania verbascalis

Evergestis limbata, worn. Now resident

Plain Wave

Dusky Sallow

Kent Black Arches

Cream-bordered Green Pea