Parc Slip/Brynna Woods last week

We trapped at Brynna Woods last tuesday night (21st) and caught 130+ moths of 37 speces. Nothing particularly exciting but I wasn't sure of this one:

Grapholita funebrana??

At Parc Slip on thursday night it was a bit damp but we had about 50 species in the end including my (and Parc Slip's) first ever map-winged swift, plus our 3rd ever small yellow wave, 3rd ever Teleiodes vulgella, 4th ever northern spinach and FFY purple clay, clay, willow beauty, Calamotropha paludella and Anania lancealis. There were also the following two I'm not sure of:

Apotomis sp?

Notocelia trimaculana?

Near Porthcawl

We did another moth trap/bat walk/glow worm walk with Cowbridge Cubs at their camp near Porthcawl on friday (24th). It was a bit breezy but we ran the trap until about 23:30 and had just over a dozen species in that time including a smart brussels lace, a bee moth, peach blossom, small magpie and this little tortrix which I can't quite pin down..apologies for the poor photo - I only had a phone...

Aethes tesserana.?

Bridgend night of 24Jun16

Ancylis achatana was the highlight of a MV trapping consisting of 45 moths (24 species) - the 401st species for the garden (133rd micro). This pretty little moth species is spreading northwards and was no surprise to us as we have plenty of the suitable foodplants in the garden.Others new for the year were Gypsonoma dealbana, Lime-speck Pug, The Phoenix, Eyed Hawkmoth, Double Square-spot and Fan-foot. We also had a Green Shield Bug.

Creigiau - GMS Thursday night

55 moths of 35 species last night with 2 new for the year - Light Emerald & Poplar Hawkmoth. Two micros are evading ID - an orange-ish tortrix and another non-descript little brown job with white palps. Grateful if anyone can ID these for me.

Prior's Meadow, Gower 23rd June

Looking for Foresters with pheromone, unsuccessfully, yesterday in a lovely flowery meadow with lots of common sorrel. But did see loads of these Burnets. I photographed several and all seem to have the centre pair of dots merged. Is it safe to call them Five-spot, rather than Narrow-bordered?

Five-spot Burnets, probably

Y Gweira

Mark Evans and I trapped with WTSWW at their Y Gewira reserve, Llantrisant Common last night. It started clear and cool and moths were coming slowly, but then it clouded up, the temperature rose and the moths livened up a bit.

I had 57 species at my MV and there were quite a few additional species in Mark's trap. Highlights included Anania crocealis, Cydia fagiglandana, lots of Double Line and the moths in the photos below. This small pug, from Mark's trap, looks quite a good match for Lead-coloured (not sure if there is any cow-wheat on the common?). Perhaps it will need dissecting to be sure.

 

We caught 3 of these tortricids - I can't decide if it they are well-marked Orthotaenia undulana or Celypha rivulana - opinions welcome, thanks.

 

Creigiau - Saturday & Tuesday

Box out on Saturday night and had 50+ moths of 33 species - 6 were new for the year including Dark Arches and Green Arches.

My Skinner Trap is falling apart so just put a light in the window on Tuesday night for a couple of hours - it attracted 40+ moths of 24 species, 3 of these were new for the year including a fine Scallop Shell.

Now waiting to take delivery of a Robinson Trap - I'll still be using 60 watt actinic lighting ( twin 30 watt tubes ) so shouldn't really affect the catch in any way.

Port Eynon Darts...

Couple of id requests and a confirmation from last night's moths in Port Eynon (in addition to new for year Phoenix and Short-cloaked Moth):

1) Pretty sure this is Sharp-angled Peacock...

2) I'm going round in circles about these two "dart"s

Thanks in advance!

Dave Morris

Two rolls, two moths

Back in May I collected this shoot of Grey Poplar with two rolled leaves from Bute Park.

A moth has emerged from each roll in the last few days and surprisingly they were two different species: Gypsonoma dealbana and Anacampsis populella. I didn't get a pic of the Anacampsis but posted one recently on the Gwent blog from a rolled sallow leaf collected at Magor Marsh.

Gypsonoma dealbana

Caerau, Maesteg yesterday.

                      Forester, found by Martyn Hnatuik. New for the valley

Gowerton 21st June

Longest day and full moon, with drizzle.
Nice to see Cypress Carpet and Gypsonoma oppressana amongst the 50 species this morning. Plenty of Dichrorampha alpinana in the garden amongst the ox-eye daisies at present, too.

Gypsonoma oppressana

Dichrorampha alpinana

Cypress Carpet

Dusking at Pengam Moors

Ideal conditions for dusking last night (still, cloudy and mild) tempted me down to Pengam Moors (ST216766) to look for Netted Pug around the large stands of Bladder Campion.

I failed to see my target species but there was plenty of moth activity with 23 species recorded, the highlight being two male European Corn-borer Ostrinia nubilalis.

Ostrinia nubilalis

This migratory species is reported to be breeding in southern England in recent years, on waste ground with mugwort - just the habitat at Pengam. There are no reports of recent migratory examples on Atropos Flight Arrivals so I expect this species is now breeding in the area.

Other highlights were Yarrow Plume Gillmeria pallidactyla, White Plume Pterophorus pentadactyla, Broad-barred White, Sandy Carpet (common around White Campion),  lekking Ghosts, Eudonia pallida, Agapeta zoegana and Eucosma campoliliana.

Gillmeria pallidactyla on Bladder Campion

Port Eynon after the rain...

Had to have a night off my away-from-home trapping due to the rain, but the light was back out last night, with 63 species attracted. Again, Heart & Dart  outnumbered everything else but I added a few species to my year list including Foxglove Pug, Evergestis forficalis, Privet Hawk-moth, Udea prunalis, Common Emerald, Light Arches, Catoptria pinella and Grey Arches.

Surprisingly, Small Square-spot, Green Carpet and Treble Lines were all new for the garden list. 


I also had a much fresher L-album Wainscot so I'm happy with that species now :) ...

Dave Morris

Central Roath

My macro-moth garden list continues to rise with a Scorched Wing on Friday night.  4 new species this month!

Last night at Broughton Burrows (Gower)

Despite the heavy rain by dawn we recorded a modest 44 moths of 23 species. The highlights for us were three firsts for the site for us in the form of Phycitodes binaevella (agg), Scallop Shell and Lychnis, taking our Broughton list to 154 species (106 macro / 48 micro) since we started trapping here in 2014.

The catch was 1 Brown House moth, 8 Chrysoteuchia culmella, 2 Scoparia pyralella, 1 Scoparia ambigualis, 1 Crescent Plume,  1 Phycitodes binaevella (agg), 1 Purple-bar, 2 Green Carpet, 1 Scallop Shell, 3 Grass Rivulet, 2 Grey Pug, 1 Brimstone, 3 willow Beauty, 1 Mottled Beauty, 2 White Ermine, 2 Heart & Dart, 2 The flame, 1 LY Underwing, 2 Lychnis, 1 The Clay, 2 Brown Rustic, 1 Small Angle Shades and 2 Uncertain. We also caught Aphodeus rufipes and Brown Chafer beetles and nearly a Field Vole!

Day flying moths recorded earlier on Saturday during a walk from Burry Holms to the burrows were The Cinnbar and the pretty Agapeta zoegana plus Painted Lady, Common Blue, Meadow Brown and Small Heath butterflies. We also noted Green Tiger Beetles, Corizus hyacyami (red and black species of Rhopalid Bug) and Panorpa germanica (a species of Scorpionfly).

Mike, Emma, James & Holly Cram

Port Eynon Garden

My annual week of moth trapping in Port Eynon (away from my usual haunts in Buckinghamshire) has begun.
In spite of the rain at collection time and the attentions of a mother Robin, I managed 40 species with the Heart & Darts outnumbering the other 39 species combined.

New for my year list were Riband Wave, Fan Foot, Broad-barred White, Tinea semifulvella, Uncertain, Tachystola acroxantha, Bright-line Brown-eye, Spectacle, Green Pug and Mottled Beauty; most of which I fully expect to get back in VC24 over the summer!

On top of those I had this huge (26mm w/s) pug if anyone has any ideas...

...and I'm thinking this slightly tatty chap is L-Album Wainscot, which I absolutely will not get at home!

Dave Morris

Bridgend yesterday

We caught our 400th species for the garden yesterday in the form of the tortrix Acleris schalleriana, which I caught after flushing accidentally from shrubs as I mowed the lawn. Also of interest was a Mayfly species on our front door for a couple of hours yesterday - probably the Claret Dun (Leptophlebia vespertina).



Mike Cram

Pammene albuginana confirmed

I've now dissected the Pammene from the Alun Valley last Friday night and it is a good match for albuginana, rather than any of the similar Pammene species. I thought this might be new for VC41 as it isn't listed on the micro list on this blog, but it turns out Mark Evans caught two on 20/6/14 at Quaker's Yard. These weren't dissected but were accepted by Dave onto the VC41 list on the basis of Mark's excellent photo (see blog post and comments here).

Garnwen, Maesteg last night. PP+MH.

                           Welsh wave

                           Red necked footman

                          Beautiful golden Y.
                          49 species in all inc Eyed hawkmoth, Scorched wing
                          and Barred straw.

Creigiau - 14 June

Another good mid-week box with 58 moths of 32 species. I'm getting a lot of variety at the moment - of the 32 species, 10 were new for the year and 1 of those (Cypress Carpet) was a new moth for me!

Full list of NFY species - Ancylis achatana (not sure about this one - see pic), Epinotia bilunana, Cypress Carpet, Freyer's Pug (another doubtful one), Ghost Moth, Gold Spot ( I found this on the ground looking not very well at all), Heart & Club, Small Fan-foot, Spruce Carpet and Treble Lines.

Epinotia bilunana

Cypress Carpet

Ghost Moth

Gold Spot

Heart & Club

Spruce Carpet

The two that I'm not sure about - Ancylis achatana & Freyer's Pug