Saturday 23 November 2019

Merthyr mawr


     Pammene giganteana. First county record


     Pammene argyrana. Last recorded in Glamorgan in 1923.
     I caught these two tortrix at Merthyr mawr dunes on 24/5/2017 and gave them to George Tordoff for dissection. They were thought lost until refound this week! Thanks George and to Dave for confirmation.

Monday 11 November 2019

Barry, 10th November

A good mix in the trap from Sunday night including Merveille du Jour, December Moth, Red-green Carpet, Yellow-line Quaker and two Silver Y. The surprise was the Sprawler - doubly so as I hadn't checked to see how scarce it was here (GMS folks always seem to get them here and there). Poss. 6th record for Glamorgan and 2nd since 1917 (Thanks to George)! I shall have to try to get a better pic...






Thursday 26 September 2019

Mellte

Just out of county, occupied leaf mines of Stigmella tiliae were present on at least three Small-leaved Limes at the gunpowder works site in the Mellte valley near Pontneddfechan. My data set shows this species has not been recorded in Glamorgan, so it may be work checking potential county sites...


Sunday 25 August 2019

Barry 23rd-24th August

The last two nights have seen large numbers of Jersey Tiger in the trap here; ten on Friday night and thirteen individuals counted from last night. Plus one seen fluttering in the garden by day yesterday. Last year I think we had no more than ten recorded and usually in ones and twos.

In contrast we've only had one Garden Tiger this year down from a handful last year. Similar foodplants but different tolerances perhaps...?

Some of Friday night's Tigers left, Saturday's right.

Saturday 24 August 2019

Llandaff - Garden - 23rd August

A warm but mostly clear sky last night.

Sadly, the only moth of note an Orange Sallow, it also happened to be a first for the garden. The remainder of the trap was brimming with Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-borderd Yellow Underwing, Lesser Yellow Underwing and a single Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing - always the smartest looking of them all.





Saturday 17 August 2019

Phaulernis fulviguttella

This scarce (for Glamorgan) Angelica feeding specialist was found at a second site in the Llynfi Valley, this time at Blaencaerau colliery spoil, Caerau, Maesteg [SS8694]. ***update****- another 11 at Gilfach (west), Maesteg [SS8487] on 18 Aug 2019.



Friday 9 August 2019

Llandaff North trapping this week

I've not done a huge amount of garden trapping this summer, but I made a bit more effort this week and trapped on 4 consecutive nights from 5th to 8th August. Wednesday night (7th August) was the most productive with 46 species - not a huge total, but it was notable for the number of interesting noctuids in the catch. Best of the bunch was Southern Wainscot; there are only two previous records of this species from Cardiff, both from the Bay. Mine might have wandered from there, or it may be breeding more locally on Reed Canary-grass on the Taff riverbank or on Common Reed at Forest Farm.
Also of note were Campion (2nd garden record), Bordered Sallow (3rd record), Least Yellow Underwing (1st since 2008) and Dark Sword-grass. The latter might be a relatively common migrant but it's very good at avoiding my garden - this was my first since 2011. Also a Gold Spot and a couple of Euzophera pinguis, which has had a good year here.




On 5th August there was a wandering Catoptria margaritella (3rd garden record of this boggy moorland species) and the pine-feeding Ocnerostoma friesei (approx. 8th county record), and on the exceptionally warm and wet night of 8th August another Least Yellow Underwing.

All in all, a pretty good week.

Thursday 25 July 2019

Barry, 24th July

A couple more NFG and totally new for us, Box-tree moth from the fence by the trap plus Dusky Sallow & Endotricha flammealis both also NFG. Jersey Tigers continue to appear about one or two a night.







Gorseinon

A Royal Mantle was caught by Chris Brewer just round the corner from me last night.  Plenty in my trap but nothing this good! Looks like he had a couple of Suspected too.  One in my garden also. 

Wednesday 24 July 2019

Llandaff - Garden - 23rd July

A very hot and humid evening with thunderstorms. I was unable to run the trap for much longer than midnight due to huge hailstones.

A few micros to check but I did have this wonderful looking beast of a froghopper - Ledra aurita. A local species with only a few records as far as I can see. He has to be around 1.5cm - 2 cm.




Acleris umbrana, Barry, 21st July

Acleris umbrana appears to have made it back into the county... This was found on the side of the trap and my micro blindness initially put it down as something Acleris hastiana-esque until Ben Sale on the micro forum suggested umbrana which seemed to fit.

Checking on the website though I saw only the one record in 1907! But there it was, scale tufts and all.



Also nice to see slap bang on the middle of the trap rain cover after the thunderstorm this morning one of two of the first Jersey Tigers this year:




Monday 22 July 2019

Llandaff Garden - 21st July

I took this in the trap last night. I'm a tad unsure if it's a Confused, a Nutmeg, Dusky Brocade or other. I'm opting for a Nutmeg.

The wing markings are different with the orbicular stigma elongated on the left and small and oval on the right. I'm sure it's not a rare occurance but a first for me.

Look forward to some input if possible for species ID.



 

Wednesday 17 July 2019

Kent Black Arches, Barry, July 16th

A Kent Black Arches which is new for us and the garden in Barry. No records in TMOG or the new website database either?

I am not entirely sure whether to record this for the 16th or the 15th as it fluttered in the corner of my eye whilst I was preparing the moth trap last night. Therefore it was either hiding in the trap undiscovered from the previous night or on the lawn. After a short chase through the workings of my son's trampoline and the sweet peas I finally managed to pot it.



I just tried to get a better picture but it's very excitable so will have to try after work. Paul said one was taken last week at Kenfig so seems to be a moth on the move?

Last night overall was probably a bit moon-y after the eclipse and a little colder than previous nights so numbers were down a bit but there was a nice Swallow-tailed moth in with the usual mixture.

Monday 8 July 2019

Mompha terminella

Stumbled across this Mompha terminella at Garnwen [SS8392], Maesteg on 6th July 2019. Not a good photo, but enough for ID.  Looking at the data on the new web site there have been only 2 previous Glamorgan records, one of which was a leaf-mine.


Saturday 6 July 2019

Small Marbled, Barry, July 4th

Thursday night was quite good for numbers and new species for the year and I thought I might have a NFG in this little 'micro' which had survived the sparrows and blackbirds sat on the corner of the trap. After trawling through the micros book fruitlessly I realised it was a Small Marbled and not a micro at all!




Also from the same night we had two Round-winged Muslin NFG and this morning there was a single Lunar-spotted Pinion.





Monday 1 July 2019

Llandaff Garden - 30th June


A lovely and warm evening, a balmy 21.2 C. Sadly, it was a disappointing evening except for a second garden record of Small Elephant Hawk moth, and a lovely micro - Chrysoclista linneella. A new record for the garden.


Chrysoclista linneella

Sunday 30 June 2019

Creigiau Tuesday 25 June


Some micros from the garden moth box on Tuesday night. my tentative IDs are as follows, but I'm not really sure about any of them so would appreciate assistance before I put them on SEWBReCORD.
Bryotropha sp
Ephestia unicolorella
Endothenia sp (2 images)
Phycitodes sp (2 images)
Wax Moth (2 images)






Hot in Horton


Two traps left overnight in a garden by Horton Cliff produced a very good haul yesterday morning, with ~944 individuals of 126 species, the more interesting including: Plutella xylostella 20, Argyresthia cupressella 1, Argolamprotes micella 3, Lozotaeniodes formosana 1, Delplanqueia dilutella 2, Anerastia lotella 1, Udea ferrugalis 1, Mecyna asinalis 2, Privet Hawk-moth 8, Silky Wave 1, Mullein Wave 2, Small Blood-vein 1, Fern 3, Pretty Chalk Carpet 1, Haworth's Pug 3, Shaded Pug 1, Grass Emerald 6, Reddish Light Arches 2, Shore Wainscot 5, L-album Wainscot 3, Devonshire Wainscot 1, Sand Dart 2 & Crescent Dart 1. With a count 217, Dark Arches was the commonest species, followed by 180 Heart & Darts and 50 Large Yellow ‘Underpants’. 

Later in the day we called in to see Veronica in Cwm Ivy; she had also recorded a bumper catch which including a Vestal she had potted up. She also observed a Hummingbird Hawk in her garden a couple of days previously and I saw one in the middle of Merthyr on the 26th. On the 27th we had two species at home, Argyresthia cupressella and Scarlet Tiger, taking our Gorseinon urban garden list onto 756.

Friday 21 June 2019

Moths on Dyer's Greenweed

There are quite a few rare micro-moths on Dyer's Greenweed (there's even a Butterfly Conservation factsheet devoted to them, see here).  One of the reasons the moths are rare is that greenweed is a much declined plant of old pastures. Another reason is that management of remaining stands of the plant is often inappropriate for the moths, for example heavy grazing or mowing in late spring or early summer would remove any micro-moth larvae that would be feeding on the plants at the time.

Last year I found a larva of Mirificarma lentiginosella on greenweed on a chance visit to Cosmeston Lakes CP (see blog post here). I followed this up with a survey for Butterfly Conservation at Lavernock Point Nature Reserve last week, and was delighted to find not only quite a few M. lentiginosella larvae, but also four larvae of the rarer Agonopterix atomella. The latter species was only known from around 10 UK sites, with no Welsh records since the 1970s (those were in Gwent, where I failed to find it on surveys in 2014-2015).
Agonopterix atomella larva
Greenweed plants where Agonopterix atomella found
Mirificarma lentiginosella larva
Encouraged by this I thought it was worth a more extensive search at Cosmeston, and a visit yesterday resulted in a couple of M. lentiginosella and, more excitingly, seven larvae of A. atomella. These were spread over a wide area, in three different fields.

So we now know of two Welsh sites for these scarce moths, both in Glamorgan and separated by only a mile or two. The moths might be out there somewhere else, but there aren't many sites with good stands of the foodplant.

Tuesday 18 June 2019

Port Eynon Pug

Visiting for a week from Bucks and trapping in my mum's garden.

This pug came on Saturday night, and as I'm useless at most pugs, someone has suggested Maple Pug (albeit a bit early). I would appreciate the thoughts of those who know better the status locally. I see from the excellent glamorganmoths website (I wish we had similar in Bucks!) that there is a record from Gower in June 2018 so that makes me think it can be early!


Dave Morris
Port Eynon