Abercregan last night.

                                    Catoptria pinella

                                      Iron prominent.
                                      34 species, the highlights being one Heath rustic,
                                      3 Small rufous and 22 True lovers knot.

Llandaff North last night

With a minimum temperature of 17.6 C last night was bound to be good - 64 species was my highest total for the garden to date. Highlights were three species new for the site: Plain Golden Y (quite a scarce species in Cardiff), Small Rufous (new ST17) and Eulamprotes atrella.

Small Rufous

Eulamprotes atrella

Other highlights were Phoenix, Yellow-tail, Zelleria hepariella, Cydia splendana and Batrachedra praeangusta.

GMRG Bosch Survey

A good night with 66 species ID and a few for DJS. There were 4 species new for ST07: A. selasella, Brown-tail, Round-winged Muslin & Brussels Lace (per GMRG database). The commonest species were Water Veneer c500, Ringed China-mark c250 & Small Fan-footed Wave c50. Other species of note were: Leopard Moth, Small Emerald, Devon Carpet, Waved Carpet, Black Arches,  Rosy Footman, Miller, Slender Brindle & Beautiful Hook-tip.

And a few more from Rhoose...

A very good catch last night with low 80's for the species count (still a few I need to look at).

Without a doubt the pick of the bunch were Small Ranunculus and Acleris logiana/kochiella.  I will pop a photo of both up later.  Would it be a good idea to dissect the Acleris Dave?

Others new for the garden record were:

• Endothenia marginana
• Gypsonoma dealbana
• Ringed China-mark
• Scoparia subfusca
• Hypsopygia glaucinalis
• Dot Moth
• Dusky Sallow
• July Highflyer
• and finally what looks like Chilo phragmitella or Calomotropha paludella.  Again I'll post a pic of that one.

It's almost like the insect population has just been waiting for a bit of heat - there was also a huge variety of flies, lacewings, caddis, beetles (about 40 ground beetles flew in) and parasitic wasps.  Let's hope it stays like this!

Llanishen Caddis

A good night in the trap last night, with lots of moths, but also a couple of Caddis that I thought I'd share for a change:

Lepidostoma hirtum is a pretty common species and pretty distinctive

And this big pale species is Oecetis lacustris

There are also a lot of Sericostoma personatum on the wing at the moment - a large chocolate coloured caddis with a venacular name of 'Welshman's Button'. I posted a photo of a male last year here.

Llandaff North recent highlights

Slightly disappointing catches the last couple of nights, but the temperature has dropped to around 13.5 C each night, so not particularly barmy.

43 species on 23rd and 36 species last night. Two new species for the garden - Endothenia marginana and this Mompha, I can't decide whether it's propinqella or lacteella. The colouring seems to look better for lacteella, but there are only two county records of this. Any thoughts anyone?

Mompha propinquella / lacteella

Endothenia marginana

Better than all the moths was the Lord of the Flies, Tabanus sudeticus, in the trap on 23rd. I've usually seen these in the Welsh uplands, but did see one in Roath Park a few years ago. A real monster - wouldn't fancy a bite from one of those.

Tabanus sudeticus

Also my first damselfly in the garden today after 6 years here, Beautiful Demoiselle.

Sycamore in Roath

Jake caught this Sycamore on 22nd July, only the third VC41 record.