One from the summer

I never got chance to post this at the time, but way back on 28th May I found lots of large Coleophora cases, and associated leaf mines, on Wych Elm growing at Llandaff Weir, Cardiff. The cases appeared much too large for C. serratella and looked a good match for C. limosipennella - the ID was confirmed by John Langmaid from photos.

This is the first confirmed record of this species in VC41. There was a 1930s record made by Cox at Taff's Well, but this was rejected by the GMRG committee as the case was on birch, whereas limosipennella feeds only on elm.

Coleophora limosipennella case

Colophora limosipennella leaf mines on Wych Elm

Coleophora limosipennella host elm tree, Llandaff Weir

The cases were abundant and the mines very obvious, so worth looking out for this species elsewhere in Glamorgan next year. They are considerably larger than the similar-looking serratella cases which can also be found on elm.

Llandaff North last night

With warm (and very wet) southerlies returning last night, I stuck the trap out more in hope than expectation. There was a migrant in the trap this morning, but just a Rusty-dot Pearl. It had a crippled forewing and I don't think it could have flown very far, so probably a locally bred specimen (I reared through a larva of this species found on Sea Beat at Barry Island last year, so they definitely breed locally). The only other moths in the trap were White-shouldered House-moth and Light Brown Apple Moth.

Also a RDP on a shop window in Swansea today.

Death's-head Hawk at KNNR

The first record in VC41 since Sept. 2007 (Roath, Cardiff) and the 60th record overall for Glamorgan. The best (influx) years being: 1933 with 7 recs & 4 recs in 2003. Now all we need is the name of the finder!

Death's-Head Hawk

I see there was one at Kenfig yesterday - still worth trapping then...

Phyllonorycter junoniella at Craig y Llyn

In early October, Barry Stewart, Sam Bosanquet and I came across some leaf mines on Cowberry while on a bryophyte excursion to Craig y Llyn (the NPT bit of the crag). I took a couple home and puzzled over them for a while, and initially misidentified them as Ectoedemia weaveri. Fortunately, John Langmaid wasn't convinced and eventually the mine was correctly identified as an early stage Phyllonorycter junoniella mine, the ID being helped by a dead larva extracted from one of the mines.

Phyllonorycter junoniella mine on Cowberry

The species is already on the VC41 list, but the only record is from way back in 1926 (F. Norton) and is from Welsh St Donat's on the Vale coast - a long long way from any Cowberry. Dave provided the following information about this early record:

"Norton's records come from Hallett's annotated fauna of Glamorgan, and it is possible that there may have been a specimen but it's not one that Jake & I looked for during the research stage.

That said, looking at the record in Hallett's list, it does look to say "Lithocolletis racoiniella Scott" - which we obviously misread as Lithocolletis vacciniella (Stainton). There is no name in Kloet and Hinks, and as far as I can tell the only Lithocolletis that Scott described is irradiella (now lautella). Indeed there is a mis-translation on tinternet that reads vacciniella as racciniella - but Hallett wasn't using ORS software to work out his species names, and it is unlike him to get spelling and authority wrong, so a real mystery."

So, not officially a first county record, but probably the first genuine record.

Migrant reaches Llanishen shock...

Actually caught a decent migrant over the weekend, a Small Mottled Willow, only the second I've had in Llanishen.

Gowerton Saturday

Certainly can't compete with Paul but I did have a nice Vestal this morning; a migrant, judging by the colour. Also did see a second P vitrealis at Whitford yesterday morning.

Vestal