Cricket

Not an exciting moth night here in Gowerton but there was this (presumed) cricket nymph. Body only about 4mm but showed up very well against the dark piece of bark leaning beside the trap.

Depressaria ultimella

Some of you might remember Howard posted a query about a mystery Depressaria recently, and in the comments I mentioned I'd trapped a specimen of this genus at Lanlay meadows in September 2014 which looked good for ultimella, but that I hadn't yet got around to dissecting it to confirm. Well, I've now dissected it and it is indeed ultimella (a female) - the first confirmed county record. There are two unconfirmed records from Gower, but Dave requested dissection to confirm its presence in the county.

Depressaria ultimella

It's not the best photo but the pale streaks in the disc are obvious, and it is a bit smaller than daucella. The larvae feed on Fool's Water-cress, which is almost certainly present at Lanlay Meadows, though I didn't specifically look for it.

The date was 20th September and the catch was otherwise extremely poor, with only 6 species in total, so I'm glad there was something to make the trip worthwhile.

George

Copper Underwing

I was surprised to see this Copper Underwing larva while admiring the flowers on our garden Wisteria yesterday evening.

In the last few years I've also found them on Elm and Norway Maple - clearly a moth which is unfussy about its choice of foodplant.

Paviland

lots of sea foam today

A Grass Eggar caterpillar was basking in one of my quadrats on the cliffs today. Adult moths noted included a couple of Silver Y and few each of Pyrausta cingulata, despicata & purpuralis/ostrinalis.

Cadoxton Ponds

I set the trap at the small nature reserve owned by Dow Corning last night and had some hopes of migrants given the wind but it turned out rather damper (and windier) than i was expecting and there was a suspicious lack of moths around the trap, possibly as a result of my not being able to get on site until 6. Nonetheless 12 species with a few new for the year including spectacle, peppered moth, setaceous hebrew character, small square-spot, marbled minor agg., iron prominent and common marbled carpet. A fresh herald was also nice. There was only a couple of micros which i've shown below - photos aren't quite of Chris's quality but i blame the wind...
Is this Elachista atricomella?

Not at all sure about this rather dingy specimen - my best guess was Scrobipalpa acuminatella but no real idea.

Any suggestions gratefully received...

Crymlyn Bog

Veronica Shenston and I went to Crymlyn last night where it was breezy but mild. Not big numbers of moths, 25 species including 3 Devon Carpet and a beautiful female Emperor last thing which kept diving back into the traps even after the lights were out.

Emperor female

Devon Carpet

Grey Birch

Gowerton garden again

Warm with a southerly wind looked promising last night and, sure enough, there were two migrants in the trap. Silver Y was first for year and Bordered Straw, which I haven't seen since I left Dorset 8 years ago.

Silver Y

Bordered Straw