Glamorgan Moth Recording Group

Friday, 3 June 2016

Creigiau - Tuesday night

Another warm night (min 17C) although quite windy, but still found 47 moths of, at least 28 identified species, in/around the trap.

Of these, two were completely new for me - White-pinion Spotted & Rustic Shoulder-knot

and 9 others were new for the year - Bee Moth, Chinese Character, Common White Wave, Bryotropha affinis, Flame Shoulder, Lobster Moth, Pebble Hook-tip, Small Magpie & Epiblema cynosbatella.

Bee Moth

Chinese Character

Lobster Moth

I also have a couple of queries, which I would be grateful for help with ID

The first I suspect is a Coleophora sp. but the other two are eluding me at the moment.

Thursday, 2 June 2016

Penderyn

While putting up nest boxes, this morning, on a farm in Penderyn (VC42), Mike Hogan and I kicked up what must have amounted to at least two hundred Diamond Back Moths from the grass of the fields we walked through. We had never seen anything like it, certainly in Wales.
The shear quantity we put up from a relatively small area of the total field area, begged the question; how many were there in total over that farm and the wider area? Remarkable!

Parc Slip - sadly only 2 diamond-backs...

But my disappointment was minimal as I had over 80 species in the trap yesterday morning - needless to say it's the best catch of the year so far with the vast majority being new for the year and at least one being a new record for the site - little thorn. Other highlights for me were the first figure of eighty and Micropterix aureatella that I've ever caught here, 2nd ever Mompha locupletella and Nemapogon cloacella, 3rd ever brown rustic plus a smart tawny-barred angle (f.nigrofulvata), white-pinion spotted, foxglove pug (first since 2013), cream wave, sandy carpet, Pseudogyrotoza conwagana, and blue-bordered carpet amongst others. I also had a giant lacewing, birch shieldbug and 4 cockchafers...

Other common but always nice to see species included elephant hawk (a great tit took a pristine one from the bush right in front of me which was a bit upsetting...), eyed hawk, sharp-angled peacock, blood-vein, peach blossom, sandy carpet, spectacle, green arches, alder moth, Eupoecilia angustana....plus a few I would like help with please!

Aethes sp.?

Monopis sp.?

Pug

And I assume this is just an aberrant Elophila nymphaeata?

Gorseinon

My contribution so far in documenting the great Diamond-back Moth influx of 2016 was counting 10 in the garden trap this morning. A Silver Y was the only other migrant. Routine fare from the total of 71 moths / 35 species included Lozotaenia forsterana 2, Shark, Freyer's Pug, Eyed Hawk-moth. 4 Tree Bees Bombus hypnorum were also in the trap, which almost makes you wonder if these successful bees have taken to foraging at night! This is now the commonest bee in the garden - there were 15 on a single bush of Wall Cotoneaster yesterday with groups of others foraging on Orange-ball-tree, Treacle-mustard, etc.

More diamond-backs

28 P. xylostella in the garden MV last night, double my previous best count here, among a smaller catch of 18 species. The only other minor highlight was second garden record of Spotted Shoot Moth Rhyacionia pinivorana.

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

At last

My Llandaff North garden trap finally sprang to life last night, the 34 species recorded being way more than any other night I've trapped this year. Three macros were new for the garden - White Pinion-spotted, Mottled Pug and Grass Rivulet (a yellow rattle feeder - where did that come from?). Others new for the year included Orange Footman, Buff-tip, Argyresthia cupressella and Caloptilia robustella.

There was a bit of migrant activity with a Silver Y and five diamond-backs. There has been a huge arrival of the latter, with Atropos Flight Arrivals reporting several hundred in a number of garden MV traps in England.