Merthyr mawr leaf mines.

                 Stigmella spinosissimae on Burnet rose.

                 Stigmella spinosissimae, underside.

                 Phyllonorycter strigulatella on Grey alder.
                 + underside below.  Both are uncommon but hopefully my IDs are correct.

Abercregan last night.

                          Pink barred sallow

                         Frosted orange

                         Merveille du jour

                        Yellow line quaker.
                        15 species in all, despite some very heavy showers. Red line
                         quaker, Flounced chestnut, Red green carpet, Black rustic and at
                         least 40 carpet sp, predominantly Spruce.

Merveille du Jour - more images

A very obliging Merveille du Jour, which loitered in the flower beds after being released after dark..

Stigmella filipendulae

I was at Ty-du Moors SSSI near Capel Llanilltern this morning when the eagle eyes of Sam Bosanquet spotted some tenanted leaf mines on meadowsweet. These look good for Stigmella filipendulae (formerly S. ulmariae, but now lumped in with the dropwort-feeding S. filipendulae).

There is only one previous confirmed VC41 record, from Lieutenant Colonel Maitland Emmet's famous visit to Plymouth Woods, St Fagans with Dave Slade in 1997. There is also an unconfirmed adult record of S. filipendulae from Cardiff.

Tuesday 27th - Llandaff

A rather cool night, but at least it was a dry one.

A small but varied selection and another first for the garden.

A Centre-barred Sallow, Pink-barred Sallow, Snout x 5, Large Ranunculus x 2 and new species to the garden, a rather pale The Vestal. Will upload some photos later.

 Any thoughts on this Pug? Grey?

Creigiau last night

Another quiet night in the moth trap. 15 moths of 10 species, including 4 Snout. Undoubted highlight was my second ever Merveille du Jour - the first was in the garden last November - a lovely thing to see anytime, but especially on a grey, damp morning devoid of colour.

Possible Parectopa ononidis at Kenfig

Paul's post reminded me of leaf mines I photographed on Red Clover at Kenfig on the 14th. At the time I thought it might have been Parectopa ononidis, but I wasn't sure and as I never inspected the larva it was forgotten about. Checking again it looks a pretty good match, so any thoughts appreciated...

PS. Paul, apologies if I seem pendantic, but I wonder if your clover might be Zigzag? The leaves look very elongate and parallel - check any wider angle photos you have.