Dolforwyn Wood Event 11th May 2019

Another chilly Saturday night to report, but great to see so many enthusiastic moth-ers attracted to the lights. Unfortunately Peter Williams couldn't attend, but we did our best to set up as per his exacting standards, and Gavin Chambers stepped up to the mark as our expert. He was a tough task master - making us identify each moth that came in.

Gavin attracting a Waved Umber

 There were 7 of us attending, and we managed to attract 7 brave moths.  We had quite a lot of action at the white sheet this time, which kept us on our toes.  First in was a Waved Umber, ably netted by Gavin, and which refused to leave the warmth of our head-quarters thereafter. Second in was a lovely furry Pale Tussock, which made us wonder if the falling temperatures would mean we only saw the more robust moths.

Nut Tree Tussock

The Pale Tussock was followed by a Nut Tree Tussock, and then a moth that most of us hadn't seen before - a Great Prominent.  This caused a great flurry of flicking through the ID books, and identification was made harder as the moth wasn't in the tented position familiar with prominents. We got there in the end, and many photos were taken.

Great Prominent

Then to disprove our theory about only robust moths appearing we had an Early Thorn and a Scalloped Hazel, which looked too delicate to be out in the plunging temperatures.  Mel also managed to net a micro moth - Adela reaumurella - a longhorn that didn't have particularly long antennae and therefore a female of the species.  

Great Prominent - Head-on

Adela reaumurella

It was interesting to note that it was several degrees colder at our headquarters than higher up in the woodland, so there was an added incentive to check the traps up in the woods.  Sue provided some lovely cake, and once the temperature got down to 2C at about 11.30pm we decided it was time to call it a night.  Many thanks to Mel Jones for all the photos in this blog.