Pont Llogel event - 23-10-21

Our final public event of the year in what was a restricted programme due to ongoing Covid issues took place at the lovely SSSI site of Pont Llogel. The weather forecast was fair with the possibility of a shower or two, but in the event we had a completely dry evening.

Setting up one of the traps

The meet time was 6:00pm, but due to other commitments for some, we were a little late setting up, in fact it was quite dark by the time we turned the traps on. Then we had a major failure with one of the generators and the lights went out again, fortunately, Tony managed to get a signal on his mobile phone and we were able to access the the 'troubleshooting page' of the generator handbook which told us there was an overload and how to deal with it - after a short while all the lights were back on again by 7:00pm we were up and running again and we didn't have any further 'power' issues throughout the evening. 

At the white sheet

Checking one of the Skinner traps

The first moth to make a show was a Red-line Quaker, swiftly followed by a Spruce Carpet a Chestnut and a rather late for it's flight season, a Common Marbled Carpet.

Checking the pots at base camp

Daisy potting a moth

Chestnut

December Moth - note the feathery antennae of a male

Feathered Thorn

More discussions at the table

It didn't take too long for the first species in the 'November group' to turn up, this of course prompted a workshop discussion pointing out the different position of the discal mark for each of the species within the group - and although this isn't an exact science it is a very good guide as to which of the species you're recording. Of course there are many moths within this group which are too poorly marked where the discal mark isn't clear and these just have to be recorded as a November moth agg.

November Moth Agg.

Pale November Moth

As the evening progress species were still coming in; the December Moth, Red-green Carpet and the lovely Feathered Thorn made an appearance.

Red-green Carpet

Checking another trap

Spruce carpet

Only two species of micro moths were recorded Acleris Laterana and Acleris variegana. No migrant species were recorded. By 10:30 things had slowed down and we all decided to call it a night'. For a full species list, please click here.

Have you 'seen the light'!

Many thanks to Sue, who brought a lovely home made ginger cake for all of us, which we all enjoyed very much. Thanks also to Tony for taking the event photos and to all those who helped setting up and packing away the kit.

We look forwards to next year now where hopefully Covid won't interfere with our events programme, which Julie will be sorting out posting on the website in the coming months - something to look forwards to.

Peter.