Ni!!!
(if you don't know Monty Python then you won't get the reference)
Wednesday 28th/Thursday 29th September - with very warm weather over the past couple of days and a nice warm wind coming up from the South I couldn't resist the opportunity to try and get something unusual in the trap at Cors Dyfi.
And I did!
And I did!
The Ni moth is a rare migrant, apparently only around 50 records a year, and on first seeing this I knew it was unusual but just wasn't sure what species it was. When Peter confirmed this as the Ni I couldn't do anything except laugh but then took things a little more seriously (well, tried to) and realised what an excellent find this was for the county. Several photographs were soon on their way to Peter for inclusion on the website.
Other interesting species that night included Large Wainscott and Marveille du Jour, plus several young newts attracted by the number of small insects!
This was also the first time I'd tried "Sugaring" and spent the morning brewing up a concoction of red wine, sugar and honey, the whole house smelled like a brewery for hours afterwards and whilst the soaked cloth strips I put out did attract a small number of moths on the night, they seemed to attract more spiders which spent the rest of the night acting as though they only had 4 legs!
It proved to be an excellent night for other wildlife too with a new mammal species confirmed on site - Badger.
With the weather forecast still set for an Indian summer I will be returning on site within the next few days with my fingers crossed.
MariaW, Cors Dyfi "Furballs" Officer, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust.
