Llyn Mawr Event - Saturday 2nd June

Hello All,

Below you will find details of the MMG’s next mothing event, which is on Saturday 2nd June at Llyn Mawr Nature Reserve. The event details are:-

Saturday 2nd June at Llyn Mawr Nature Reserve   Map reference: SO012970

Target species:  Light Knot Grass

Meet: 8:45 pm at the reserve carpark (signposted)

Directions: on the A470 going from Carno to Caersws take the first left turn after Clatter (small brown reserve sign).  The reserve is about a mile and a half up the lane on the left hand side.

Montgomeryshire Moth Group (MMG) is an independent voluntary group of people interested in moths. All ages are welcome, beginners or experts.

This year all the events are light trapping events. We set up the light traps at dusk to attract moths and then release them after identification.

You are welcome to join us for as much of the evening as suits you, we are likely to stay for several hours. However, in case of cancellation, in poor weather or unforeseen circumstances, always ring or e-mail to check the event is on before joining us. Please bring a touch and suitable clothing

Please note that some sites are not easy to find, so please make sure that you know where the venue is before you set off.

Hope to see some of you at the event.

All the best,

Peter.

Another "Who Am I?"
Peter W has asked me to put this on for further identification speculations. This is the only shot I have as the wee beastie refused to open his wings fully and flew off after the one shot.

Thanks, Maria. 

Further to the suggestion of using the blog for ID purposes, here's one to kick start things off. This micro was caught in the Robinson trap at Cors Dyfi on 18th May. I made the mistake of taking the photo from the side when one wing was partially covering the other therefore making ID difficult. If you have any suggestions please comment below. Thanks.Maria.

How about using the blog for identification?

It has recently been brought to my attention that the blog could be used as a tool for id purposes and I think the idea certainly has some merit.

As you regular moth-ers know, you can always send me photos of those species which are tricky to id, this is fine and the job always gets done, but have you ever thought about posting your photos for id onto the blog so that anyone can make a suggestion as to what species you’ve got. I think involving everybody would be very useful to all of you in sharpening those id skills plus it would give us all more interaction with each other. I would of course keep an eye on things and should any photo remain unnamed I of course will put my two penny worth in.

I appreciate of course where large amounts of photos for id are concerned, that this might not be the best way to go about things and in this case anyone can still contact me directly to get their photos id’d.

It would be great if we could give this idea a go, but of course if anyone wishes to still come directly to me with their id’s that will be fine too.

Peter.

Day-flying Adela

To further the theme of day-flying moths, here my account on a few day-flying micros which are about at the moment. I'm talking about the Adela species, which are sometimes referred to as 'fairy longhorns' due to the ridiculously oversized antennae of the male. These are part of the large group of micros which are undoubtedly under-recorded as they are never seen at light traps. There are 5 species of Adela in the UK: A. reaumurella, rufimitrella, cuprella, fibulella and croesella. Care should probably taken with ID as some of the Nemophora species can be quite similar though.

Adela reaumurella is a very common species over most of the UK and is almost certainly overlooked here in Montgomeryshire. The adults can be seen flying around on sunny days; as larvae they feed on leaf litter. The males of species also sometimes swarm - often around oak trees, a sight I've yet to see!

Adela rufimitrella on cuckoo flower

Adela rufimitrella, is similar to the above species but can be separated by it's yellow crown, smaller size and brassy-coloured forewings. This species is fairly common across the UK and can be found flying near cuckoo flower or garlic mustard on sunny days. This species is also probably overlooked; I recently found the third county record, the first for 12 years, after less than a minute searching!

Adela cuprella is third of the genus which look fairly similar. This species has yet to be recorded in Montgomeryshire, probably due to its secretive lifestyle, spending most of the time at the tops of sallow trees.

The other two species are Adela fibulella and Adela croesella; the former has only been recorded in the county on a handful of occasions, so one to look out for. The latter has not been recorded here before. Both are quite distinctive.

Just a few more species to look out for when you're out and about!

Douglas.

Micropterix calthella



I'm sure that, until Peter posted his "day-flying species alert", I was not alone in thinking that the myriad of little insects often seen in buttercups were just some small fly or other.  However, upon close investigation, it becomes apparent that the majority of them are indeed these attractive little micro-moths Micropterix calthella.  They are quite sprightly little blighters, often jumping like fleas, so a degree of sedation was found to be necessary in order to capture these photos below; half an hour or so in the fridge followed by a minute or two in the freezer seemed to do the trick!

                      

                

And indeed they are very beautiful when you see them close up, irridescent gold and silver, some with lovely purple patches; it depends on how the light catches as to the exact colouration seen.  All have tufted heads; some are orange and some are white, I assume male and female, but does anyone know which is which?

And at this time of year you are likely to see many of them "in flagrante dilecto"; you even get voyeurs in this micro-moth world!

At the start of this year the county database held just 9 records for Micropterix calthella; how many hundred records would you like added, Peter??

Peter

Just a bit of fun now: a moth identification quiz. You may have seen similar things elsewhere; a series of cropped images showing part of moth. Here I've featured 18 species for you to have a go at! Please remember the closing date is the 25^th of June.

To see the images, as well as information on how to enter, please go here.

Please check out those day flying species!

As the days get longer, and hopefully warmer, we can expect to see more day flying species of moths, but I wonder how many of you record these species, when you see them?

Most of you run a light trap of some sort or other and then send me all these records at the end of the year, which of course is great and I really appreciate you all taking the time to do this. However, when we’re out and about we often see day flying species or bump into some caterpillars and it would be great if you could make a note of when, where and what you’ve seen and add this information to your records. I always carry a small notebook and pot or two around with me, as you never know when you are going to find something you can’t id. Pot it up, pop it in your pocket and id it later, it might be something really special!

At the moment you should be able to find the tiny Micropterix calthella, a micro moth which can be found on buttercup flowers on any sunny day and in the next month, or so, the Burnet moths will be seen buzzing around the flower heads of thistles or knapweeds where ever they grow. If you are very lucky you might see a Humming-bird Hawk-moth feeding at the flowers of buddleia or other nectar rich flowers. In fact throughout the summer months many other day flying species can be seen, just a shake of a bush or tap the branch of a tree, this will often reveal a resting species. A walk through any vegetation is liable to ‘put up’ a moth or two; a mere movement along any footpath is also likely to flush something out. Keep an eye open for nibbled leaves, a quick investigation under the leaves or along the stem could well yield the culprit and it’s very likely to be a caterpillar.

So the moral of the story is, you never know what you’ll find or when you’ll see it, but as the boy scouts amongst you will know, (sorry girls!), one of their sayings is, ‘be prepared’, so please make a note of these field records and send them into me with your other records at the end of the year.

Peter.

Even lean times have their benefits!

I know that the traps have not exactly been overflowing with moths these past few weeks; nevertheless last night I decided to play the odds and put my trap on at my caravan at Morben Isaf in the extreme west of the county.

The omens weren't good since it was going to be a cold clear night; the temperature was below 9 degrees when I lit up at 9.30pm, and fell to less than 3 degrees overnight.

When I got up to check the trap at 5am, I didn't think at first sight that my optimism had been rewarded, recording the grand total of THREE moths (one better than Peter W at Commins Coch!).

But I potted the trap contents for later perusal, and then found that I had got a Lesser Swallow Prominent and a Great Prominent, but the "pièce de résistance" was this Brindled Beauty, which I think is the first record for this part of Montgomeryshire.

It just shows that you never can predict what may turn up in your trap!

Peter

Lake Glaslyn event report

Last Saturday's mothing event was at Lake Glaslyn, where we recorded just two species.

The written report and full infomation can be found here.

Douglas.

May Mothing

Tawny Pinion

Here mothing has been quite slow over the last few weeks, with rather poor weather I've been getting far less in the trap than I'd expect for May, probably similar stories for most of us, I'd imagine.

Recently I've had some new ones for the year, including:
Brindled Beauty, V-pug, Oak-tree Pug, Least Black Arches, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Swallow Prominent, Grey Birch, Pale Prominent, Muslin Moth, Purple Thorn, Red-green Carpet, Lunar Marbled Brown, Flame Carpet, Epinotia immundana, Aphomia sociella and Alucita hexadactyla.

I've also had two new ones for me:
Tawny Pinion and Digitivalva pulicariae (a new county record)

Going to put all three traps out here tonight and take advantage of this bank holiday weekend. My last ditch attempt to get some of the spring species which I've missed once again this year, such as Blossom Underwing or Frosted Green. Good luck to anyone else trapping as well!

Douglas.

Mothing event at Lake Glaslyn - Saturday 5th May

Hello All,

Below you will find details of the MMG’s next mothing event, which is on Saturday 5th May at Lake Glaslyn Nature Reserve. Please note that the meet time is not 7:30pm as previously advertised, but 8:00pm. The event details are:-

Saturday 5th May   Glaslyn Nature Reserve   Map reference: SN830942

Meet: 8:00 pm at the reserve carpark (signposted)

Directions: 2 miles west of Dylife, on minor Staylittle to Machynlleth road.

Montgomeryshire Moth Group (MMG) is an independent voluntary group of people interested in moths. All ages are welcome, beginners or experts.

This year all the events are light trapping events. We set up the light traps at dusk to attract moths and then release them after identification.

You are welcome to join us for as much of the evening as suits you, we are likely to stay for several hours. However, in case of cancellation, in poor weather or unforeseen circumstances, always ring or e-mail to check the event is on before joining us. Please bring a touch and suitable clothing

Please note that some sites are not easy to find, so please make sure that you know where the venue is before you set off.

Hope to see some of you at the event.

Peter.