10 macro/5micro moth challenge for January

Hello Everyone,

With another New Year approaching I am once again doing our January challenge and this time to spice things up a bit the challenge has been extended to incorporate micro moths as well. So the challenge is to record ‘10 macro/5 micro species during January’. It's not an easy challenge, but it’s well worth having a go at as it generates many extra winter records for the county when recording is often very sparse. It’s also a bit of fun, have a go, see how you get on, you might surprise yourselves. So go on, dust those traps off and get recording!

I’ll ask you all for your results at the end of January (please send your results even if you don’t record ten macro or five micro species, as it all goes towards building the bigger picture), then I’ll post the results on the blog at the beginning of February.

All the best and a Happy New year to you all,

Peter.

2014 Events

The 2014 MMG events schedule has been published on the website here

Butterfly records

Hello all,

As you probably know, I'm on the lookout for butterfly records for VC47.

If anyone has any records at all, I'd be grateful to receive them. Even if you haven't been keeping a detailed log, a simple site list is still useful.

Please could I have any records by the end of January. This gives me time to consolidate the records and add them to the database.

D.

National Moth Recorders' Meeting and Moth Night 2014

As usual, booking is essential and there is a £5 cost per person.


Moth Night 2014 - 3rd to 5th July 2014 and the theme is 'Woodland Moths'.


The latest 'E-moth' newsletter by Butterfly Conservation containing details on the above, as well as all sorts of other things, is available here.

Another Palpita vitrealis at Commins Coch

Although we're not actually having much migrant activity in the county at the moment, I did record a couple of migrant species last night. The best one was Palpita vitrealts (the third county record of this species) and a Red Sword-grass.

Peter.

Migrants reach Derwenlas also

In common with my fellow mothers the last few days have been busy. So far on 6/10 at Derwenlas  I had;
7  Silver Y
2 Vestals [ a first for Derwenlas]
1 Dark Sword grass
1 Scarce bordered Straw. [another first for me]

 Dark Sword-grass

Scarce Bordered Straw

Scarce Bordered Straw showing black border on hindwing.

The forecast is for cold north winds by the weekend so keep mothing while you can!

Alan.

PS Third time lucky to publish this between my ineptitude and BTs flaky broad band connection. Here goes folks!

Migrant species recorded at the Cors Dyfi event

Migrant species recorded on our last event of the year on 05-10-13 at Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve were:-

3 Nomophila noctuella
2 Vestal
1 Red Sword-grass
4 Silver Y

As this event was targeting migrant species, I think we were quite successful with the above list.

If you've had any recent migrant activity please keep us in the loop and post your results on this blog, thanks.

Peter.

Migrant species moving across the county

The current spell of mild weather is certainly pushing migrant species across the county.

The migrant species I recorded at Commins Coch on 06-10-13 were:-

4 Silver Y Autographa gamma
2 Vestal Rhodometra sacraria
1 Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella
1 Diamond-back Moth Plutella xylostella

There have been reports of the above migrant species and others from various sites around the county, so come on, get those traps dusted off and have a go, this mild spell won't last forever.

Peter.

Cors Dyfi 5th October 2013

Here are a few photos to illustrate the report for the Group's last event of the season; I have had to re-post them after a change of email address resulted in all my previous photos being erased!



Red-green Carpet

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Flounced Chestnut

Frosted Orange

Angle Shades

Bulrush Wainscot  (rather worn)

Nomophila noctuella  (Rush Veneer)

Ypsolopha sequella  (very worn)

Pale Tussock caterpillar

And the star of the show, to end the 2013 season on a high, was this Feathered Ranunculus, a new County record.

Feathered Ranunculus



 

Hummingbird in my trap!

Bit of a cooler night here but still quite productive with 37 species in my robinson 125w.

A surprise was this Hummingbird Hawk-moth which rarely come to light. Not seen any by day this year.

Mothing event at Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve on 05/9/13

Hello Everyone,

Well, we’ve finally reached the last mothing event of the year, but have we saved the best till last – I hope we have. This is a joint event with the Montgomeryshire Moth Group (MMG) and the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust (MWT) at the Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve an excellent acid bog site, near Machynlleth.

There are still plenty of resident species on the wing and we are also hoping to record a few autumn migrants as well. This particular site has had good numbers of migrant species over the years, so you never know; you might see that special moth! So please come along and join us, for a great night’s mothing.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve.

Target Species: Autumn Migrants.

Event Date: 5 October 2013.

Event time: 6:00 onwards, at the reserve car park.

Directions: The reserve is found on the right-hand side, 4 miles south west of Machynlleth on the A487.

Grid Reference: SN704984.

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

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.

As with all our evening events, please bring a torch and wear suitable outdoor clothing.

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

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

All the best,

Peter.

Gypsy Moth recorded at Commins Coch

Last night (21-09-13) my trap attracted a very rare migrant species to it, a Gypsy Moth. As of writting, this is only the second welsh record (the other was recorded ten days ago in south Wales). This species is not only rare to Wales, but the whole of the UK and to date only 40 or so records have been trapped, mostley in the south-eastern corner of England - since 2000 (apart from the welsh record) less than 20 have been recorded, all from coastal counties of south-east England.

Peter.

MMG next event is this Saturday, 7 September, at the Hafren Forest

Hello Everyone,

Below are the details of MMG’s (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) forthcoming mothing event, which is this coming Saturday, 7 September at the Hafren Forest. This area of Montgomeryshire is very under recorded, so we’re very hopeful of catching some good species, in an area which is not far from the source of the River Severn. So please come along and join us at this wonderful woodland site, for a great night’s mothing.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Hafren Forest.

Event Date: 7 September 2013.

Event time: 7:00 onwards, at the car park.

Directions: from the A470 take the B4518 towards Staylittle, as you enter the village you will see a signpost on the right for the Hafren Forest and the car park is 4.7 miles along this road on the right hand side.

Grid Reference: SN857869.

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

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 that suits you, we are likely to stay for several hours. However, in case of cancellation, due to 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 you know where the venue is before you set off.

Peter.

Llanymynech Rocks photos

I had been unable to attend the MMG events at Llanymynech Rocks in previous years and had read the reports with envy - so many species that I'd not yet encountered.  So I made a determined effort this year to go, and I certainly wasn't to be disappointed.  By now you should have read Peter's full report of the event, so here I've put some of my photos to complement that report, firstly some of the macros:



Annulet



Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Chinese Character

Gold Spot

Lychnis

Magpie

Pretty Chalk Carpet

Shaded Broad-bar

Small Waved Umber

Swallow Prominent

And now for a few of the many micro-moth species recorded.  No apologies for the first one (Agapeta zoegana) which I also featured in my Dolforwyn Woods photo blog last month: this one is a much better picture, I think.

Agapete zoegana

Catoptria pinella

Eulamprotes atrella

Pleuroptya ruralis (Mother of Pearl)

Pyrausta cingulata

Pyrausta despicata

Pyrausta purpuralis

Stenoptilia pterodactyla (Brown Plume)

Yponomeuta evonymella (Bird-cherry Ermine)

And finally I couldn't resist including this photo of a Common Green Grasshopper nymph - just shows that you never know what might be attracted to the trap lights!


Common Green Grasshopper (nymph)

Hopefully you might also be tempted to go along to Llanymynech Rocks next year - I'm sure you'll find it worthwhile.
Peter B.

Llanymynech Rocks - 10/08/13

The event report and species list for our recent MMG event at Llanymynech Rocks can be viewed here.

Watch out for those migrant species on these mild nights

During this mild spell there have been quite e few reports of migrant activity in the county. During the last week or so there have been reports of Rush Veneer, Vestal, Dark Sword-grass, Udea furrugalis, Silver Y and on the 14 Aug I recorded this splendid pyralid species, Palpita vitrealis. This is only the second county record of this species, it was first recorded at the same site in 2006.

So come on, get those traps up and running, as you may well record something special.

Peter.

Palpita vitrealis, Commins Coch, 14-08-13



'Moth Night' event at Llanymynech Rocks on the 10 August

Hello Everyone

Below are the details of MMG’s (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) forthcoming mothing event which is this coming Saturday, 10 August at Llanymynech Rocks. The event is being jointly hosted by the MMG and Shropshire Wildlife Trust. We have a target species for this event - the Mouse Moth a species which has eluded us for many years, so we’re hopeful of trapping it this time. So please come along and join us at this fantastic site, the only place in Montgomeryshire where you can find limestone loving species.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Llanymynech Rocks – Target Species: The Mouse Moth.

Event Date: 10 August 2013.

Event time: 8:45 at the reserve car park.

Directions: The reserve is found between Llanymynech and Pant, and is signposted from main road (A483). Heading out of Llanymynech turn left just before the Cross Guns Pub where the speed limit changes from 30 to 40 mph.

Grid Reference: SJ267218.

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

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 that suits you, we are likely to stay for several hours. However, in case of cancellation, due to 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 you know where the venue is before you set off.

All the best,

Peter.

Dolforwyn Woods photos

Regular readers may recall that at the start of this year I announced my withdrawal from mothing activities at Morben Isaf; I can now reveal that I have defected over the county border to VC48 (Merionethshire) at our new caravan park at Bala.  However I still try to get to as many MMG events as I can, so when Peter W told me that his back problems wouldn't let him run the Dolforwyn Woods event and asked if I could help out (with Douglas as the main man), I was only too pleased to oblige.

As Douglas has summarised in his event report, we had a very good evening with well over 100 species noted including Lilac Beauty, Blomer's Rivulet and Beautiful Snout, none of which I'd seen before; and what was nice for me was to see such a high proportion of micro-moths amongst the catch - about 25% - including the colourful Agapeta zoegana, Aethes rubigana, Alabonia geofrella, Archips xylosteana (Variegated Golden Tortrix)  and Tortrix viridana (Green Oak Tortrix), all of which were new to me.

So here are a selection of photos from that evening, firstly some macro-moths:





Barred Yellow

Beautiful Snout

 

Blomer's Rivulet

Clouded Magpie

Lilac Beauty

Coronet  (fresh olive-green colouration)

 
 And now some of the more interesting micro-moths:



Aethes rubigana

Agapeta zoegana



Alabonia geoffrella

Apotomis turbidana



Archips xylosteana (Variegated Golden Tortrix)

Eucosma hohenwartiana

Tortrix viridana (Green Oak Tortrix)