Pont Llogel event species

The full report from last Saturday evenings moth event at Pont Llogel can be found here.

Mothing event at Pont Llogel - 20 April

Hello All,

After the disappointment of having to cancel our first event of the year we’re all geared up for this Saturday’s event at Pont Llogel. Full details below. Please come along and support us if you can, all are welcome.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

The event details are:-

                                                                              

Venue: Pont Llogel

Event Date: 20 April 2013

Meet time: 7:00pm at reserve car park - or any time thereafter.

Directions: Pont Llogel is on the B4395 and the car park is next to the river bridge.

Map Reference: SJ032154

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.

Peter.

Chris Williams - unwell.

Hello everyone,

I have just heard this morning (Wed. 17 Apr.) that Chris Williams, one of our regular attendees on our mothing events, has just had a serious eye operation and will be out of mothing action for some time. I’m sure I speak for us all, when I say, I wish Chris a speedy recovery and hope he’s back on the 'mothing trail' very soon.

Peter.

Keep an eye open for those tricky spring species

Hello All

We all need to be very vigilant when checking the trap at this time of year as some of the more uncommon spring species can be overlooked or misidentified in amongst the more common species. The following list shows what we should be checking for in the trap.

·        The Small Quaker can be a very numerous species, but check them carefully as there might just be the much more uncommon, but the very similar looking Blossom Underwing in amongst them.

·        Clouded Drab and the Twin-spotted Quaker both have very variable colour forms and one colour form of Clouded Drab in particular can look like a form of Twin-spotted Quaker, so we need also to be on our toes here.

·        The rather less common Powdered Quaker will be on the wing soon. This species has a dusting of speckles and is slightly bigger than the Common Quaker, but if the speckles aren’t very prominent it can easily be mistaken for the latter species.

·        Last year we had the first confirmed record of Lead-coloured Drab recorded in the county. It has been recorded from the same site again this year, but I feel it may well be overlooked from other sites from around the county. This species can easily be confused with the much more common Clouded Drab (and sometimes darker forms of Common Quaker). The Lead-coloured Drab has a more even leaden colour and the apex of the forewing is more rounded than that of the Clouded Drab. It would be great if we could get some more confirmed records of this species, so again, be vigilant.

·        Our first two specifies of Pugs are also on the wing now, i.e. Brindled Pug and Double-striped Pug and while they’re not that similar, care should be taken with id.

·        Several species of Agonopterix and Depressaria are also on the wing at this time of year, many of which can be confused with others, if your not too sure about id, check with me.

Other good early species to look out for now are; Pine Beauty, White-marked, Brindled Beauty, Glaucous Shears, Broom-tip and Grey Birch.

If you’re in any doubt with identification, of any of the above species (or any other species), as always, send me a photo and I’ll do my best to confirm it for you.  

Peter.

Is that a moth in my trap!!

Well , after what seems an age, we actually had a slightly milder night last night and this was reflected by a relatively large catch of moths in the trap. I recorded 16 species in all (13 macro and 3 micro and exactly 100 moths), most of which were common species, but it was just so nice to see them after such a dearth of moths recently. The star if the catch was the migrant species - Blossom Underwing, always a good record to get.

Peter.

Butterfly recording in Montgomeryshire

I have recently taken on the role of  county butterfly recorder. This blog post is a cheeky plug to try to get a few more of you recording butterflies.

Butterfly recording requires far less effort than moth recording; however, the resulting records are just as important. Butterflies are widely regarded as one of the best biological indicators due to their conspicuous role in a wide range of habitats, making them easy to record. The state of our butterflies gives us an excellent idea of the condition of our countryside and climate - this flagship group are often used as indicators by the government to assess how they are doing in protecting UK biodiversity. Nationally, butterflies are our favourite group of insects and as a result, lots of the scientific research into wildlife declines is focused on the group. 

About 29% of all the lepidoptera records submitted in the UK are of butterflies, but in our area, VC47, it is only 8% of the records.  Considering that moths are under-recorded in VC47, this shows butterflies are very under-recorded!

Whether you are able to make detailed logs of your butterfly sightings, or would just like to submit the odd casual record, please do get in contact. A photo of the individual along with the record, especially if you have seen something unusual, will make it even more valuable. There are various options for submitting your records - from brand new recording programs to good old-fashioned paper forms - please get in touch for details.

 Douglas.