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.