Blossom Underwing

I had another good, early spring trap at home last night. I recorded 17 species in all, but the pick of the bunch was definitely a Blossom Underwing (picture below), which is rather an uncommon species in the county.

This species is one to look out for as it's probably overlooked in amongst the more common, but very similar Small and Common Quakers - so please be alert when checking your traps.

Peter.

Mothing event at Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve on Sat 28 March

Hello Moth-ers,

Our first mothing event of the year is this Saturday at Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve, which hasn’t been trapped before at this time of year, so who knows what might turn up. We are hoping to record various spring species, including Oak Beauty, thorn and prominent species and if we’re very lucky a Blossom Underwing (our target species). If you’ve never been to one of these events before, treat yourself, please come along and join us, for a great night’s mothing.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve.

Target Species: Early spring species; Blossom Underwing.

Event Date: Saturday 28 March 2015.

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

Directions: from the A458 at Heniarth take the B4389 for approximately half a mile, then on the left take the B4382 for about a mile and a half, where you will turn right towards Pont Robert. Coed Pendugwm is on a minor road a mile north of Pontrobert towards Llanfihangel; follow the brown signs from Pontrobert. Park in the reserve car park down the short track opposite Pendugwm Farm.

Grid Reference: SJ103143.

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.

Warming up - here come those spring species!

Things are really starting to get going now, I had my best mothing of the year last night, the trap was buzzing with moths. I recorded 18 species, 74 moths - the best record was a pristine Red Sword-grass - very nice.

Hopefully these favorable weather conditions will prevail for our first public event of the year at Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve next Saturday, 28th March.


Peter.

Butterflies of Montgomeryshire - 2015

Current 'black holes' as of 2015

I have just updated my 'Butterflies of Montgomeryshire' pdf. The new version is now available at the bottom of the 'Articles & reports' section of the site. The new version includes any recent data I've received; all the maps have been refreshed.

2014 saw around 50 tetrads, that previously had absolutely no butterfly records, being filled in. Hopefully we can fill in a similar number this summer. If you would like to know exact boundaries of an empty square, please get in touch.

In addition, so many squares have only a handful of records, so wherever you are in the county, please keep a note of what you see if you can.

As detailed in the post below, butterflies are already flying this year. Here's hoping for a good hot summer - I'm hoping we continue to have the most records for a single year. Any questions relating to recording your butterfly sightings, just drop me an email.

Spring is here!

I saw my first butterflies of the year today, a Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell both feeding on heather flowers - nice.

Please add your first butterfly sightings as a comment onto this post, thanks.

Peter.

Butterfly records

Another quick reminder from me about butterfly records. If anyone has records from last year who hasn't already sent them in, please could you get them to me as soon as possible. Details on a previous post here.

With spring fast approaching, now's an excellent time to get keep your eyes peeled and get your 2015 butterfly records going!

Thanks,

D.