Details of the Coed Y Dinas Mothing Event

Our first event of our 2016 mothing programme took place at Coed Y Dinas Nature on Saturday 19 March. This was quite an early event, so I don’t think any of us who turned up were expecting too much from the evening. The weather conditions were calm, but fairly cool, so we were rather expecting a fairly small species list and this indeed proved to be the case.

An arial view of the site

7 of us turned up for the event, which is quite good for this early event and between us we brought 12 various types of traps, so the site was definitely ‘well lit up’ for the evening, Chris also tried some sugaring, but on this occasion this proved to be ineffective.

The white sheet devoid of any moths!

The lights were switched on at about 6:45 and the first species to come to the table was an Agonopterix heracliana, this was followed be a Clouded Drab and a Common Quaker, the latter probably being the most common species of the night. Other spring species that turned up throughout the evening were; Small Quaker, Hebrew Character, and Red Chestnut. The only geometrid species to brave the cool elements was a lone Shoulder Stripe. Only one other Micro species to make a show was a solitary Diurnea fagella. In all, only eight species were recorded and in general are all fairly common throughout the county, although as this particular nature reserve is rather under-recorded, all the species proved to be new for the site, so we’ll get a few more dots on the maps for our efforts.

To see the full species list, please click here.

By 10:30pm things had gone from ‘quiet’ to ‘very quiet’, so we all decided to call it a night and the ‘plugs were pulled’.

Peter.

Public mothing event at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve Saturday 19th March

Hello Moth-ers,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) is holding its first mothing event of 2016 at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve, just south of Welshpool. This is the first time we will have trapped at this site, so early in the season and we’re hoping for all those early spring species to turn up and perhaps one or two more unusual species, who knows! So please come along and join us for what promises to be a terrific evening’s mothing at this superb wetland site.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve

Event Date: Saturday 19th March

Target Species: Early Spring species

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

Directions: Welshpool head south on the A490 for about a mile and a half and the reserve entrance is just before the roundabout on the left.

Grid Reference: SJ220051.

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.

Peter.

Butterflies

I have recently refreshed the county butterfly database, taking into account all the records that I've received over the last year.

Here is the map showing areas that are still lacking any butterflies records at all. I've roughly overlaid it with the 10km grid squares for convenience. It's worth remembering that the many of the areas surrounding these squares aren't really much better recorded (often containing no recent records).

Since I first made a similar map several years ago, well over 50 of these tetrads (2km x 2km grid squares) have been filled in. If you spot a square close to you, why not plan a visit or two this summer and note down which butterflies (and moths!) you see!*

 

 * (of course doing so using public footpaths or getting landowner's permission)