This was the first time that we had organised a mothing event at the Bro Dyfi
Community Garden
in Machynlleth. Unfortunately, the evening was rather wet which does tend to
put people off from attending; however, 15 people did brave the conditions for
what turned out to be an excellent evening of mothing. As far as the weather
was concerned we had heavy showers interspersed with drizzle throughout, but it
was very mild and humid which were good conditions for active moths.
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| People turning up for the event |
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| Skinner trap under an Oak tree |
On this occasion the Bro Dyfi volunteer gardening group had arranged for
a reporter from the Cambrian News to take a few pictures of the event, so there
was quite a bit of photographic activity before the trapping began.
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| Heath trap near the water feature |
With gloomy conditions, due to the rain, the lights were switched on
early and by 9:00pm moths were already being potted and brought to the table.
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| Recording the species |
First up were the very common species of Large Yellow Underwing and a Lesser
Yellow Underwing. Soon, a lovely Swallow-tailed
Moth was potted, a beautiful species, especially to those who hadn’t seen
one before. A cracking Peppered Moth
led us all into debate on how this is an ‘indicator species’ as to the cleanliness
of
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| Head shot of a Large Elephant Hawk-moth |
our air quality (the darker the moth, the more pollutants are in the air).
Late on in the evening a couple of stunning Large Elephant Hawk-moths came to the traps, but as is often the case
with hawk moths, who are usually a late flying species, about half the people attending
missed them as they had left the event
by then.
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| Small Magpie anania hortulata |
16 species of micro moth were recorded; these included a stunningly
marked Prays fraxinella and the seldom recorded Large Tabby Aglossa pinguinalis.
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| Silver Y |
We also recorded two migrant species, the Silver Y and the Diamond-back
Moth Plutella xylostella–
both these species would have been carried to the UK during recent spells of
southerly winds from the near continent.
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| Wood Carpet |
In all 54 species were recorded – the best being the Wood Carpet, a local species; a Cloaked Minor, a species which hasn’t
been recorded on the western side of Montgomeryshire before and the best record
of the night, a Large Tabby
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| Aglossa pinguialis |
Aglossa pinguinalis which has only been recorded in
Montgomeryshire on three previous occasion, all previously on the eastern side
of the county. For a full species list please click here.
In all, (despite the weather), it was an
excellent evening’s moth trapping, everybody enjoyed themselves and we finally
decided to call it a night at 1:00am. We will certainly return to these
community gardens again to hold another event.
Peter.
