2021 Lockdown 'January Challenge'

 

Hello Moth-ers,

 

In a couple of days’ time with the start of another New Year I am once again doing our January moth challenge and this year the challenge is open to anyone who wishes to take part, whether you trap in Montgomeryshire or not.

For those of you who don’t know, the challenge is to record 10 macro species (and 5 micro species if you record micros), or of course, as many species as you can record during January. As many of you have found out in the past, this is definitely not an easy challenge, but it’s well worth having a go at as it generates many extra winter records when recording is often very sparse. It’s also a bit of fun, so go on, have a go, see how you get on, you might surprise yourselves!

There are only a few simple rules I would ask you to please follow:-

1) Adults only to be recorded.

2) Records from a single site only.

3) Using one trap only. Don’t have a trap – no problem, records other than from a trap e.g. daytime observations, moths to lit windows etc. can also count as long as they're from the same site.

4) Anyone can take part, but if you're not a recorder in Montgomeryshire you will have to let me know you're taking part so that I can contact you for your results. 

I will ask you for your results at the end of January when I will ask you for a simple list of:-

1) What species you recorded.

2) How many moths of each species you recorded.

3) How many days you trapped on.

This year I plan to make the challenge a bit more interactive by posting weekly updates on our Facebook page, where you can all comment and keep an eye on how the challenge is panning out. So if you haven’t already joined our Facebook page please let me know and I will invite you to join.

I will publish the results on our Facebook page and on our blog in early February, once all the results are in.

Have fun – see if you can beat your total of last year.

Happy New year to all of you and I hope you all have some great mothing in 2021.

Peter.

VC47 butterfly updates

Bit of butterfly news: I have now processed all of the 2019 data (which included a large number of historic records, a lot of which were from Lake Vyrnwy). Thank you to everyone who sent me records directly, on iRecord, or via Peter.

 

We now have 33,400 records of 42 species in the database. There were two additions: Brown Hairstreak records (from the 1970s in two sites in the Dovey Valley, raising the exciting prospect that this secretive species may well still be present) and also Scarce Swallowtail records from a plant nursery from near Welshpool (adventive).

I plan to update my digital atlas in early 2021 once the 2020 data is in. This is much needed as there are now several new additions to the VC47 list since the previous update (including Essex Skipper) and many changes in distributions (including recent Marbled White records in the south of the county). Please do send any records from either this year or any previous years to my email (though feel free to wait until the New Year in case of any late sightings): email contact on sidebar. Remember records of all species are welcome and needed! As the maps show, much of the county is very under-recorded.

5th. In the series ‘One to look out for’, the Northern Winter Moth

Over the past couple of years, I have been highlighting some species found in Montgomeryshire in the 'one to look out for' series, which are either uncommon or are confused with other species, today I’m looking at the rather elusive Northern Winter Moth.

The Northern Winter moth is definitely a species which is overlooked by moth-ers in general, either because of its flight season, which as its name suggests is a winter flying species, secondly because it’s often confused with the Winter Moth and finally it is generally much more uncommon than the Winter Moth here in Montgomeryshire, therefore you normally have to put in a bit more effort in to record it. In the past ten years it has only been recorded at seven sites in Montgomeryshire, but I think this figure could be significantly increased with more recording. 

There are some subtle differences between the two species which I’ll outline here and these should help you to separate the two species with a fairly high degree of certainty.

                                        Northern Winter Moth - Operophtera fagata
 

                                               Winter Moth - Operophtera brumata

As can be seen from the two images above (only the males are shown for this comparison, the females only have vestigial wings and therefore can’t fly) the Northern Winter Moth (top) is somewhat larger than the Winter Moth (bottom) with a more tapered forewing, it is also paler with more fine markings and has a general silky sheen to the eye.

It’s on the wing from late October until December and the males are attracted to light traps. When the females emerge they will just climb up the nearest tree or bush, release their irresistible pheromones and wait for a male to come along and mate with her. Eggs are laid on the foodplant where they  overwinter until they hatch in the spring. The larvae feed on a number of deciduous tree species which include; Birch, Alder, Beech and has also been found on some fruit trees; Apple, Plum and Cherry. It’s found in various habitats, such as woodland, heathland and gardens. It pupates underground.

Peter.

Mine of the Month – September

This month the species to find is Parornix anglicella. This genus frequently turns up in moth traps; however, the adults are typically impossible to separate without dissection so finding the leaf-mines is by far the best way to record this group.

Mine of the Month – August

For August, the target species is Phyllonorycter coryli (Nut Leaf Blister Moth). This moth makes highly conspicuous silvery blisters on the upper surface of hazel leaves and is perhaps the easiest leaf-miner species to identify.

Image: Rob Edmunds/www.leafmines.co.uk

A bonus point will be award to whoever finds the most mines on a single leaf, a challenge started by Norman Lowe:

And have you tried the P. coryli challenge!? Started by Norman Lowe from Brecon - whats the most mines of coryli you can find in one leaf!? You’ve got a ‘fourer’, I’ve managed 20 once can anyone find more?

— dave grundy (@dgcountryside) September 3, 2019

 

Last month's results and points tally
For July, the aim was to find either Caloptilia semifascia or C. rufipennella (with a bonus point for recording both species). If you found either of these in July but are yet to send me the details, please do so and I can update the tally.

Caloptilia semifascia: JP (Aberbechan), GBC (Llanfyllin), CBo (Middletown), DHB (Henley)
Caloptilia rufipennella: JP (Aberbechan), CBo (Middletown), DHB (Henley)

Points to date:

G Chambers - 2
C Boyes - 3
D Boyes - 4
T Ward - 1
J Pearce - 4

Mine of the Month – July

For July, the challenge is to find either Caloptilia semifascia or C. rufipennella. A bonus point will be rewarded for recording both species!

Both species begin by creating a small, triangular mine in Acer leaves, often in the middle of the leaf, before later rolling the leaf tips. Caloptilia semifascia does so on field maple, while C. rufipennella is found on sycamore. The leaf-cones on field maple are typically highly conspicuous, as the fold often deforms the shape of the leaf.

Leaf cone made by Caloptilia semifascia on field maple. Image: North Wales Lepidoptera

The folds made by C. rufipennella are somewhat more subtle, with it making three progressively larger folds at different points along the leaf edge.

A leaf-fold made by C. rufipennella on sycamore.

Neither species have all that many records from VC47, and are probably rather over-looked. Most records to date are from the eastern half of the county, which is typically where more recording is done. Caloptilia semifascia may be limited by the amount of field maple available in some parts of the county, however.

Here's the leafmines.co.uk key for moths mining maples (the leaf rollers are at the bottom). Also, do keep an eye out for other types of mine on these two trees as they are easy to identify. For both field maple and sycamore, there is a different species of Stigmella (making gallery mines) and a different species of Phyllonorycter (creating small blotch mines).

Last month's results and points tally
The June challenge was to find Lyonetia clerkella. I'd picked this species as I expected it to be very easy to find; however, it turned out not to be so easy with only two recorders being successful: JP (Aberbechan) & DHB (Henley). Perhaps it's having a poor year, but that's just the way it goes. If you did find it but have yet to tell me, let me know and I can amend the tally.

Points to date:

G Chambers - 1
C Boyes - 1
D Boyes - 2
T Ward - 1
J Pearce - 2

Can You Identify This Moth?

Surely a Five-Spot Burnet?

Well in fact it is a Narrow-Bordered Five-spot Burnet (Zygaena lonicerae).  If you didn’t know you should not feel too bad, as many experts consider them to be almost indistinguishable from the regular Five-Spot Burnet (Zygaena trifolii) using a photo like this

Generally in the UK the Narrow-Bordered is the more abundant species although not recorded widely in Montgomeryshire.  However with the help of Peter I have recently identified a colony in our field near Berriew so I expect we should be getting a lot of new records in the east of the county but the problem is how can you tell them apart?  Well in the process of checking my specimens it appears that the forewing wing shape is consistently narrower (‘more pointed’) in the Narrow-bordered but I need to examine a lot more examples of both species from different sites to see if this difference is consistent and does not overlap between the species.

This is where I need your help. 

If you find any five-spotted burnets while you are out and about in July (both species should be flying at this time), please could you take a photo like the one above where the camera is positioned as close as possible to perpendicular to the forewing. As always it may be easier to do if you catch them and give them some cooling off time in the fridge first.  I would be particularly interested if you find any with merged or confluent spots and from damp areas where there is lots of Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil as these are almost certainly Z. trifolii. Similarly specimens from areas of rough, dry grassland with well separated third and fourth spots in the Eastern side of the county would be especially useful as these are most likely to be Z. lonicerae.  

If you get any photos please send them to me at timwardhome@outlook.com with a brief description of where you found them.  I’ll let you know my best guess at ID as soon as possible and if this is a consistent characteristic, I will share the data and give some tools to help you do your own ID.

Thanks for your Help

Tim

To LED or not to LED? That is the question.

I'm afraid this is a purely text only post with no pretty pictures.

For some time now I have been considering converting my Skinner's trap to LED.

I have always been shamefully aware, especially on winter nights, of 125Watts burning all night long to find nothing in the trap the following morning, not to mention the fossil fuel burning generator I use at group events, ironically where we are generally recording declines in moth numbers, attributed in part to fossil fuel burning induced climate change.

This has never really sat well with my conscience but then there appears not really to have been a particularly effective alternative to MV lamps ....... until now.

So, I am wondering about the pro's and con's of LED UV trap lighting.

It certainly improves mobility of equipment and efficiency of resources but does it actual work as well as an MV lamp? Are the results parallel to MV bulbs or do you get different results?

From a preliminary scan online, there appear now miriad ways of decorating your trap with UV LED's but it seems if you go down the DIY route you have to  calculate carefully the number of LED's, their output and quantity, layout in the trap etc to ensure an effective lure for moths without flattening the battery quicker than an iphone.

It is definitely a route I wish to go down so would be very grateful for any comments, experience or opinions anyone has on this subject before I take the plunge!

Cheers, Phil.

Mine of the Month – June

Thank you to everyone who took part in May's 'Mine of the Month' (details of how everyone got on are at the end of the post). After starting with a tough group, I've picked a fairly distinctive and very common target species for June: Lyonetia clerkella.

This species creates gallery (corridor) mines which are typically long and sweeping. For more photos and info, see the species pages on leafmines.co.uk, ukflymines.co.uk, and bladmineerders.nl. And here's the MMG species page.

L. clerkella on apple

Unlike most miners, this species isn't too fussy about its host plant. It's perhaps most abundant on apple trees, but can also be found on pear, cherry, hawthorn, blackthorn, rowan, and birch.

The shape of the mine usually differentiates it from nepticulid mines; however, if in doubt, examine the shape of the larva, which has indentations between segments (unlike Stigmella species).

The clearly segmented larva of L. clerkella. Photo: Tim Ward.

See also this great video from Dave Shenton:

Last month's results and points tally
For May, the challenge was to find any of birch-mining Eriocrania. Five recorders were successful (if you did record one of these species in May but are yet to send me a photo, please do so soon and I can add your point to the tally). Between us, we recorded four species (including two new for VC47).

Eriocrania sangii: GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), DHB* (Warburg Reserve; Wytham Woods)
E. cicatricella: CBo (Middletown Hill), GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), TW (Berriew), JP (Aberbechan), DHB* (Warburg Reserve)
E. unimaculella:  GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), DHB* (Warburg Reserve)
E. salopiella: GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), DHB* (Warburg Reserve; Wytham Woods)

Red text indiciates new for VC47.
* - out of county records

Points to date:

G Chambers - 1
C Boyes - 1
D Boyes - 1
T Ward - 1
J Pearce - 1

Lockdown Life

Hello All
I have found my moth trap here in N.Wales to be fairly quiet recently so in order to add some variety I thought I might create some moths of my own.
One of my hobbies is woodwork and in the past I have carved several bird species which can take a long long time depending on its complexity. So I thought I would try downsizing and spent a week creating some moths. I chose relatively large species obviously and started with a tracing on a block of limewood. 

 They were then cut out on the bandsaw and carved into shape. The garden tiger moth had too much wood removed accidentally and so resulted in a smaller muslin moth!!

 Legs and antennae were formed from wire. The moths were then sealed and given a coat of white gesso before painting. 

 An image of the underside of the eyed hawkmoth proved difficult to find and thank you Peter for trawling through your photographic library.

Finally a visit to the firewood pile provided a suitable branch on which to  mount them.

 Some more dust collectors in the living room!

So if you find yourself with too much time on your hands all  you need is a block of wood.

Take care and stay safe everyone

Alan

Mine of the Month – May

This is the first 'Mine of the Month'. For details of the challenge see the previous introductory post.

This month's challenge is to find Eriocrania sangii, a leaf miner on birch. Here's the MMG species page. We currently only have one county record for this species (an adult seen at an MMG event at Hafren Forest) but it's likely to be under-recorded.

An adult Eriocrania sangii. Like most of this group, these are hard to identify
as adults (even by dissection) so it's much easier to record them as leaf mines.

We have six species of Eriocrania in the UK and all of these are found on birch (a point will be rewarded for finding any of these). Four of these species have been recorded in Montgomeryshire (but all six have been recorded in North Wales so there's the possibility of finding a new county record!).

Eriocranias make large blotch mines, which often take up much of the leaf (so are relatively easy to spot!). The larvae typically produce untidy, spaghetti-like frass. Here's a key for the birch Eriocranias. The first important feature is whether the mine begins at the edge of the leaf, or away from the leaf edge. You can work out the start point of the mine as the early mine is a narrow corridor (or 'gallery'), which later widens to form the large blotch. The early mine is often absorbed by the blotch but usually remains visible. In the photo below, the early corridor is visible running down along the leaf edge from the tip.

Eriocrania sangii mine. Image: Janet Graham

Two species start away from the leaf edge: E. salopiella and E. sparrmannella (however, the latter does not appear until later in the year). The remaining species all start at the leaf edge. If multiple larvae are within a single mine it's E. cicatricella. The remaining three species all have a single larva per mine: E.sangii, E. semipurpurella and E. unimaculella.

Eriocrania sangii is easily distinguished by its slate grey larva (all other Eriocrania larvae are white).

The distinctive grey larva of E. sangii. Image: Janet Graham.

A tip: smaller, seedling birches can often be more productive for leaf-mines, and different species can show preferences for different sized trees.

This is a somewhat difficult one for the first 'Mine of the Month' (others will be easier, I promise!) and this is why a point will be given to finding any one of the six Eriocrania species. At this time of the year, there's a fairly limited selection of active miners to pick from. Most leaf miners are summer-flying (so the mines appear a bit later in the year); however, the Eriocranias are typically on the wing in March and April, which is why the mines can be found from now.

Do get in touch if you want any help with ID.

Happy hunting!

Douglas

Update 07/05/20: With two new county records as a result of this challenge (E. unimaculella, Lake Vyrnwy, GBC and E. ciratricella, Middletown Hill, CBo), all six species have now been recorded in VC47!

Mine of the Month – an introduction

Hi all,

Julie had the excellent idea of starting a monthly challenge to find a specific species of leaf mine. At the start of each month, I'll post details of a leaf miner to look out for (here on the blog and also on the MMG Facebook group). A 'leaf mine treasure hunt', if you like. Every confirmed 'Mine of the Month' find equals a point and whoever gets the most points at the end of the year wins a 'virtual prize'! (don't get too excited!)

It should be good fun and, of course, will help to improve recording coverage of leaf-mines. I'm sure Peter will be thrilled to receive any resulting records. Leaf mines are a great way to find new species: I've recorded about 60 species of moth miners at my garden in Middletown. So keep an eye out and record any other mines you come across too! Some useful resources (including plant-specific keys) are www.leafmines.co.uk and www.ukflymines.co.uk (which despite the name covers moth mines too).

It goes without saying that you should follow current government advice on Covid-19, i.e. only search for leaf mines in your garden, or at local sites as part of your daily exercise.

Get in touch with me via email, or on the Facebook group, to let me know how you get on with the challenge, or if you need any ID help. Please also remember to add any sightings to your records in the usual way to send to Peter at the end of the year. I will provide an update on how people have got on and a points tally with the following month's challenge.

Douglas

Emperor Moth(Saturnia pavonia) adults hatched today, from eggs left in my trap about this time last year.

I'd given up hope, assuming that the pupae had died, so was very pleasantly surprised. I've included some other photos of the stages they have been through.

(Apologies for the layout, Blogger is an appalling app.! I'll edit the HTML directly when I get time.)

Michelin Moth

Found yesterday on the front tyre of our car!

I look upon it as a sign it will be a "Goodyear" for mothing.[Sorry]

Stay safe and healthy everyone

Alan

4th in the series 'One to look out for' - the Small Brindled Beauty

I think there's something quite amusing about the Small Brindled Beauty, its a 'cheeky little chap' and one I look forwards to seeing each year. It's a fairly local and uncommon species in Montgomeryshire and usually found is very small numbers throughout its flight season which can be in February or March, but its actual flight time is usually only for a couple of weeks or so, so this can be earlier or later depending on the weather condition at the time. Its short flight time, early in the year probably accounts for the small numbers of records we have in our database and I doubt if it would ever be recorded in larger numbers, no matter how much recording was done. The dot map (shown on the species page) shows that it has only been recorded at seven different sites in the county during the past ten years, but I feel that this number could be improved upon slightly with a bit more recording.

As I've said, the moth is on the wing late winter-early spring, but the female (as with several species in the group) is wingless. The male (as can be seen below) has a quite furry appearance, especially around the thorax and is easily recognisable. It is easily attracted to light. After mating the female climbs up its foodplant (deciduous tree species), probably not far from where she emerged from her chrysalis; these include pedunculate oak, hawthorn, silver birch, hazel, elm, hornbeam and chestnut to lay its eggs. The larvae feed until fully grown, then they pupate underground until they emerge the following spring.

If you would like a bit more information on the the Small Brindled Beauty please go to its species page on our website - click here.

Peter.

January Moth Challenge 2020

The January challenge has now finished, the data is all in and has been collated in the two charts below.

This year, as last year, only nine mothers took part (and two of those were from out of county recorders), which considering the mild January we had is a little disappointing, but between us we did manage to record 28 species, which is only two species down on last years record number of species. There were 17 macro and 11 micro species recorded which resulted in 377 moths (347 macro and 30 micro), which is an excellent effort on everyone's part. Despite the fairly mild weather throughout the month,  moth numbers were well down on last years record total of 643.