A chilly, small scale survey was undertaken by myself on Saturday night at this rather inhospitable moorland site. The main purpose being to add species to a very under recorded area in the very far north of the county, bordering Gwynedd. There was also an optimistic hope of finding a new colony of Silurian, being a Bilberry dominated landscape such as they inhabit.
At around 500m it was never going to be warm. However, the weather was calm, dry and largely overcast which is not bad considering the location.
Apparently, Silurian only fly around 2am to 4am so a necessarily long night in the car was in store. If I had found any, you would have heard about it already...
However, I was not to be disappointed. Shortly after setting out two 12v 15w synergetic Skinner's traps, my first two moths for the night were a Narrow-winged Pug and a Scarce Silver Y (a personal first for me).
Dozens of Barred Yellow and True Lover's Knot steadily emerged from the darkness to engulf the traps. Other highlights from the night included a very finely marked Grey Mountain Carpet (another personal first), Donacaula forficella, Pammene fasciana and Phiaris schultziana
19 species were recorded, four of those being micro's. 15 of the species look to be new to the quadrat list.
I called it a night at 3.30am as I had to get home to empty my trap there before daylight! Two lovely Garden Tigers to greet me!
Phil
No comments:
Post a Comment