Another notable migrant

Not quite so prolific in the trap last night as far as migrants are concerned, but I did manage to catch a Scarce Bordered Straw, which was last recorded in the county in 2006.

Peter.

More good migrants flooding in

I had another excellent trap last night with two migrant species worth a mention.

Firstly I recorded four, yes four, vestal, a scarce migrant to Montgomeryshire, normally just the odd moth is found, so four in a single night is exceptional.



The other species was the Small Marbled again a scarce migrant to the uk which has only ever been recorded once before in the county (at the same site) in 2008.





Peter.

My rare migrant

Been getting rather envious of all these nice migrant being posted here but last night I caught my own.

Found it on the sheet late last night and immediately knew it was a migrant, not sure why, but I could tell. A quick look through the book and found Antigastra catalaunalis. Sure enough Peter later confirmed this tiny micro migrant, which had probably come from Southern Europe/Tropics.

It's described as "a very scarce migrant, occurring only in the southern counties". It's also a new county record.

Douglas.

Finally bagged a good migrant

I was beginning to think that I was going to miss out on a good migrant species during this exceptional weather, but as I was checking around the trap last night before going to bed I saw a small moth fluttering around the light. I knew I'd got something good as I didn't recognise it at all, but it looked like a pyralid species, which pointed me in the right direction for making a positive id. It was a very distinctive species so fingering through book it didn't take long to track it down, it was Spoladea recurvalis , a rare migrant from the Mediterranean region of Europe.

It was first discovered in the UK in 1951 in Surrey and since then only about 12 specimens have been recorded in the country, most of these on the south coast of England, so it was an excellent find for it to turn up in Montgomeryshire - very exciting and definitely one of the best moths I've recorded in twenty years of moth recording.

Peter.

Great start to October

Ran 2x 125w last night, turned out to be very worthwhile.

Trap 1:

Red-green Carpet - 2

Canary-shouldered Thorn - 3

Brown-spot Pinion - 6

LYU - 6
Beaded Chestnut - 21
Brindled Green - 4
Rosy Rustic - 3
Merveille Ju Jour - 7
Brimstone - 2
Green-brindled Crescent - 4
S. Hebrew Character - 5
Satellite - 3
November Moth agg. - 1 [NFY]
Frosted Orange - 3
Chestnut - 1
Square-spot Rustic - 6
Figure of 8 - 3
Mallow - 1 [NFM] - First county record for 49 years.  
Lunar Underwing - 4
Hedge Rustic - 1
Large Wainscot - 2
Yellow-line Quaker - 4
Sallow - 1
Green Carpet - 2
Silver Y - 2
Pale Mottled Willow - 1
Flounced Chestnut - 3
Blair's Shoulder Knot - 1
Brick - 1
Common Marbled Carpet - 1
Pine Carpet - 1 [NFM]       
Chequered FT Tortrix

Eudonia angustea - 1
Celypha lacunana - 1
Garden Rose Tortrix - 8

(35 species)

Trap 2:
Vestal - 1 [NFM]
Feathered Thorn - 1
Brindled Green - 7
Common MC - 1
Brown-spot Pinion - 9
LYU - 7
S. Hebrew Character - 9
Beaded Chestnut - 30
M. Ju Jour - 11
Dusky Lemon Sallow - 1
Green Carpet - 1
Satellite - 2
Snout - 1
BB Yellow Underwing - 1
Pink Barred Sallow - 2
CS Thorn - 3
Rosy Rustic - 4
Green Brindled Crescent - 5
Square-spot Rustic - 3
Centre-barred Sallow - 1
Sallow - 3
Silver Y - 1
Lunar Underwing - 1
Green Carpet - 2
Chestnut - 1
Yellow-line Quaker - 2

Agonopterix heracliana - 1
Agonopterix arenella - 1
Large Fruit-tree Tortrix - 1
Eudonia angustea - 1
Argyresthia goedartella - 1

(31 species)

 The wind direction is starting to change and looks as if the temperatures will soon drop, so intend to trap again tonight and make the most of these conditions while they last.

Douglas.

We are the knights who say.....

Ni!!!

(if you don't know Monty Python then you won't get the reference)

Wednesday 28th/Thursday 29th September - with very warm weather over the past couple of days and a nice warm wind coming up from the South I couldn't resist the opportunity to try and get something unusual in the trap at Cors Dyfi.
And I did!

The Ni moth is a rare migrant, apparently only around 50 records a year, and on first seeing this I knew it was unusual but just wasn't sure what species it was. When Peter confirmed this as the Ni I couldn't do anything except laugh but then took things a little more seriously (well, tried to) and realised what an excellent find this was for the county. Several photographs were soon on their way to Peter for inclusion on the website.

Other interesting species that night included Large Wainscott and Marveille du Jour, plus several young newts attracted by the number of small insects!

This was also the first time I'd tried "Sugaring" and spent the morning brewing up a concoction of red wine, sugar and honey, the whole house smelled like a brewery for hours afterwards and whilst the soaked cloth strips I put out did attract a small number of moths on the night, they seemed to attract more spiders which spent the rest of the night acting as though they only had 4 legs!

It proved to be an excellent night for other wildlife too with a new mammal species confirmed on site - Badger.

With the weather forecast still set for an Indian summer I will be returning on site within the next few days with my fingers crossed.

MariaW, Cors Dyfi "Furballs" Officer, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust.

Last night's haul

Well last night was rather productive I thought:

Merveille Du Jour		10
Large Yellow Underwing		27
Brimstone		5
Canary Shouldered Thorn		5
Setaceous Hebrew Character		19
Brown-spot Pinion		17
Rosy Rustic		5
Square Spot Rustic		5
Beaded Chestnut		43
Brindled Green		14
Lunar Underwing		20
Silver Y		4
Green Carpet		2
Common Wainscot		1
Figure of Eight		4
Blair's Shoulder Knot		1
Autumnal Rustic		3
Sallow		3
Dark Sword Grass [NFY]		1
Satellite		1
Black Rustic		3
Barred Sallow		6
Yellow-line Quaker [NFY]		1
Frosted Orange		2
Lesser Yellow Underwing		1
Dusky Lemon Sallow [NFY]		1
Red-green Carpet		1
Flounced Chestnut [NFM]		2
	Eudonia angustea	1
	Epinotia tenerana [NFM]	1
	Celypha lacunana	1
	Argyresthia goedartella	2
	Acleris variegana	2

A couple of migrants there also, hope to get some more over the coming nights and of course at the upcoming event next week at Lake Vyrnwy.

The two new ones for me have just pushed to a nice landmark 500 lepidopterous species in the garden, which breaks into 328 macro, 144 micro and 28 butterflies.

Douglas.

Migrant moths heading our way!

With the wind in the south-east and temperatures rising, this coming week offers a very good opportunity for recording those migrant species. So fire those traps up and be prepared for species such as the Vestal, Dark Sword-grass, Pearly Underwing, Rush Veneer, Gem, Rusty-dot Pearl, Silver Y or even a Convolvulus Hawk-moth, any of which, as well as good numbers of our resident species could be drawn to our lights, good luck and please let me know if any scarce migrant turns up.

Peter.

Quiet nights

Last night (16th) had a min temp of 12.5, I caught the following:

Flounced Rustic - 1
Frosted Orange - 2
SHC - 17
Rosy Rustic - 5
Brimstone - 2
Large YU - 21
Canary-shouldered Thorn - 2
Beaded Chestnut - 2 (NFY)
Sallow - 2
Silver Y - 1
Square-spot Rustic - 3
Brown-spot Pinion - 2
Copper Underwing agg. - 2
Centre-barred Sallow - 1
Green Carpet - 1
Snout - 1





And the highlight of the night was MASSIVE Large Wainscot - NFM. A declining species which is also rather uncommon here in Montgomeryshire.

The Bridge Cottage (Middletown) Event

At Bridge Cottage, Middletown last Saturday evening, we recorded 38 species.

The full report/species list is now on the website and can be found (along with the other 2011 event reports) here.

Thanks once again to Clare for the marvellous hospitality (the chocolate brownies particularly noteworthy). And, Sue, keep bringing your cake - it's fantastic!!