Mild spell still producing 'out of season' species.

As this mild spell in December continues there are still a few 'out of season species' coming to the traps. On the 15th. I recorded a very early Pale Brindled Beauty and this beautifully fresh latest ever in the year for the county of  Larch Pug, pictured below.

Peter.

'Out of Season' Species

Hello all,

During this (and any other) mild spell there is always the possibility of recording an ‘out of season’ species, so it is well worth keeping your traps switched on, as you never know what might turn up.

Pictured below is a Dotted Border which I recorded last night which is well outside its normal flight period, beating the previous earliest Montgomeryshire record of this species by six days.

It is also worth mentioning at this point that should any ‘in county’ moth-er record ‘out of season’ species, that they should contact me with a photo of the moth in question. I already allow a few weeks grace either side of normal flight periods, but should a record fall outside these parameters it may not be accepted as a record unless verified with me first. Check the flight graphs on any species page to see whether a record is early or late, thanks.

Peter.

Autumn Migrants!

With a good air flow of southerly winds predicted over the next few days, now would be a good time to target those autumn migrants and with many of our resident species also still on the wing there should be plenty of moth action going on around our traps - so make sure you don't miss out and switch those traps on.

Peter.

'Sugaring' for Autumn Species

Now that many species of flowering plants are dying off for the year, a rich source of nectar for our butterflies and moths is disappearing and when this happens, this of course means that butterflies in particular and to some degree the moths will disappear – this got me thinking about trying some ‘sugaring’ to extend the period where we can enjoy these beautiful insects.

First off all I had to knock up a delicious sugary substance to attract the insects. There are many different potions and recipes available and some which use secret ingredients, but I stuck with a basic, sweet smelling concoction which certainly works for me. For any of you who wish to have a go, this is what you need to do.

Spraying the diluted sugar onto the dead flower heads

The ingredients

I bottle of stout (or any other beer you’ve got handy)

1lb of soft brown sugar

1lb tin of black treacle

Brick, Yellow-line Quaker and Angle Shades feeding

Put all the above ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring at all times to make sure the sugar has dissolved. Then turn off the heat but continue to stir as the sugar will crystallise on the surface if you don’t. Allow the mixture to cool and then pour into a container (a plastic paint kettle for example is perfect) – your attractant is now ready to use.

The conventional way to use this, is to paint it onto fence posts tree trunks and other appropriate surfaces to attract moths, but please be aware not to apply it to anything that you might touch or handle, otherwise you could get covered in this gloop (not very pleasant!). Check the treated areas after dark for feeding moths and other creatures; it seems that just about everything is drawn to it (as you will find out for yourselves if you have a go). It is also a good idea to apply the sugar to the same areas nightly, so that you build up the potency. So far, after doing this for the last

 

Yellow-line Quaker, Red-line Quaker and Brindled Green

week or so I have recorded; Red-line Quaker, Yellow-line Quaker, Chestnut, Brick, Green-brindled Crescent, Common Marbled Carpet, Brindled Green, Satellite, Red-green Carpet and Angle Shades.  

Red Admiral and Comma feeding on the sugar

However, I had an idea that when the sun was shining that this might attract the late flying butterflies too. I put some of the sugar into a small hand spray, then diluted it down (by about 40 parts water to 1 part of the sugar mixture), gave it a good shake to mix everything up then applied it to the dead heads of several flowering plants, where the butterflies had been coming to the flowers a few days earlier. Almost immediately this worked and a Red Admiral came to feed on a ‘dead flower head’! Since then I have also recorded Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Silver Y moths.

I wonder how long this is all going to work for, especially the butterflies. I shall continue the experiment for the foreseeable future. One interesting thing I have noticed is that on those cold nights (and we’ve had a few recently) when not too much is attracted to the moth trap, there still seems to be a good number of moths coming to the sugar. One species in particular which I seldom record in my trap is the Brick, but I’m now finding this species in much larger numbers every night, I wonder if this will be phenomenon repeated with any other species? The whole sugaring process is giving me much better moth counts every nights and of course there’s always the hope that the sugar will attract an unusual or new garden species for me, so fingers crossed on that one too!

Peter.

Butterflies

The results from this summer's big butterfly county have just been published by Butterfly Conservation. Judging by their interactive map, there were more counts from around the county than ever before - many thanks for everyone who took part.

The butterfly count may only take place in the summer but there are still butterflies on the wing - please keep making a note of what you see and passing them on to me. For further info on recording butterflies in the county, please see this pdf. Montgomeryshire needs all the records it can get!

Douglas - VC47 butterfly recorder

‘Mothing and Bat event’ at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve - report

This was another joint event with Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, and the last MMG event of the year. It was advertised as a family-friendly evening out, and as it started earlier than usual, and the evening was much milder than of late, this may have encouraged families to come along. Whatever the reasons, it was wonderful to see at least 33 people enjoying the evening, including ten youngsters.

 Tammy entertained a large group, quizzing them on their bat knowledge, and then demonstrating the bat detector’s ability to pick up the high frequency calls used by bats, which are normally inaudible to humans. During the evening she located pipistrelles, soprano pipistrelles, and later Daubenton’s bats over the water, much to the delight of her audience.

Peter and his ‘team’ set up 6 traps, with the ‘white sheet’ at base-camp, and 3 Heath actinics and 2 MV Skinner traps around the path which encircles the newly-planted orchard on the reserve. The target moths were the autumn migrants, and the resident Large Wainscot which can be found in reedy ditches at this time of year. 

The hut made a perfect 'base camp'

 After what felt like weeks of clear skies and very low temperatures for the time of year, we were blessed with good cloud-cover and a positively balmy 12.5 degrees C as the traps were switched on at 7.15pm. It wasn’t long before a Pink-barred Sallow was brought in, ‘a little corker’ as Peter exclaimed in his best Yorkshire accent. Certainly this delighted the junior moth-ers, who were soon arming themselves with collecting pots, and rushing off to check the traps. As the evening went on, it was great to see their enthusiasm and interest, as they brought back a variety of specimens for ID, or listened to Peter’s fascinating introductory talk on all things ‘mothy’.

Lunar Underwing proved to be one of the commoner moths of the evening, but others included Common Marbled and Red-green Carpets, Red-line Quaker, Beaded Chestnut, Mottled Umber and the very well-named Satellite. The children in particular enjoyed the attractive colours of the Brimstone and Green-brindled Crescent, and the unlikely names of the Setaceous Hebrew Character and Brick, although they found the name Snout very appropriate. 

Pink-barred Sallow

Barred Sallow

It was good to see another three species of Sallow – the Barred Sallow, Sallow, and by far the best species of the evening, a Dusky-lemon Sallow, which is a scarce and very local species, only recorded in the east of the county in recent times. By the time we packed away the traps we’d reached a very respectable 19 species of macro, including a last minute Brown-spot Pinion, and a 20^th in the form of a Scalloped Hazel larva spotted by Gavin. Combined with 5 Acleris species and several Epinotia nisella, we reached the grand total of 26 moth species. For a full species list please click here.

Waiting for moth arrivals in base camp

 But it wasn’t only the moths which put on a performance during the evening – Tammy picked up a ‘non-bat’ frequency/sound on her bat detector, which turned out to be Speckled Bush Cricket. A wonderful green female adorned the outside of our timber base-camp, complete with impressive sabre-like ovipositor, and posed obligingly for photos.

Acleris rhombana

Dusky-lemon Sallow

By the time we prepared to leave the site at 11.15 pm, the temperature was still a pleasant 10.5 degrees – and although we hadn’t seen a Large Wainscot, and in fact had only trapped one migrant, A Silver Y, there was still time for one more first for a MMG moth event – a pair of ‘Large Coppers’ (to quote Mel) eager to see what we were up to!

Peter heralded the whole evening a success, and even a ‘comedy moth night’, but our thanks must go to him, not only for all the hard work in organizing these events each year, but also for the support he gives so freely, and the enthusiasm which tonight inspired not only the ‘regulars’ but also a band of youngsters for whom this might well prove to be the start of a lifelong interest – let’s hope so. 

Sue Southam

‘Mothing and bat event’ at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve

Hello Moth-ers,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) and the MWT are holding a joint ‘mothing and bat event’ at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve, just south of Welshpool. This event completes the MMG’s events calendar for 2015 and we are targeting autumn migrant species, along with the resident species of the Large Wainscot. Hopefully, the current dry conditions will prevail and some light southerly winds wouldn’t go amiss, which would push the migrant species towards us. This is your last chance to come to an event this season, 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 3rd October

Target Species: Migrant species & the Large Wainscot

Event Time: 6:30 onwards, at the reserve car park.

Directions: From 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                                                                                                       

All the best,

Peter.

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.

Dolforwyn Woods 'Moth Night' - Event Report

This event was held on National Moth Night, which this year had the theme of’ Migrant Moths’.

The event was also in conjunction with Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, who were represented by Tammy, who brought an array of electronic devices for detecting bats and identifying other small creatures.

Base camp, as we were setting up

Sighting of the Robinson trap

A total of 8 traps were used, with a white sheet at ‘base camp’ and 4 MV Skinners, an MV Robinson and 2 Heath Actinics being spaced out along the main track. While these were being setup Tammy, after standing for a long time with her head in the undergrowth, produced the first insect of the evening, a Dark Bush-cricket which she had heard chirping deep in the vegetation.

Dark Bush-cricket

Canary-shouldered Thorn

As the light faded Common and Soprano Pipistrelle bats were heard on the bat detectors, and could be seen flying up and down the track searching for insects. Tammy also recorded other bat calls for later analysis including at least one Myotis species.

The first moth of the evening was a Centre-barred Sallow followed shortly afterwards by a Canary-shouldered Thorn, a new species for this site.

Hornet

Another early visitor to the traps was a hornet. After everyone had a good look she was released, and promptly went and settled on the white sheet, as close to the warmth from the lamp as possible, where she remained for the rest of the evening.

A cloudless sky giving low temperatures meant the number of moths was quite low, but there was a steady trickle throughout the evening. The most numerous species was Common Marbled Carpet, each of which was checked to see if it was a Dark Marbled Carpet, without success The best macros were Pale Eggar and a couple of Hedge Rustics, both new for species this site.

A male Black Arches

Blastobasis adustella

The only migrant species Silver Y

Just before midnight, with the temperature dropping down to 8.2C and little further moth activity we decided to pack up the traps. Final checks of the traps added Flame Carpet, Spruce Carpet, Flounced Rustic (new for the site) and July Highflyer, bringing the total count of macro species to 20. 8 micro species were recorded, including Agonopterix arenella and Eudonia lacustrata, both new to the site. The only migrant moth found was Silver Y; a warmer evening might have produced a few more. For a full species list please click here.

Thirteen people attended the event, and Peter recruited a couple more recorders to help fill holes in the county records database.

Paul Roughley

Joint event with the MMG and MWT 'Mothing and other nocturnal creatures' at Dolforwyn Woods Nature Reserve

Hello Moth-ers,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) and the MWT are holding a joint ‘mothing and other nocturnal creature’s’ event at Dolforwyn Woods Nature Reserve, just north of Newtown. The event is also being held on Butterfly Conservation’s ‘Moth Night’ weekend and this year the theme is ‘Migrant species’, and hopefully the current southerly winds we’re having will continue and a few migrant species will be pushed towards us. This is our penultimate event of the season, so please come along and join us for what promises to be a terrific evening’s mothing at this superb woodland site.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Dolforwyn Woods Nature Reserve

Event Date: Saturday 12th September

Target Species: Dusky-lemon Sallow and all Migrant species

Event Time: 7:30 onwards, at the reserve car park.

Directions: Going north on the A483 from Newtown to Welshpool you will see two signposts for Abermule on the right hand side of the road. Directly after the second signpost take the first left turn, signposted for Dolforwyn Castle. Dolforwyn Hotel is visible as you turn up this lane. Go straight on and follow the lane as it curves right for about 300yds. The reserve track is on the right. Follow the track for about 400yds until you reach a parking area.

Grid Reference: SO158956.

All the best,

Peter.

 

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.

Death's Head Hawk-moth turns up in the county

Hello Moth-ers,

I just thought you would all like to know that a fabulous Death's Head Hawk-moth has turned up in the county at Pont Robert in the north of the county. Is was seen and photographed by John King who was spending the bank holiday with is in-laws.

John says:-

"It certainly surprised us. Our 21 month old son was ‘sweeping’ the patio outside the front door and his auntie spotted the moth just before he hit it with the brush. It was in a very exposed location, but the camouflage appeared to work. We kept an eye on it until it was dark". 

A great record John, and only the second time that this species has been recorded in the county since 1967.

Peter.