Lockdown Species Challenge - July update.

 Hello Moth-ers,

The data for July in our ‘lockdown Target species challenge’ is now in and can be viewed on our blog as well as our Facebook page. 

In general things have been pretty slow recently, but Alan Sibley from Essex who has recorded 6 of the 11 species possible and is on 9 points is well ahead of the rest of the field. His nearest challengers are  Meurig Garbutt, Julie Pearce & Mark Thomas, Stuart Thomas, Peter Williams and Douglas Boyes all on five points.

This months target species is the Leopard Moth (worth 2 points) If you've already recorded one please let me know and I'll add it to the table, thanks. 

Please note the following 'Challenge' points: 

1) That all target species will remain active in the challenge (although some may have finished their flight time), so please let me know if you record one of these at any time and I’ll update your points on the table. 

2) Also, it may well be you’ve already recorded a species before I add it to the target list, that’s fine, just let me know and I’ll add the record to the main table.

3) This challenge is open to everyone without any restrictions and you can join in whenever you like, just let me know and I'll add your name to the chart.

The target species added in previous months are (and quite a few will still be on the wing) ; -

12) Clouded Brindle (2 points)

11) Shaded broad-bar (1 point)

10) Yellow Shell (1 point)

9) Yellow-barred Brindle (1 point)

😎 Tawny Pinion (2 Points)

7) Any migrant hawk moth – this might seem rather unlikely, but it does of course include the Humming-bird Hawk-moth, so everyone will have a chance to record one of these (3 points)

6) White-marked (1 point)

5) Pine Beauty (2 points)

4) Oak Nycteoline (1 point)

3) Blossom Underwing (2 points)

2) Shoulder Stripe (1 point)

1) Small Brindled Beauty (2 points)

One to look out for.

 Hello "mothers"

Thought you might be interested in this which appeared in my trap during the recent hot weather, even though it was at my home in FlintshireVC51 rather than Montgomeryshire[ Sorry Peter]. After much searching of the books and eventually the interweb I discovered it was the Box-tree Moth.

It helped when I realised it was a micro [Crambid]

It is native to S E Asia and was first discovered in UK in 2008, presumably imported to garden centre in S England in box plants. It has now been reported as far as Edinburgh. In N Wales I gather there are one or two records only but this Summer it has been recorded elsewhere in VC51 so look out folks it is on the march, whether or not it has made it to Montgomeryshire only Peter would know!

It has to be a contender for "largest micro" coming in at around 4cm across.

Two other moths in my trap last night were Leopard Moth and Sycamore, both firsts for me.

I hope the warm weather has brought you all some excitement too

All the best

Alan

Cors Dyfi Moth Night Event 10 July 2021

 

It was great to finally have a public event – and a fantastic location and good weather too, so everything came together for us to be able to celebrate Moth Night 2021, with the theme of wetlands, in style. 

Photo by Douglas Boyes

    We were excited to see the lovely new centre at Cors Dyfi, with a ready made terrace and benches for us to work from. 

The white sheet looked spectacular from the balcony, and indeed looked pretty good covered in moths later on in the evening.

Photo by Douglas Boyes

We were lucky enough to have Douglas Boyes join us for the evening and lead the event – many thanks to him for making the trip especially for it. Altogether 21 people attended, a mixture of members of the moth group, MWT staff & volunteers and members of the public. The first moths came in on cue as Douglas was doing his introductory talk, and answering some great questions, and kept rolling in until we turned the lights off at 2.30am. We saw impressive numbers of bats about then too....

Some of the frequent fliers of the night were Round-winged Muslin and Rosy Footman, who was an early crowd pleaser. But to be fair we had a lot to keep everyone happy – many moths that members of the group hadn't seen before. It was generally agreed that the Smoky Wave was the star of the night, but that was before the Scallop Shell (the poster moth for the Moth Night) came in, or the Gelechia sororculella (new for site and only the second record in the county since 1998) and even the Double Dart that was lurking in a trap as we packed up.

Gelechia sororculella (photo by Peter Williams)

 It was good to see the public so excited to see the glamour moths – the Elephant Hawk-moth, the Drinker, the Sallow Kitten, and Peter Williams was in his seventh heaven when the Clouded Magpie put in an appearance. One of his favourites apparently. The full list for the night available now – a very impressive total of 109 macros and 37 micros.

Clouded Magpie, photo by Mel Jones

Scallop Shells, photo by Mel Jones

Lockdown Species Challenge as of 1st. July

 Hello Moth-ers,

Moth species and numbers have certainly picked up recently and hopefully this will continue for a while to give us all chance to add some decent numbers to our yearly lists. 

The data for June in our ‘lockdown Target species challenge’ is now in and can be viewed here on our blog as well as our Facebook page. 

Please remember you can join in with this challenge whenever you like, so just let me know here, what you've recorded and I’ll add the details to the main table. 

Please note the following 'Challenge' points: 

1) That all target species will remain active in the challenge (although some may have finished their flight time), so please let me know if you record one of these at any time and I’ll update your points on the table. 

2) Also, it may well be you’ve already recorded a species before I add it to the target list, that’s fine, just let me know and I’ll add the record to the main table.

3) This challenge is open to everyone without any restrictions and you can join in whenever you like, just let me know and I'll add your name to the chart.

The target species added in July (please let me know if you’ve already have recorded one) is: -

12) Clouded Brindle - (2 points)

The target species added in previous months are (and quite a few will still be on the wing) ; -

11) Shaded broad-bar (1 point)

10) Yellow Shell (1 point)

9) Yellow-barred Brindle (1 point)

8) Tawny Pinion (2 Points)

7) Any migrant hawk moth – this might seem rather unlikely, but it does of course include the Humming-bird Hawk-moth, so everyone will have a chance to record one of these (3 points)

6) White-marked (1 point)

5) Pine Beauty (2 points)

4) Oak Nycteoline (1 point)

3) Blossom Underwing (2 points)

2) Shoulder Stripe (1 point)

1) Small Brindled Beauty (2 points)

Trial Event at Llyn Coed y Dinas 26/6/21

Well, for the first time since October 2019 a small group of us dusted off the Montgomeryshire Moth Group equipment and the events team met up at Llyn Coed y Dinas nature reserve to make sure that everything works, that we can remember how to identify moths, and that we can run a Covid-safe event. 

We chose a nice night for it - and a good location.  We ran 2 traps and the white sheet, and had a busy time of it through the night.  Rest assured that plenty of hand sanitiser was deployed. Most of the equipment worked well despite the long furlough, and we just about remembered how to work it all. Peter was in his element as the moths flowed in.

Poplar Grey

Figure of Eighty

In total we had a very creditable 28 species of macro and a surprising 21 species of micro.  At one stage we had more micros than macros.  The full list is available here.  We even managed a new County record: Archips crataegana.

Archips crataegana Photo: Peter Williams

A good night was had by all.  Many thanks to Peter, Phil, Paul and Mark.  Hopefully we'll be able to arrange some public events in the near future.

 Hello Moth-ers,

June is now with us and I’m sure we’ll all hope that with the new month our mothing fortunes will change and we’ll actually record some moths.

Please remember you can join in with this challenge whenever you like, so just let me know here, what you've recorded and I’ll add the details to the main table. This month I have decided to add two fairly common species so that we can kick the challenge into action again.

The target species added in June (please let me know if you’ve already have recorded one) are: -

11) Shaded broad-bar (1 point)

10) Yellow Shell (1 point)

The target species added in previous months (which all still count in the challenge) are; -

9) Yellow-barred Brindle (1 point)

8) Tawny Pinion (2 Points)

7) Any migrant hawk moth – this might seem rather unlikely, but it does of course include the Humming-bird Hawk-moth, so everyone will have a chance to record one of these (3 points)

6) White-marked (1 point)

5) Pine Beauty (2 points)

4) Oak Nycteoline (1 point)

3) Blossom Underwing (2 points)

2) Shoulder Stripe (1 point)

1) Small Brindled Beauty (2 points)

First half of May - terrible for moth trapping

The weather during the first half of May has more or less continued where April left off, but without the frost, very variable with wet cool nights, therefore trap catches have been very poor indeed    We can only hope that things pick up soon - and here's a sobering thought - it's only just over a month away until the nights will start drawing out again!!

Updated chart attached below.

Just a reminder of the target species to look out for (below) and please remember you can join in with this challenge when ever you like, just let me know here, what you've recorded.

The target species added in May (or let me know if you’ve already have recorded one) are; -

9) Yellow-barred Brindle (1 point)

8) Tawny Pinion (2 Points)

7) Any migrant hawk moth – this might seem rather unlikely, but it does of course include the Humming-bird Hawk-moth, so everyone will have a chance to record one of these (3 points)

The target species to look out for which were added in previous months are; -

6) White-marked (1point)

5) Pine Beauty (2 points)

4) Oak Nycteoline (1 point)

3) Blossom Underwing (2 points)

2) Shoulder Stripe (1 point)

1) Small Brindled Beauty (2 points)

Peter.

What a shockingly cold April for our 'target species challenge'

 Hello Moth-ers,

The data for April in our ‘lockdown Target species challenge’ is now in  and can be viewed on our blog as well as our Facebook page. 

I think we can all agree that this April was about as bad for moth recording as it could be and one which should be consigned to history. I recorded 19 nights in the month where the temperature fell below 0c. Hopefully, May will give us some milder nights where we will once again see moths in our traps!

Please note the following 'Challenge' points: 

1) That all target species will remain active in the challenge (although some may have finished their flight time), so please let me know if you record one of these at any time and I’ll update your points on the table. 

2) Also, it may well be you’ve already recorded a species before I add it to the target list, that’s fine, just let me know and I’ll add the record to the main table.

3) This challenge is open to everyone without any restrictions and you can join in whenever you like, just let me know and I'll add your name to the chart.

The target species added for May are directly below and this time I have added a special third category (please let me know if you’ve already have recorded one); -

9) Yellow-barred Brindle (1 point)

8) Tawny Pinion (2 Points)

7) Any migrant hawk moth – this might seem rather unlikely, but it does of course include the Humming-bird Hawk-moth, so everyone will have a chance to record one of these (3 points)

The target species to look out for which were added in previous months are; -

6) White-marked (1 point)

5) Pine Beauty (2 points)

4) Oak Nycteoline (1 point)

3) Blossom Underwing (2 points)

2) Shoulder Stripe (1 point)

1) Small Brindled Beauty (2 points)

Good luck to all.

Mid-month assessment of the 'Lockdown species chalenge

Here in the west of Wales the first half of April has more than our fair share of frosty nights - 16 out of 19 nights have been below zero with the coldest night on the 11th. falling to a very cold -4.7c. So our 'lockdown target species' challenge has stalled somewhat, but hopefully things will pick up again soon.

Updated chart attached below.

Just a reminder of the target species to look out for (below) and please remember you can join in with this challenge when ever you like, just let me know here, what you've recorded.

The target species added in April (or let me know if you’ve already have recorded one) are; -

6) White-marked (1 point)

5) Pine Beauty (2 points)

The target species to look out for which were added in previous months are; -

4) Oak Nycteoline (1 point)

3) Blossom Underwing (2 points)

2) Shoulder Stripe (1 point)

1) Small Brindled Beauty (2 points)

Peter.

A few early micro-moth stages to be on the look out for in April

Not much in the way of leaf-mines yet; however, there are a few interesting species that can be found at this time of the year

On Quercus ilex (evergreen/holm oak).

This is not a common tree in north Wales but there are isolated individuals (see BSBI map). These are worth checking for leaf mines made by Stigmella suberivora or Ectoedemia heringella. Both species tend to be very conspicuous. Either would be new for north Wales.

Ectoedemia heringella. Image: leafmines.co.uk

On Erica/Calluna (heather & heath)

Two species of Coleophora can be found on heather at this time of year. Coleophora pyrrhulipennella constructs large, dark cases that stand out, whilst C. juncicolella cases are exceptionally well camouflaged. These are best obtained by sweeping or beating heather to dislodge the cases. Then place the resulting material in a container and wait for bits of heather to appear to start crawling up the walls!

Images of the cases can be found here: http://www.ukflymines.co.uk/Keys/CALLUNA.php

There is a 'Mine of Month' challenge currently going on the MMG Facebook group, which I'd enourage people to join if they haven't already.