'Moth Night' event at Dolforwyn Woods Nature Reserve

Hello Everyone,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) and the MWT are holding a joint ‘mothing and bat evening 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 ‘Hawk-moths, and hopefully the current mild weather will continue we will record a species of these splendid moths. 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 11th June

Target Species: Hawk-moths

Event Time: 8:30 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.

Cors Dyfi - event report

On the Saturday morning of the Cors Dyfi event it was very wet and I’m sure everyone who was thinking of attending must have been wondering how the day would pan out, but, thankfully, it dried up in the afternoon leaving the weather fine and dry for the rest of the day.

I arrived on site by 7:30pm and with the aid of Julie, Mark and Clare we set up eight traps around the car park area, below the ‘bird hide’, and onto the main boardwalk. After a short introduction talk by myself the traps were turned on by 9:15 and we were ready to go.

Setting up a Skinner trap

Introduction talk

It wasn’t long before the first moth, a Common Carpet was brought to the table, this was quickly followed by a Devon Carpet and a Small Phoenix, in fact the ‘carpet’ species were very plentiful throughout the evening and when a Broken-barred Carpet was potted it gave us the first of three ‘new site records’. The other two ‘new site records’ were; Small Seraphim and Neofaculta ericetella.

Small Seraphim

As the evening progressed species were coming in thick and fast, these included the Iron Prominent, Great Prominent and Lesser Swallow Prominent. Crowd pleasers are always welcome and a pristine Pale Tussock and a beautiful Campion with its violet markings on its wings were potted and admired.

Micro species were generally thin on the ground and only five species were

Square Spot

recorded, the best being the Neofaculta ericetella, but a rather nice pale form of Elophila nymphaeata Brown China-mark was also recorded

No migrant species were recorded. To see a full species list, please click here.

A cool breeze picked up late in the evening which slowed things down considerably, so, just after midnight we decided to call it a night. However, as is

Neofaculta ericetella

often the case, as we were dismantling the traps a few more species were added to the evening’s list, these included a Common White Wave, Narrow-winged Pug and in the very last trap a fabulous Peach Blossom

Narrow-winged Pug

Many thanks to all those who helped me set up and take down the kit and for those who collected moths throughout the evening, also to the Cors Dyfi staff for use of their facilities and, finally, to those members of the general public for coming to the event – I’m sure that a good time was had by all.

Peter.

Mothing event at Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve 21st May

Hello Moth-ers,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) are holding a joint mothing event with the MWT (Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust at Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve (The Osprey Centre) in the far west of the county. Hopefully, as in the past, this particular event will provide us with a good species list and who knows, something special may well turn up. So please come and join us, for what we hope will be, an excellent evening’s mothing.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve.

Target Species: Late spring species.

Event Date: Saturday 21 May 2016.

Event time: 8:30 onwards, at the trapping site.

Directions: at reserve car park. Directions: The reserve is found on the right-hand side, 4 miles south west of Machynlleth on the A487.  

Grid Reference: SN704984

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.

Please note that some sites are not easy to find, so please make sure you know where the venue is before you set off.

Peter.

2015 Montgomeryshire Annual Report

Hello Moth-ers,

Just a quick note to let you all know that my 2015 Annual Report can now be viewed in the ‘Articles & Reports’ area of the website. Please click here

All the best,

Peter.

Coed Pendugwm public event

Another species for id

As we approached the weekend I could see that it was going to be a ‘toss of a coin’ as to what the very changeable weather would be. On the day, the skies cleared, the breeze subsided and the temperature dropped to below zero – not too favourable for a mothing event, but, as always, we mobilised ourselves and took up the challenge.

Julie, Gavin & Sue at the table

I arrived ‘on site’ about 6:30 pm which gave me plenty of time to get set up. Then it was just a case of waiting for others to turn up. It was a lovely sunny evening and, as I sat quietly having a sandwich, my time was shared with a rabbit which came to nibble on the grass, quite close by, enticing me into ‘Alice in wonderland’ mode. I wondered whether he had come for the event, but before I could go any deeper into these thoughts people began arrive bringing me back to reality and the rabbit ran off (no, I didn’t follow it!) – and that was that!

By about 8:15 the lights were switched on and, despite the cool conditions, it wasn’t too long before the first moth a Hebrew Character came to the white sheet. However, moths were generally thin on the ground and they came to the table very slowly throughout the evening. The intrepid species which did make a show were; Twin-spotted Quaker, Common Quaker, Small Quaker, Early Grey and March Moth.

Julie & Mark doing some id work

A potted Early Grey

On an aside, Sue had brought along a plume moth which she had recorded at her home site, but was having a bit of difficulty ‘nailing down’ its id, mainly because of the excessively long modified scales on the trailing edge of the forewing, so, we all got our heads together and did a ‘plume moth workshop’. After some deliberation the id was made, it was the common, but very variable, Emmelina monodactyla. The uneven length of the spurs nearest to the body on the hind leg was the diagnostic feature which gave away its id.

 

Checking the trap

A potted Twin-spotted Quaker

By 11:30 the eight of us who turned up were all suitably chilled so we decided to call it a night. As we were checking the traps for the last time we discovered a Clouded Drab, and finally, the best species of the night, the rather uncommon and local White-marked which was a new species for the site.

Paul - nailing that id

No migrant species were recorded at the event. To see the full species list please click here.

Many thanks to all those who came to the event, especially to Sue who brought along some rather scrummy, home made biscuits, which we devoured in quick time!

Peter.

Public mothing event at Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve saturday 9 April

Hello Everyone,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) is holding a public mothing event at Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve, just south of Llanfyllin. This particular reserve has been very under-recorded in the past, but we are hoping for all those early spring species to turn up and perhaps one or two more unusual species, who knows! So please come along and join us for what promises to be an excellent evening’s mothing at this superb woodland site.

Full event details are:-

Venue: Coed Pendugwm Nature Reserve

Event Date: Saturday 9th April

Target Species: Early Spring species

Event Time: 7:30 onwards, at the reserve car park. (please note that the ‘meet time’ on the MMG website is incorrect)

Directions: from the A458 at Heniarth take the B4389 for approximately half a mile, then on the left take the B4382 for about a mile and a half, where you will turn right towards Pont Robert. Coed Pendugwm is on a minor road a mile north of Pontrobert towards Llanfihangel; follow the brown signs from Pontrobert. Park in the reserve car park down the short track opposite Pendugwm Farm.

Grid Reference: SJ103143.

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.

Peter.

Details of the Coed Y Dinas Mothing Event

Our first event of our 2016 mothing programme took place at Coed Y Dinas Nature on Saturday 19 March. This was quite an early event, so I don’t think any of us who turned up were expecting too much from the evening. The weather conditions were calm, but fairly cool, so we were rather expecting a fairly small species list and this indeed proved to be the case.

An arial view of the site

7 of us turned up for the event, which is quite good for this early event and between us we brought 12 various types of traps, so the site was definitely ‘well lit up’ for the evening, Chris also tried some sugaring, but on this occasion this proved to be ineffective.

The white sheet devoid of any moths!

The lights were switched on at about 6:45 and the first species to come to the table was an Agonopterix heracliana, this was followed be a Clouded Drab and a Common Quaker, the latter probably being the most common species of the night. Other spring species that turned up throughout the evening were; Small Quaker, Hebrew Character, and Red Chestnut. The only geometrid species to brave the cool elements was a lone Shoulder Stripe. Only one other Micro species to make a show was a solitary Diurnea fagella. In all, only eight species were recorded and in general are all fairly common throughout the county, although as this particular nature reserve is rather under-recorded, all the species proved to be new for the site, so we’ll get a few more dots on the maps for our efforts.

To see the full species list, please click here.

By 10:30pm things had gone from ‘quiet’ to ‘very quiet’, so we all decided to call it a night and the ‘plugs were pulled’.

Peter.

Public mothing event at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve Saturday 19th March

Hello Moth-ers,

This Saturday the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) is holding its first mothing event of 2016 at Coed Y Dinas Nature Reserve, just south of Welshpool. This is the first time we will have trapped at this site, so early in the season and we’re hoping for all those early spring species to turn up and perhaps one or two more unusual species, who knows! 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 19th March

Target Species: Early Spring species

Event Time: 6:00 onwards, park at the reserve car park.

Directions: 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.

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.

Peter.

Butterflies

I have recently refreshed the county butterfly database, taking into account all the records that I've received over the last year.

Here is the map showing areas that are still lacking any butterflies records at all. I've roughly overlaid it with the 10km grid squares for convenience. It's worth remembering that the many of the areas surrounding these squares aren't really much better recorded (often containing no recent records).

Since I first made a similar map several years ago, well over 50 of these tetrads (2km x 2km grid squares) have been filled in. If you spot a square close to you, why not plan a visit or two this summer and note down which butterflies (and moths!) you see!*

 

 * (of course doing so using public footpaths or getting landowner's permission)

2016 'January Moth Challenge' - the results.

Hello All.

All the results for the 2016 January moth challenge are now in and have been collated into the charts below.

This years’ challenge had the potential to yield some good returns as the milder weather we've been experienceing this winter was still with us, it was especially mild during the last third of the month and on the whole January was also quite a wet month, I only recorded two dry days throughout the month. Ten moth-ers sent their results into me, so well done to everyone who had a go.

Now let’s have a look at the data its self – 19 species of macro moth (six more than last year) and 7 species of micro moth (3 more than last year) were recorded (26 species in all), a big increase from the 17 species which were recorded during 2015. Only two peaple managed to achieve the 10 species for macro, Chris Williams & myself. No one else really came close to the ten species (which is a bit surprising, considering the weather conditions) 5 species and next best, this was achieved Sue Southam & Tom Brown . The number of macro moths recorded of 225 was a good increase on the 157 from last year. The micro part of the challenge (5 species) again wasn’t achieved by anyone; the best returns were 4 species, by myself and then 2 species by Sue Southam.

The comparison chart below shows the top five species recorded in each of the five years the challenge has been going. For the first time the Winter Moth has been knocked off the top spot into second place and the Chestnut has taken over the mantle. Finally, just take a look at the number of moths in the top five recorded this year compared to previous years, 172, is an invrease on the very low figure of last year, but in general, still quite a bit lower than in previous years.

Many thanks to all of those who took part in this years 'challenge'. And please remember, as well as being ‘fun to do’ the January trapping also gives us extra data for those winter flying species which we wouldn't have were it not for extra trapping done in the 'challenge'.

The final word – A special mention must be given to Deborah who managed to trap 29 times during the month for a total catch of ‘zero’ - she takes the 'Wooden Spoon', for a second year in a row.

The full list of recorders who took part this year is:-

JH        Jeny Heard

PRW    Peter Williams

DG       Deborah Griffith

PR       Paul Roughly

AT       Alan Tadman

SOS     Sue Southam

SS        Simon Spencer

TB        Tom Brown

LW       Les Wilkins

GBC     Gavin Chambers

I hope you all have a great mothing year in 2016.

Peter.