Mothing event Llanymynech Golf Club

 

Oswestry and Borders Butterfly Group ran a Moth Trapping event at Llanymynech Golf Club on Saturday June 15th.  The weather was even worse than forecast with persistent rain lasting till after 1.00AM.  We were fortunate to have the use of the practice shed which is covered.  Phil McGregor, representing MMG, set up several moth traps on the Golf Course and he and Pippa Young braved the rain to go round them bringing in moths.  Sensibly most people gave it a miss.  The moths don’t seem to mind the rain and we had 27 macros and 8 micros including Small Elephant Hawk moth and Poplar Hawk.  A Heart & Club was the only rare species but the Mottled Beauty (photo) was not something I have seen that often.

I am posting the above event summary here on behalf of Simon Spencer, O&BBG.

Yes, the rain was very determined but not as much as we nor the moths were! 

A very enjoyable night. 

Phil.

Mothing event Llanymynech Golf Club Saturday June 15th

 Oswestry and Borders Butterfly Group is going to run a Moth Trapping event at Llanymynech Golf Club on Saturday June 15th.  We will meet in the back car park (SJ265220) and start setting up traps about 8.30pm for a 9.30pm switch-on or thereabouts, All welcome. This event will be covered by Butterfly Conservation’s West Midland branch for insurance purposes as there have been delays in organizing insurance for the Montgomeryshire Moth Group who would otherwise be running this event. We have done moth trapping at Llanymynech Golf Club before and the limestone grassland produces some interesting moths.  Phil McGregor, from MMG will be leading and I will assist.  Bring refreshments, Head torches & torches etc,  a chair etc.

I am posting this event notice here on behalf of Simon Spencer.

Phil.

philmcg74@gmail.com

Bioblitz at Dolydd Gobaith

 

BIS are hosting a bioblitz in Montgomeryshire and we’d like to invite you along is you are interested. Please see details below:

Date and time: Friday 12^th July (10:00 – 14:00)

Location: Dolydd Gobaith (SJ103230)

Site details: The site is a 32-acre community farm & nature reserve in Montgomeryshire and is run with the help of local volunteers. Habitats include wetlands, ponds, unimproved pasture, an orchard and hay meadow.

It will be a fantastic day to explore the habitats and record the wildlife we see. If you are available and interested in attending, please email me directly at katherine@bis.org.uk and I will forward you parking details and a map of the area. We hope to see you there!

Many thanks,

Katherine

Katherine Hawkins (Communications and Information Officer)

She/her

Biodiversity Information Service for Powys and BBNP

Local Environmental Records Centres Wales Ltd

Recording session summary for Pen Y Ffordd, Llangadfan, Saturday 25th May.

With the threat of midges, a wet, post-midnight weather forecast and my failing to notice it being a bank holiday weekend, it was pleasing that I had even just one volunteer attend the recording session - namely Simon Spencer.

Arriving on site around 8pm for a quick look around, It was good to see a number of carpet moths already drifting about. Promising stuff.

Two Skinner's 125w MV and three Skinner's 15w green synergetic traps were set up and switched on by 9.20pm. Simon kindly agreed to attend to identification whilst I was kept very busy with a near constant circulation of the traps (the ensuing threat of rain being my motivation to keep going!). 

Until around midnight it was mainly carpet moths that were caught and then Noctuids appearing just as the first spots of rain began to fall.

Highlights from the night:

A strangely pale Coxcomb Prominent. SS

A not-so-common Light Knot Grass. SS

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet. PMG

Tawny-barred Angle f. nigrofulvata. PMG

Beautiful Snout. PMG

Also, two, unmistakeable Orange Footman. Alas no photograph was taken.

Switch-off time was 12.30am with intensifying rain.

52 species were recorded in total, five being micro's (Epinotia tedella being the most interesting).

Thanks to Simon Spencer for his help.

Phil.

Moth recording session at Pen Y FFordd car park, Llangadfan, Saturday May 25th 2024.

Hi all,

I am aiming to hold a series of supplementary, moth recording sessions this year as a part of MMG activities. The purpose being to help expand the list of species locations for the Montgomeryshire moth records. These sessions are not the moth group main events and as such, will not be advertised on the official "events programme" page. They will all be organised at relatively short notice in new and for some, out-of-the-way locations. However, people are welcome to attend if interested.

The first recording session is to be held at Pen Y Ffordd car park near Llangadfan.  It is part of the Dyfnant forest, being on its southern fringe. A mosaic of conifer, Birch/Alder scrub and carr and fairly recent clear fell re-generation. 

Unlike MMG main events, I will not be using a white sheet so a head/hand torch is essential.

Midges will be present so a repellant/protection of some kind is advised. 

Directions.

From Welshpool, take the A458 towards Dolgellau.

After 14½ miles, just after the village of Llangadfan, turn right, signposted B4395 to Llanfyllin.

After about 2 miles, the Pen y Ffordd car park is on the left.

what3words  yachting.couple.schools

OS Grid Ref SJ017135

Starting from 9.30pm.

If the session is cancelled, it will be notified via a post on the MMG blog page so please check this before setting out.

Phil

philmcg74@gmail.com

Semioscopis steinkelleriana?

Just checking if this micro (both photographs) is Semioscopis steinkelleriana? It was in the box Wednesday night.

It has the black, curved streak and the inverted "L". Whole moth is about 12mm length.

                                                                                                   Photo: Phil McGregor

                                                                                 Photo: Phil McGregor

If so, it is a first for me here at home. I wonder why it was attributed "stone cellar" for the second part of its name?

Phil.

Where the wild things hide.

 Just where do moths go during daylight hours to be safe from danger?

Last year, I trapped an adult Green Arches during a survey near Machynlleth. Intrigued by the above thought, when it came to release it along with all the other moths, I wondered what was the ideal location where it might hide out during the day time?

As it is a very mossy, lichen coloured moth, I placed it on the trunk of a Crab Apple tree, just below a patch of moss and lichen. It immediately ascended the trunk until it encountered this area and almost disappeared as it blended in. I looked on, in awe of evolution. 

                                                  Well disguised Green Arches. Phil McGregor.

This year, at the same site, I tried this "experiment" with a lovely Great Prominent. Being a very mossy coloured moth indeed, I placed it on a bare buttress root of a smallish Oak tree, close to where it was trapped, which had a mossy area above. Sure enough, just like the Green Arches, it moved up the bare bark until it encountered the moss, (about 20cm above) and settled there for the rest of the day.

                                           A very well disguised Great Prominent. Phil McGregor.

Just these two moths has got me thinking about all the other moths I have caught and where they hide during the daylight hours. Emerging from a  cocoon, just how are they aware of their own colouration and the natural instinct to hide in a complimentary background? Utilising self-evolved camouflage as opposed to just hiding under a leaf seems far more specific. Is this related to population dynamics? Nearly all moths seem well camouflaged to me but do species with high population bursts, such as Brown Silver-line suffer greater losses at the expense of ability to hide? I don't know.

I think I will try releasing moths onto complimentary backgrounds more often and see how they react. I appreciate these two moths may be obvious examples, but what about a Rosy Footman, Ghost Moth or Garden Tiger? Do they hide in complimentary backgrounds too or just under a leaf/dense growth?

I was wondering if any one else has photographs of moths in their daytime hideouts they may like to share here or comment on moths and their respective day time survival techniques?

Phil.

Pendugwm Woods

On Saturday 21 October a few hardy members of the events team decided to brave the weather and set up a few traps at Pendugwm Woods (near Pontrobert).  Following the deluge of the day before, and reports that access wasn't that great, it wasn't opened up as a public event just in case.  Phil very kindly checked out the reserve at lunch time on the Saturday and cleared out the culvert, so we went ahead with 3 traps to see what was out there.

We didn't set up the gazebo or any tables, so base camp was Mark's truck, and whilst Mark and Phil went out to pot up what was appearing in traps, I worked through the pots on the dashboard. And we didn't do too badly at all.  First up was a Barred Sallow - a lovely sign of Autumn.  

Barred Sallow (all photos by Phil McGregor)

The most numerous moth was the November Moth, and we agonised over each and every one but put most of them down as November Moth Agg.  We did however find one female which we were able to confidently say was definitely November Moth. 

Female November Moth

As we were getting Winter Moth as well, I sent Mark & Phil to check the trunks of the trees to see if we could find any females.  They are wingless and can apparently be found walking up tree trunks after dark.  We didn't locate any, but well worth a try.

We also assiduously checked the Red-Green Carpets, just in case we could find an Autumn Green Carpet, which have been recorded at site.  But despite Phil's best efforts it was not to be.  He even took one on the chin, so to speak, as a Carpet rested there for a while!  In the end we recorded 8 species (list to be attached here), which seemed a good result for the last "event" of the year.  

Red-Green Carpet

Also a Red-Green Carpet

Spruce Carpet

Hope to have more luck with events next year.  Keep trapping everyone, and many thanks to all in the events team for their hard work and enthusiasm.

Mothing event at Glaslyn Nature Reserve 26-08-23.

This was to be our only moorland event of the year and the first time we've been back to Glaslyn since 2015, so we were very hopeful of trapping some nice upland species which are rarely seen at lower levels.

During the day of the event we had many heavy downpours in the west of the county (where Glaslyn is situated), but the weather forecast was for the rain to clear by the evening so it looked as though things were improving.

The events team got onsite by 8:00pm giving plenty of time to get set up, unfortunately the small car park was mostly under water from the earlier rain, so we had to workaround this to get our base camp set up. The sky was mostly cloudy with a few clear spells, but there was a rather chilly breeze which we hoped wouldn't affect the mothing too much.

Glaslyn Nature Reserve - view from the track

At 8:45 the traps were switched on and it wasn't long before our first two species of the evening were potted, a Twin-spot Carpet and an Antler Moth, both mainly upland species. This was followed by a Chevron along with a Flounced Rustic, the two species which turned out to be the most numerous of the night.

 

Chevron

 

Twin-spot Carpet

Next a Neglected Rustic was trapped (another moorland species), this species was definitely on our target list, so it was good to get it, in fact quite a few were seen during the evening. Then a species turned up which took us a while to name, a real upland speciality, the Haworth's Minor - very nice to see

Neglected Rustic

Haworth's Minor

As the evening progressed the chill breeze got through to us all, a comment was made about Scott's last voyage in the Antarctic and Julie had a big blanket around herself, so she somewhat resembled Old Mother Hubbard - but the moths kept in, so we all remained stalwart.

Autumnal Rustic, Ear Moth Agg and Lesser Yellow Underwing were added to the list and these were followed by a rather nice Anomalous, which took a bit of tempting before we could get it to pose for the camera.

Anomalous

As midnight approached (by which time we were all suitable 'chilled out'), most of us decided to call it a night, except for Phil, who decided to stay on for a bit, running just one trap. As we packed away the kit one final species was recorded, a Small Wainscot.

Only one micro moth was recorded (the chill breeze was certainly a factor here, most micro species don't like flying in chilly conditions) a Crambus pascuella.

The following morning Phil dropped me line saying that he had added two species to the list, Dark Sword-grass and another good upland species, the Heath Rustic, giving us a final total of 17 species in all. For a full list of species recorded please click here.

Dark Sword-grass

Heath Rustic

In all, although not ideal weather conditions I feel that we did very well, trapping some good target species and some other species normally associated with upland areas, so well worth braving the chilly breeze for an excellent event.

As always, a big thankyou to all those on the events team who make for the smooth running of all our events and we look forwards to our next event which is planned to be at Powis Castle Saturday 30th. September.

Peter.

 

Gerddi Bro Dyfi Gardens

 Gerddi Bro Dyfi Gardens

The event at Gerddi Bro Dyfi Gardens was held on the 7th of July. With the Bioblitz event being held the following day at the same venue, we hoped to catch some interesting moths, which would be kept to show people at the Bioblitz event. A bat walk was also held on the same night, which looked well attended, and it was nice to see a few new people come over to look at the moths. Some kind of sports party event was also going on, which gave us some background music, though none of the party goers came over to look at the moths!

The weather was good, being dry and quite mild, without many clouds. Four traps were set up, and well as the white sheet (which had to be hung on the gazebo this time as there was nowhere else to put it!).

It was a bright evening and we had to wait a while for the moths to appear, but they came in good numbers after that, with a nice range of species.

Some of the more frequent micro-moth visitors were two common Agriphila species, Agriphila straminella and Agriphila inquinatella, both of which were found regularly in the traps and on the white sheet. A good number of Anania hortulata were also found in the traps- a very common moth.

Other common micro-moth species included Argyresthia brockeella, Celypha lacunana, and the slightly less common Celypha striana, as well as the common but slightly odd-looking Agapeta hamana.

Agapeta hamana

There were also several more unusual micro-moth species. One of these was Anania satchydalis, a nationally scarce species found only in small numbers in the county. Another was Endotricha flammealis- this was only the 17th record of the species for the county, with the species being found at only 2 sites in Montgomeryshire. Adaina microdactyla was another good record- only the second county record for the species.

Endotricha flammealis

Pammene regiana was also recorded- a quite attractive 'C' species moth and only the 22nd record for Montgomeryshire.

Many of the macro-moths recorded were of more common varieties. Heart & Dart moths were abundant, as were the common Yellow Underwing varieties- Lesser Yellow Underwing, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, and Large Yellow Underwing were all found regularly in the traps. A good number of Small Phoenix and Brimstone moths were also seen.

The V-Pug- a common species in the county.

Other common but attractive macro-moths included the Rosy Footman, Beautiful Golden Y, Garden Tiger, and both the Poplar and Elephant Hawk-moths.

Rosy Footman

More unusual species included the Double Line- a local species in Montgomeryshire and a Nationally Scare B species. The Four-spotted Footman was also recorded, this being the 11th record for the county- the event being ideally situated to record it, with most previous records being on the North-Western side of the county.

Four-spotted Footman

The Triple-spotted Pug was another 'C' species recorded at the event, as was the Currant Pug- both uncommon species with sparse records scattered throughout the county.

A Scallop Shell was also recorded- a relatively uncommon 'B' species.

The total species count for the night was 95 species, with 23 micro-moth species and 72 macro moth species. A full list of the species recorded can be found using the following link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13d8GyV9bvxUVMQbkm6AcpdhqPolF7pXZ/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=101747765505889778962&rtpof=true&sd=true

The next moth night event will be held at Glaslyn Lake on Saturday 26th August, starting at 9pm.