Thursday 30 July 2015

Seaview Moths 29th July

A reasonable haul in the MV trap overnight, 117 moths from 27 species.
A single poplar hawkmoth but no less than 5 drinker moths and another dark swordgrass - we have seen more this year than previously. New for us this year were a small wainscot and a chocolate tip (squares are 0.5cms).

Diana and John


Wednesday 22 July 2015

Redhouse Barns and Goldcliff 21st July 2015

I ran the MV at Redhouse Barns and put out a battery powered Actinic Skinner trap at Goldcliff Pill. This morning I had caught 43 species at Redhouse, including a Black Arches (on the barn wall), 2 Elephant Hawkmoths, 1 Poplar Hawkmoth, 1 Garden Tiger,1 Antler Moth, 2 Small Rufous and 1 Rosy Footman.

Black Arches

In the Actinic there were just 9 species, including 2 Ear Moth (probably Saltern Ear). No Crescent Striped this week, despite trapping in the same location.

Ear Moth spp.

Monday 20 July 2015

Seaview Moths 19th July

Despite intermittent light rain we trapped about 200 moths from 40 species, including eyed, poplar and elephant hawkmoths. No small elephants on this occasion :-)
We were pleased to see a couple of rosy footman moths, a favourite of ours, and also a brown tail.
New for us this year were shaded broad bar and flounced rustic.
Among several immigrants were a small mottled willow and a european corn borer.
DandJ




Friday 17 July 2015

Redhouse Barns 16th July

I ran the MV Robinson all night and caught 43 species including a Small Wainscot, Small Rufous and what I think is a Small Seraphim,

Small Seraphim?

Goldcliff 14th July 2015

I put out an actinic Skinner trap on the saltmarsh and the next morning had caught exactly 50 moths of 13 species, including: 4 Crescent Striped, a Poplar Hawk, 31 Dark Arches and a Silver-Y. There was also a female Brown-tail  on some grass just outside the trap.

Crescent Striped and a Dark Arches

Thursday 16 July 2015

Lighthouse Park

Conformation gen/det just back via David Slade of this Nematopogon pilella taken at home to the MV on 4th July 2015. My first of the species. Not many photo's about to help me in identifying this micro & my phone camera did'nt do much of a job getting a good image.

Wednesday 15 July 2015

ABERGAVENNY 28June and 13 July 2015

An couple of interesting catches in our light trap recently.
28th June
Blood-vein 1
Bright-line Brown-eye 3
Brimstone 2
Buff Arches 1
Buff Ermine 2
Clay 1
Common Emerald 1
Dark Arches 6
Elephant Hawkmoth 6
Flame 2
Flame Shoulder 2
Grey Dagger agg. 1
Heart & Dart 19
Peppered Moth 1
Plain Golden Y 1
Poplar Grey 1
Riband Wave 3
Rufous Minor 2
Rustic 1
Scarce Silver-lines 1
Small Angle Shades 1
Snout 2
Sycamore 1
Uncertain 16

13th July
Bright-line Brown-eye 1
Clay 1
Common Footman 11
Coronet 7
Dark Arches 2
Double Square-spot 1
Elephant Hawkmoth 4
Flame 1
Flame Shoulder 1
Heart & Dart 41
Large Yellow Underwing 3
Leopard Moth 1
Nut-tree Tussock 1
Pale Mottled Willow 1
Riband Wave 4
Scarce Footman 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
Silver Y 4
Small Elephant Hawkmoth 1
Spectacle 1
Swallow-tailed Moth 2
Uncertain 8


Question.

Has 1370 been removed from the records?
Endotricha flammealis ,Langstone.

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Identification

I appear to have difficulty in identifying some moths particularly Micro Moths having only this year been moth trapping. Is it possible to have some training on this subject as I note that there are courses on identifying butterflies. At this time of year our county recorders are busy and so I would ask for your assistance in identifying the following:
 ? May Highflyer
 ? Eudonia lacustrata
?

?
?
 ? Cnephasia longana

Sunday 12 July 2015

Gaer Fort 11th July

I went for a walk over the "Gollas" between 11.15am and 12.15pm to see if there were any Marbled Whites about. It was a bit windy up the top, but I soon started to see one or two. Once I got to the bottom south west corner, where there is the best grassland habitat, I started to see dozens at a time. In total I saw 57 marbled whites, but failed to photograph any as they were constantly in flight, making the most of the hot sun-shine. I also saw over 100 ringlets, 30 Essex Skippers, 10 small Skippers, 11 Meadow Browns, 5 Gate Keepers, 5 Six-spot Burnets, 2 Commas,, 1 Large White, 1 Peacock, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Speckled Wood and a Vapourer.

Comma Butterfly

I also saw 3 Emperor Dragonflies, despite there being no standing water on the hill-fort, but obviously plenty of insects for them to hunt. Also 6 Slow Worms under tin-sheets and one Common Lizard on a dead tree-trunk. Not bad for an hours walk right next to where I live.
After getting home, I went in the garden and found a Grey Dagger caterpillar.

Grey Dagger caterpillar

This morning (Sunday 12th July), I looked out of the kitchen door at 8.30am and was surprised to see a Hummingbird Hawkmoth investigating the flowers on the decking area. It wasn't impressed and flew off after a few seconds. I've seen them here before, but that was in bright sunshine - this was in drizzly rain!




Redhouse Barns 10th July

I ran the Robinson MV and recorded 120 moths of 43 species, including 12 Elephant Hawkmoths, 1 Small Elephant Hawkmoth, 1 Poplar Hawkmoth, 4 Brown-tail, 3 Short Cloaked Moth, 1 Round-winged Muslin, The Fan-foot, 1 Clouded Silver, 1 Garden Tiger, 1 Peach Blossom and 1 Buff-tip. I also recorded the micro's Catoptria Falsella and Rhodophaea formosa. I have only recorded singletons of Brown-tail in previous years, so to catch 4 would suggest they bred in the area last year. One was a female on the wall of the barn and there were 3 males in the trap.

Uskmouth Butterfly Transect 9th July

Sheila and Fiona carried out the transect and recorded 237 butterflies of 11 species: 128 Meadow brown, 75 Ringlet, 17 Green-veined White, 5 Speckled Wood, 3 Large Skipper, 3 Gate Keeper, 2 Essex Skipper, 1 Small Skipper, 1 Peacock, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Common Blue. They also saw 4 Scarlet Tiger, a Shaded Broad-bar, 17 Six-spot Burnet and Common White Wave. They were disappointed not to see any Marbled Whites, however I saw one the next day in the middle of the wet grassland. 

Uskmouth Foreshore 9th July

I put a Skinner actinic trap out at the base of the sea-wall at Uskmouth in the hope of catching a Rosy Wave ( which would be new to the county) and some Crescent Striped. In the morning I had caught neither of these 2 species, but was rewarded with an L-album Wainscot and a Striped Wainscot. 12 species altogether including a Garden Tiger and Poplar Hawk.

Striped Wainscot



L-album Wainscot

Saturday 11 July 2015

Lighthouse Park

Ran the 125w MV & a couple of 30w actinic tubes over a sheet all night friday 10/7. Potted 270 moths of 62 macro & 20 micro species. All the usual suspects paid a visit but the highlight of the night was two new macro moths for me a all be it a tad worn White Satin Moth & a Cream-bordered Green Pea (3rd county record).


Tuesday 7 July 2015

Gwentlands Close, Chepstow - 29th June 2015.

A good number of species. As a novice identification caused a delay in reporting on the blog, micro moths in particular.

Eudonia lacustrata
Tawny - barred Angle
Green Pug
Double-stripped Pug
Chrysoteuchia culmella (Garden Grass Veneer)
Spruce Carpet
Clouded Silver
Willow Beauty
Mottled Beauty
Buff Ermine
V Pug
Treble Brown Spot
Fan Foot
Riband Wave
Ruddy Carpet
Garden Carpet
Bee Moth
Elephant Hawk Moth
Hear and Club 
Uncertain
Bright-line Brown-eye
Heart and Dart
Dark Arches
May Highflyer
Pebble Hook tip
Brimstone Moth
Cabbage Moth

Highlights for me were:

Tawny-barred Angle

Ruddy Carpet

Pebble Hook Tip
 

Thursday 2 July 2015

23rd June
Black Rock, Portskewett
A belated post.

Barry Catlin and I decided we should conduct our 3rd ever 'field' moth trapping session at Black Rock.It was a good quiet night with little breezes to speak of.
Trapped 30 species exactly in the short time we were there with some new species for the both of us.

Black Rock was visited back in 2013 by the likes of Kevin Dupe and Richard Clark. They kindly invited me along a few times to understand the processes of moth trapping 'in the field' and to help out.
(I'm sure they remember the thunderstorm we battled through during the trap in August!)

I do remember collecting a few micros upon which they took back home in an effort to try to identify.
One such micro turned out to be a first for the Vice County in the form of Tachystola acroxanthia, or 'Ruddy Streak' by its common name.

That night Barry and I also trapped a single Tachystola acroxanthia to re-confirm its presence here.
Also of interest on the micro front that evening was Ephestia unicolorella (False Cocao Moth).

Tachystola acroxanthia

Ephestia unicolorella




Wednesday 1 July 2015

Seaview Moths 30th June

Last night was still and humid here.
This morning we were overwhelmed by the number of moths in and around our  Robinson trap. We counted 160+ macro moths from 40+ species.
New for us were Lychnis, Barred yellow, White speck and Marbled green.

Most astonishing however were hundreds of Crambidae; in the trap, on the wall and floor and flying around even this morning.
Not being very skilled at identifying micros I await expert opinion, the attached photo illustrates our difficulties......

Diana and John