Tuesday 31 October 2017

September/October

New micro to the V35 list


Yet another micro was added to the Vice county list just recently.
A chance find in a small park of all places in Chepstow.
Stigmella incognitella (Grey Apple Pigmy) was found on small apple trees by chance originally on the 30th September.
Sam Bosanquet reserved judgement concluding that it was possible that it was this moth but wasn't sure if Ectoedemia atricollis was at work.


I decided to leave it and put it down to a potential revisit next year as I thought the season was over.
A few weeks went by and I went by the location again on a walk around the town but couldn't help but have another look over the trees again today the 19th October.
Again I found empty leaf mines identical to the ones I found a few weeks before and then I had a breakthrough because a larvae was present.
I took several pictures, checked it over and felt it was correct and sent off to Sam.
 This time there was no doubt about what was mining the leaves as the larvae was pale yellow. Ectoedemia atricollis has a dark head and greenish/white in appearance so this was ruled out.


The county list continues to grow.....


Friday 27 October 2017

Vestalfest reaches Dingestow


26th October seemed like the last chance to hit the southerly airflows of October 2017, although the winds swung to light NW for much of the night.  Moth'ers in SW England caught 100s of Vestal over the previous two nights, along with many rarer migrants, so I had my fingers crossed.  A check of the flowering ivy produced the first Vestal of the night, and this was followed by 12 more around the MV trap (not one of them was on or inside the trap, all were on the wall/grass).


 
Vestals were only part of the story on this mild night.  23 moth species appeared at the MV, with a few more on the ivy flowers.  Highlights were a pristine Chocolate-tip (an extraordinary 3rd-brood for this species), a Sprawler and a Brown-spot Pinion, with a tiny gammina among the Silver-Ys.  No more exciting migrants appeared, unfortunately, although my fingers are crossed for another pulse of migrant activity later in the autumn.
 
 
 

 


Thursday 26 October 2017

Hendre Woods

I was at Hendre Woods (near Monmouth) today to check on some habitat management work we've had done to try and increase the amount of Wood Spurge for Drab Looper. I spent a few minutes looking for leaf mines and was pleased to find Ectoedemia angulifasciella on wild rose
I've been looking out for this species on rose this autumn but until today had only found mines of Stigmella anomalella/centrifoliella. Note the greenish white larva of angulifasciella (very different from the bright yellow larvae of the Stigmella species on rose) and also the broader mine forming a 'false blotch' in its later stages.

Tuesday 24 October 2017

12th October

'What the hell was I doing'.

I hadn't been out for a trapping session for a while or so seemed, so I had made up my mind I was going no matter what this evening.
My original site of choice for that evening I hoped would be fine, but upon getting there I soon had to quickly forget about it because a stiff breeze was blowing making things near impossible. Quickly I packed up and made my way to what I hoped would be a more sheltered spot.
Got to Highmoor Hill and thought this was alright and set up. As I had assembled the kit and started settling in, the breeze here then started to pick up as if following me, occasionally gusting at times shortly afterwards.
A foolhardy idea and I thought... 'what the hell was I doing'.
Unsurprisingly the shortened night trip brought little reward as expected with 4 moths of which 3 I got hold of, literally in the keen breezes.

Viburnum Button

There was not much doubt in my mind about the star of the paltry three moths that I captured, a Acleris schalleriana I think it is.
I came across one last year in December and I remember Sam being equally as pleased with the find as I was.
It was reported as the 5th Vice County then, so maybe this might be the 6th in a new location away from the Wye Valley unless Sam has received other records in the meantime.
Would be interesting to know.
 

Monday 23 October 2017

Always check around your trap!

I have blogged regularly on the subject of checking around the MV/Actinic trap, not just in the trap itself on the Carmarthenshire Blog, and this remains as true as ever.  My Scarce Bordered Straw from 20/10 was found on the grass 2m from the trap at midday, and my long-awaited 2017 Vestal last night (22/10) was the very final moth discovered after nearly 20 minutes combing the grass and short vegetation around my trap site.  Careful searching around the trap this morning produced 10 additions to the 19 species in the trap, including both Udea ferrugalis and all 4 Yellow-line and 4 Red-line Quaker.  Some species seem to favour hitting the ground rather than flying to the trap, and there does seem to be a propensity for migrant moths not to be in the trap itself.


The other highlight of 22/10 was a stunning Figure-of-Eight, hot on the heels of one on 21/10 (which was still in the fridge).  I have waited 13 years for this species to reappear at Dingestow, despite it being regular here in the 1990s and early 2000s until 2004.  Martin says it is frequent at Heather Colls' trap site in Jingle Street a few miles east of here, but otherwise has recent records only from southernmost Gwent.

 

Southerly winds continue off and on for the foreseeable future, so there remains considerable scope for interesting finds! 

Saturday 21 October 2017

Thankyou Brian

Having missed out on Vestal-fest on 18th October, I hoped that the strong southerly winds coming in with the forward edge of Storm Brian might bring me a migrant or two.  Checking the trap at 07:00 was disappointing, with 9 resident species and nothing more noteworthy than a Pinion-streaked Snout.  Much later, at 13:00, I noticed an Angle Shades on the lawn next to where I had trapped; a closer look revealed a pristine Scarce Bordered Straw sitting next to it!


 
My first Scarce Bordered Straw at Dingestow in 2003 was also new for Gwent.  How things have changed - this is now an expected autumn visitor to the county, albeit an exciting one to see.  Last night's was my 5th here, following one in 2003, two in 2006 and one in 2016.

October

Name that bug


Its amazing what other wildlife becomes attracted towards your light when your out moth surveying of an evening.
Its not just moths that get attracted, other insects including a myriad of flies, caddis fly's, Bees, dangerous Hornets, Beetles, strange looking insects not of this planet, even Lizards on rare occasions.
Birds get spooked, drop in inquisitively to see what your up to on their territory like Little Owls. Tawny Owls silently creep up you, perch above your position unknowingly, screech and scare the s**t out of you on a dead calm night.
Late summer can bring in Nightjars on occasion at the right habitat. On two occasions I've had Nightjars swoop down within a few feet of my head and perch close by, interested in what you are doing which is a delight.

This month October, I had three 'bugs' that were quite interesting turn up and I wondered if anybody out there could assign names to photographs.
I thought Sawfly caterpillar for the 1st one, the other two I'm not sure. The Beetle was extremely large as you can tell from the £1 coin. approximately 30mm plus in length I estimated. Maybe a Scavenger Beetle?  

 Sawfly Larvae?
 Unknown
 Scavenger Beetle?
 

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Juniper Carpet - New for VC35 on Friday 13th October.

Friday the 13th proved to be a lucky Moth Night for me in Blackwood, as I checked the trap at about 6:00AM I noticed what looked like an interesting Geometrid on the shed by the trap (first thoughts were - great my first Cypress Carpet). So I immediately potted the moth and popped in the fridge for further checking once the light had improved.
Well - when I checked the moth it definitely wasn't a Cypress Carpet, and the best match that I could find in the Waring Guide was Juniper Carpet, which is quite rare in South Wales. So having photographed the moth and emailed Martin Anthony, he confirmed that it was indeed a Juniper Carpet, and a first record for VC35!




Monday 16 October 2017

12th October

Abundant Argyropeza on Aspen


Along with Sam's quest to look for Poplar mines I've managed to come up a few more sites for the newly found Stigmella trimacullela in the county and two more sites for Phyllocnistis unipunctella.

Further investigations to the south around the Rogiet area have proved to be fruitful for a difficult to find micro Ectoedemia argyropeza. I've already found two other potential spots for Ectoedemia argyropeza which feeds on Aspen which comes under the Poplar family, but these sites have drawn a blank. It ties in with Sam's efforts at finding evidence of this moth which again have not been forthcoming.
This time though today I was finally rewarded highly for my efforts.


Its a bit difficult to spot exactly what tree you are looking at from a distance but I find you can gradually get to know the taller Poplar but Aspen is some what more difficult but can be mastered after a several attempts.
Aspen itself is a bit of an odd tree where one tree can support several others in the form of Ramets or suckers. These are formed from an potential extensive underground root system which can travel some distance from the parent tree. New trees can shoot up from this system eventually forming small groves with each tree of the same sex, male or female only.

There was such a small group of Aspen here, if fact two I believe although its possible they could have been connected. A awkward passage to get to them to check leaves was ultimately very rewarding especially the first batch where I readily collected 41 leaves (39 on show on the cloth photograph). There were 15 on the other section of trees but I'm sure there were plenty more.
It proves if conditions are right the moth can flourish left undisturbed. 



 

 

National Moth Nights at Dingestow


Moth Night 2017 was a good one at Dingestow, in contrast to some previous National Monsoon Nights.  Winds were southerly, with warm conditions and little rain.  Ivy produced 11 species on 12/10 and 10 species on 13/10, with Pale-mottled Willow, Brick, Dark Chestnut, Flounced Chestnut and Satellite all appearing on the Ivy flowers but not in my MV traps.


MV catches of 26 species on 13/10 and 27 species on 14/10 were really good for this time of year.  A Shoulder-striped Wainscot was the surprise highlight of 13/10 (I wish it had be an L-album), along with a couple of Grey Shoulder-knot, a Mompha divisella and Dingestow's 5th Large Wainscot.  A long-awaited first Dingestow record of Four-spotted Footman was star of 14/10, along with an extraordinary 4 Large Wainscots (we have no Phragmites anywhere nearby), my 5th record of Orange Sallow, and a couple of November Moth agg.  A total of 44 moth species at Dingestow on the 3 nights of National Moth Night was much better than expected!

 

 

 

 

Thursday 12 October 2017

Cardiff City mining

The easternmost part of the Cardiff Unitary Authority is in VC35 (Monmouthshire), although not the old Gwent.  I treat it as part of my VC35 patch!  A lunchbreak wander around St Mellons from the NRW office produced a good range of miners, including several of interest.  Highlights among >20 species were Phyllocnistis unipunctella and Stigmella trimaculella on Poplar, Phyllonorycter esperella on Hornbeam, and Stigmella glutinosae on Italian Alder.  The Phyllocnistis and Phyllonorycter only had Dingestow/Monmouth records, S. trimaculella was found new for the county this year, and S. glutinosae has only one previous county record.  That sole record of S. glutinosae came from Allt-yr-yn (ST28Z) in Newport, which is the only site in south-westernmost VC35 with a decent leafminers list, thanks to a visit by Dave Slade in 2003.  Welfare Park in Rogerstone also has a few Stig/Phyllo records, but there is huge scope for finding notable Micros in this part of the county.

Wednesday 11 October 2017

19th September- late post

Highmoor Hill- yet another new micro for V35.


I've been meaning to put this post up for some time, so here it is.
It was a reasonably rewarding evening trap at Highmoor Hill with 37 moths of 18 species turning up, mostly with a common status tag.
A couple of micro's were localised however.
One of them especially, looked decidedly battered and faded under the actinic light and I paused to think about it.
A few more moments passed before I collected it anyway put it in a pot and set it to one side until I decided to pack up later.

Upon packing up I went through what had turned up and again came to this battered faded moth in upright posture a type of Gracillariidae.
I placed a torchlight across it and then began to see markings and colours along its flank. I then realised that it wasn't in bad condition at all, quite the opposite.

Caloptilia populetorum (Clouded Slender)

The next day's photoshoot saw this moth in completely different light. It took me a while to decide on which species it was whilst looking at my moth book and indeed online but I felt I could assign the moth's name under Caloptila populetorum before sending it off to Sam to have a look at. I was pleased, for it was another potentially new moth for me and as is often the case I'm unaware of the county status of many moths.
Sam returned my mail to report it as indeed Caloptilia populetorum to my surprise and yet another new micro for the Vice County.
The list is growing for micro's in V35 and in a recent correspondence Sam informs me that the past two years have been very productive "outstanding years". As years progress additions now to the vice county list are much harder to find.


The moth prefers Birch which is reasonable widespread in the county so why have we not seen it before?
I can think of three things why maybe this moth hadn't been seen...
  • It may have just been ignored because not too many people record micro's in the county
  • Moth trappers (me temporarily included) felt that it was poorly marked and did not consider it further investigation
  • It may be reluctant to come to light/ only receptive to certain light spectrums 

 

Tuesday 10 October 2017

An extraordinary coincidence

Dave Brooks, who records moths in Caerleon, recently sent me photos of two interesting Micros he caught this week.  One was an extraordinary coincidence: Dave caught an unfamiliar Pyralid on 8th October 2017 which a friend IDed as the very rare Etiella zinckenella.  The coincidence is that the only previous Welsh/Gwent record was from almost exactly 4 years to the day before Dave's record: Nick Felstead caught one in Chepstow on 7th October 2013.


Dave's other Pyralid, caught the night before (7th October 2017) was the strikingly-marked Box-tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis.  This Asian moth was first seen in Britain in 2007 and has increased rapidly in SE England, becoming a pest of Box in some areas.  Its arrival in Gwent has been anticipated for a couple of years, but it is still a notable new species for the county.  There has been a previous record from Glamorgan, but Dave's is probably the second for Wales.


Well done and thankyou Dave!

Sunday 8 October 2017

6th October

Virginal pigmy


A return visit to a isolated wood this year proved to be good timing on my part.
I chanced upon Great Wenault Wood last year and uncovered Ectoedemia argyropeza in the most unlikely of situations.

 Ectoedemia argyropeza (Virgin Pigmy)
The four leaves here all contained larvae.

You would not believe that Populus tremula (Aspen) would be in this wood at all given the amount of  non-deciduous trees. I looked last year and again this year, but finding the tree itself is near impossible for it must be high in the canopy fighting for light. It seems quite incredible this one isolated tree harbours an important moth, but there it is.....somewhere?

Larvae aligning the central vein

Last year I took photographs of the leaves themselves showing the characteristic 'green islands' but not the larvae itself.
This year I decided to get some close-ups, with hope that the larvae may be present, which proved ultimately fruitful. I actually found 7 leaves with 4 larvae present plus 3 vacated mines.
There must be more trees about here somewhere surely but actually finding the trees will prove difficult indeed if this one is anything to go on. Hopefully I can scour thoroughly and turn up another this week, fingers crossed.


October Fest

 


 
A haul of 23 species of moth at Dingestow Court on 7th October was good going for the time of year, and included a wandering Large Wainscot (4th site record), a Blair's Shoulder-knot, 3 Merveille du Jour, a Barred Sallow and a lingering Canary-shouldered Thorn.  Well-marked Lesser Yellow-underwings seem to turn up more often in autumn than summer here; I wonder whether they are local or wanderers.

 

 

Thursday 5 October 2017

even more (Un)Pop(u)lar Mines

Nick Felstead recently emailed me some photos of mines on a hybrid Poplar near Magor, which were eventually IDed as Stigmella trimaculella thanks to help from George Tordoff.  This is a new species for VC35, although it is quite frequent in Cardiff and has clearly been overlooked here for a while.  I found it a couple of days later in Monmouth, and added it to the Dingestow list this morning.  Another miner of hybrid/Black Poplars, Ectoedemia hanoverella, remains on my list of targets...


 


My quick stop in Monmouth produced two other miners in addition to the S. trimaculella, both on White Poplar (Populus alba).  One was a rather scrappy Stigmella assimilella, new for VC35, with visible frass in the rather worn mine; the other was a flat-looking Phyllonorycter mine that I almost overlooked.  Subsequent investigation revealed a Phyllonorycter pupa with a parasitoid wasp pupa alongside, and checking the Phyllonorycter confirmed its ID as P. comparella (with the end two cremaster spines close together) new for Wales!


 
Another stop, on Friday morning, allowed a brief search of some of the huge Aspens on the edge of Vauxhall Field in Monmouth.  I was astonished not to find any Stigmella or Ectoedemia, but there were two old blotch mines with split undersides that I'm sure were Phyllonorycter sagitella (the undersides have a central crease so are Phyllo rather than fly mines).  This would be a new species for South Wales, so I'd really like to find a tenanted mine before recording it: one for next year...


Poplar miners are definitely under-recorded in Monmouthshire, and need to be sought presto pronto because most Poplars are dropping their leaves at the moment.  Leaf-base/petiole mining Ectoedemia on Grey Poplar and Hybrid Poplar would be new for the county, and I only have a couple of records of E. argyropeza on Aspen.  Phyllonorycter sagitella on Aspen would be an exciting find, there are very few records of Phyllocnistis unipunctella on Hybrid Poplar, and P. xenia on White Poplar would be thrilling.  It's all to play for!!!