Lower Ochrwyth, 6 May

I thought that the glorious sunny day might have enticed a few moths to be out, but clear sky and drop in temperature meant that the MV was once again very quiet.  Just x12 moths of  x7 species: Common Quaker x6, Hebrew Character, Clouded Drab, Early Grey, Water Carpet, Brown Silver-line and Red Chestnut.

St Brides May 4th 2016

We trapped last night using the MV lamp. Almost no wind for once although chilly (5 degrees C).
We caught 17 moths from 6 species- Clouded drab, Common quaker, Powdered quaker, Hebrew character and Muslin moth. Also the moth in the photograph. Grid squares are 0.5 cm and we think this is a Red swordgrass. What do others think?

Devauden

24th April

Frosted Green

Conditions: Dry, early cloud clearing and becoming cold later.

A quiet evening with little wind to speak and clearing skies.
Few moths around at first but becoming busier.
Enticed 28 moths to the moth trap numbering 13 species.

Great Prominent

The list included:

Small Quaker 2
Twin-spotted Quaker 1
Common Quaker 3
Early Grey 1
Early Tooth-striped 2
Engrailed 1
Hebrew Character 1
Clouded Drab 7
Frosted Green 5
Lunar Marbled Brown 1
Great Prominent 1

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella

and a single of the micro
Dyseriocrania subpurpurella (Common Oak Purple) pictured to the left which was confirmed by Sam Bosanquet.

Penhow

21st April
Conditions: Breezy, generally dry with just sporadic spots of rain.

Expected to have encountered a few showers but thankfully they stayed away.
The evening was breezy but the site was quite sheltered which helped eleviate any issues regarding anchoring anything down!
In the few hours I was there I recorded 14 moths of 7 species with two species completly new to me.
The list included Common Quaker-5, Hebrew Character-3, Lunar Marbled Brown-2, with one each of... Shoulder Stripe, Dotted Chestnut, Scorched Carpet and the micro Brindled Flat-body (Agonopterix arenella).

Brindled Flat-body (Agonopterix arenella)

Dotted Chestnut

Lunar Marbled Brown

Scorched Carpet

Lighthouse Park

Moth numbers in the trap are starting to pick up a bit now (a little bit that is).

Have ran the trap at home 13 times so far this month for 94 moths of 21 species. Am still down 18 species on this time last year.

NFY this month so far are

Brimstone moth 11/4
Water Carpet 12/4
Streamer 13/4
Pale Prominent 14/4
Oak-tree Pug 21/4
Grey Shouldered-knot 21/4
Engrailed 22/4
Pine Beauty 23/4

Redhouse Barns, 21st April
I ran the MV and this morning recorded just 7 moths of 4 species. 4 common Quaker, a clouded drab, a Hewbrew character and a shoulder stripe.

Shoulder Stripe

Butterflies at Uskmouth

A few more butterflies today. Nectaring on sallow at Uskmouth were 2 peacocks and a small tortoiseshell. A female brimstone was flying against the easterly wind. Also a few small and large whites about. Still no orange-tips though, can't be long now. I did the butterfly transect on Sunday and only saw 3 peacocks and one small white, despite the 100% sunshine and hardly a breeze.

Peacock on sallow blossom



Its hard to believe that this butterfly must be at least 7 - 8 months old.