Argyresthias etc

 

A quick stop at Trellech Hill Quarry on my way back from fieldwork produced a few each of Argyresthia brockeella and A. retinella on Birch, as well as A. conjugella on Rowan.  Tapping these trees in June/July is a great way of seeing this genus.  Sweeping a Willow trunk revealed Batrachedra praeangusta: another regular at this time of year.  The tiny Ectoedemia subbimaculella came from sweeping Oak leaves.  Among the Bilberries were Northern Spinach and Bilberry Pug.

 

Mega night at Dingestow - 3 moths new for the site

Lots of south Wales moth'ers are reporting a good diversity of moths in the heatwave, and that was certainly true at Dingestow on 19th June.  60 species of Macro and 40 species of Micro was a good tally, although absolute numbers were relatively low; 1000s of Caddis and beetles meant the trap was bouncing though.  It's hard to pick the highlight, but 4 species stand out: Round-winged Muslin was the 387th Macro for Dingestow; Small Elephant Hawkmoth was only my 2nd record here; Monochroa lucidella was Dingestow's 511th Micro; and Phtheochroa rugosana was the site's 512th Micro.  I was probably most excited about the Phtheochroa, because this extraordinary bird-poo Tortricid was caught by two other Gwent moth'ers earlier this year and I exchanged jealous emails with them!

 

Supporting cast included 3 Blotched Emerald, 2 Blue-bordered Carpet, 2 Figure-of-80, 1 Miller, 5 Heart & Club, 1 Scallop Shell, 1 Green Arches, 2 Small Yellow Wave, 1 Achroia griseella, 3 Scythropia crataegella, 2 Eudonia delunella and 2 Eudona pallida.

Spatalistis bifasciana near Grosmont

Half and hour mothing in the Tresenny lane, just south of Grosmont in late afternoon sunshine on the swelteringly hot 19th June 2017 produced 16 species of Micro, along with Yellow Shell and Snout.  This site is in SO42, in NE-most Monmouthshire: one of the most under-recorded squares in the whole county.  The entire 10km square had just 38 recorded species of Micro, and both of the 1km squares I visited (SO4023 and SO4024) had no moth records at all!  All but one of the Micros I saw were new for the VC35 bit of SO42, the exception being Olindia schumacheriana as I saw that near Skenfrith last year. 

Highlight was a stunning Spatalistis bifasciana (photo above) - a Tortricid with just 2 previous Gwent records, both from the Wye Valley, and a species I've never seen before.  It was swept from a sparsely vegetated lane bank through mixed woodland.  Also of note were mines of Mompha langiella on Enchanter's Nightshade: this has 8 previous Gwent records but only one of those was away from Dingestow.  A Paraswammerdamia nebulella swept from Hawthorn was peculiar because both of its forewings were recurved at the tip!  Visits like this are great for filling in gaps.

 

Hummers by day and warmth by night

MV trapping at Dingestow on two warm nights produced about 70 species each time, with a few local wanderers but none of the migrants I was hoping for.  However, a Hummingbird Hawk-moth flew north through the garden on the afternoon of 17/6, and the same or another was seen near the GWT office that evening by one of our holiday guests.

Blotched Emerald (photo) (very rare at Dingestow until 2016) appeared both nights, as did Beautiful Hook-tip.  Another Scythropia crataegella on 14/6 and two more Heart & Club (photo) on 16/6 suggest that both are becoming commoner here.  14/6 also produced a Synchopacma larseniella/cinctella, a Dioryctria abietella (photo), 2 Ancylis achatana (photo) and an white Coleophora that needs to be checked.  My second garden record of Mocha (photo) and 2 Pretty Chalk Carpet (photo) were additional highlights on 16/6.  Other people are catching nice migrants, but they aren't (yet) appearing here.

 

 

 

New V35 county Micro confirmed

May 18th
Dewstow

Last month I tried a new spot to set up a trap, 'completely off the cuff' so to speak.
It surprised me just what turned up there, some new encounters.
The highlight of the evening ended up being a new micro to me although at the time it was not the case.
In fact it very nearly did not end up on the list for the night at all, for I had packed up my kit and was about the turn the ignition key in car when an outline of a small micro on the front windscreen captured my attention.
I raced around and coaxed it into a moth pot and thought nothing of it until the morning when I photographed it.

Pammene truniana (Maple Piercer) 'Scarce A' micro

After photographing it and a look around in my book, I came to the conclusion that Pammene regiana looked correct.
I had to send a gallery of micro moths pictures off to Sam Bosanquet a day or so later and decided at the last minute to include it, to get it confirmed as it was new to me.
He was happy with all my other suggestions of the other moths bar this one.
That's a Pammene truniana he said and a new micro for the county.

Apparent there are very few Welsh records and not a great deal of records Nationally from what I can gather on-line etc.(although I might be corrected on that) The micro tends to remain towards the top of Field Maple trees by day and occasionally it comes to light.
Considering there is quite a bit of Field Maple around it seems a bit odd it has not turned up more frequently.

Praying for better weather

I wouldn't normally have trapped last night (12/6) as it was quite cool, but we had holiday guests staying and I wanted to show them some moths.  In the end it was pretty mediocre, with 32 species, but our guests liked the furry Pale Tussock, twig-like Buff-tip and black & white Small Ermine.  My highlights were a Hawthorn Moth (Scythropia crataegella), which I have only seen once before at Dingestow and there are only 8 previous Gwent records, and 2 Heart & Club, which is my first here since 2007 and only the 3rd Dingestow record.  Both are presumably wanderers from the south of the county, but I wonder whether they might become established here if there's continued climate change...

 

It's always a bad sign when I start looking at Caddis rather than moths, because it indicates there aren't enough ID challenges among the moths in the trap!  A Phrygaena grandis was no ID problem though!

 

A visit to Caerwent

I have never been to Slade Woods and have never seen its special micros - Anania funebris, Ethmia dodecea and Eucosma aspidiscana - anywhere.  After a day working at the computer I thought it was time to correct these omissions and headed down to this significant moth hotspot.  Now I have been to Slade Woods, but I still haven't seen any of its special micros!  Luckily there were other things to see, especially in the quarry - Pancalia leuwenhoekella (photo, with white antenna bands to contrast with the other day's P. schwartzella), Heliozela hammoniella around birches, the brightly coloured Tortricid Lobesia reliquana (photo), Olindia schumacheriana and best of all Elachista gangabella (photo) new for Monmouthshire.  The Elachista was swept from a ride verge, but sweeping was otherwise rather unproductive and the majority of the micros that I encountered were netted in flight.

 

After Slade Woods I tried Brockwells Meadows SSSI, but this was very disappointing, with no real highlights in half an hour.  The same was true at New Grove Meadows last year, and I wonder whether haymeadow management might be good for flowers but bad for moths.  Luckily the day ended well, as I found a footpath along the top of Caerwent Quarry (ST472896), where Homoeosoma sinuella, Dichrorampha aeratana (male gen det, 4th Gwent record) and Endothenia ustulana (photo, new for Gwent) were netted in flight, and an Isotrichas rectifasciana (photo, new for Gwent) was spotted on a Hazel leaf.  The path edges with Marjoram and other flowers look perfect for diurnal Micro recording, and this site definitely needs more visits.

There are still loads of Micros that have been recorded in adjacent counties but not in VC35, and diurnal searching is an enjoyable way to find new things.