Saturday 17 February 2024

Hemlock Moth

Inspired by the mild weather, I put the trap out last night in a wooded area, which I was sure would be an improvement on the three moths in my garden trap (Hebrew Character, Common Quakerx2) the previous night. It wasn't. 

Only one, rather small, moth. I potted it anyway, had breakfast, went to the supermarket, and then took a photograph. It turns out to be a new species for me, Agonopterix alstroemeriana, which the book says is Common. There's certainly plenty of the food plant around, but the county list suggests that's it's only the fourth Ceredigion record. Happy New Year!



Tuesday 24 October 2023

Aberystwyth garden

The moths came in twos last night, presumably to get out of the rain. Black Rustic (2), Angle Shades (2), LBAM (2), Silver Y (2 in the trap, 2 hiding on the fence). The odd one out was Ypsolopha ustella, which came alone. Before I went to bed, and before it rained, single Merveille du Jour and Red Sword-grass, probably the most interesting of the lot.




Monday 16 October 2023

Another Ceredigion first.

 Peter Major had a brilliant recording session on Constitution Hill on the 7th of October - not only did he record a Death's-head Hawk-moth, Convolvulus Hawk-moth x 3 and a Scarce Bordered Straw as mentioned in Mike Bailey's post - but also a Box-tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis) which is another County first. It will be interesting to see how quickly it will spread or whether this is a one-off .



Box-tree Moth


Death's-head Hawk-moth


Convolvulus Hawk-moth


                                                               Scarce Bordered Straw


All photos - Peter Major.






                                                                                    

Friday 13 October 2023

Spoladea recurvalis

 Having heard from Peter Major that he caught Scarce Bordered Straw, Death's Head and 3 Convolvus hawk-moths on Consti at the weekend, and having caught Vestal and Rusty-dot Pearl myself on Sunday night, I was encouraged to put the trap out again last night.

This produced my first Convolvulus hawk moth for Troedrhiw Seiri, plus a rare migrant from the tropics, Spoladea recurvalis, which has appeared for the first time in a number of English counties in recent days, and I guess could be a county record for Ceredigion?!


Wednesday 11 October 2023

Llanarth garden.

 I recorded a Gem earlier this year - it is an immigrant and fairly uncommon in Ceredigion. Last night I recorded two more, which made me wonder if these were bred locally.



Gem - male


Gem - female

I also had both Chestnut and Dark Chestnut - Seeing them together makes it much easier to differentiate. The shape of each being a key pointer - especially the wing tips.


Chestnut


Dark Chestnut


Tuesday 10 October 2023

Marbled White Spot- 2nd Generation

 Our catch last night included another exceptional 2nd generation moth- this time a Marbled White Spot and this Turnip Moth.

Carolyn & Evan

Marbled White Spot

Turnip Moth


Llanrhystud beach

A walk along the coast path at Llanrhystud on Sunday. Best moth was this Vestal on the shingle, which was happy to pose on my finger. Also two Rusty-dot Pearl and a Silver Y.