A new micro for Burry Port

The only thing of note in a very small trap was a micro, which I believe is Ptocheuusa paupella.

It seems to have a range restricted to southern England and sliver of Wales and is a denizen of damp woods and salt marshes.

More Maenol Micros

Recent trapping sessions have produced few macros of interest amongst the hoards of Yellow Blunderwings, although Friday night did produce a FFY, Twin-spot Carpet.  A few micros are worthy of mention, even if they are mostly fairly common species:

                       Acleris hastiana

                     Tinia semifulvella

               Swammerdamia pyrella

          Parornix sp., probably anglicella

I haven't discovered how to align these images side-by-side under the new system.  Why do they have to change these things?  The old procedure seemed to work well.

 

 

Help with micros please

I've drawn a blank trying to identify these two from Thursday night. The second one the antennae were about the same length as the abdomen.  Could the second one be a Paromix spp? Suggestions please?

Meagre hauls in Burry Port

I trapped for two nights in a row, and despite favourable conditions, especially last night, numbers have been low. Three quarters of the trap have been Large Yellow Underwing or Small Chinamark, the latter seem to love the margins of my small pond.

Rosy Footman was the most striking macro, an FFY.

There were a couple of mystery micros, which I spent some time puzzling over. The identity of this Tortrix did not reveal itself until I looked at my photograph on the laptop.

Only at a large scale could I see the pink flush - Notocelia incarnatana I believe. A first for me.

I also added to my collection of unremarkable brown moths, again only clinching the id with a picture.

It's another Bryotropha - terrella I think. Yawn!

Finally there were some very small extras at the bottom of the trap.

Mea Culpa - Thorns

I haven't caught much lately and mostly Large Yellow Underwing at that. A friend of mine in Norfolk is catching lots and has sent me a few shots, including, like Dai, a nice Purple Thorn. I now realise that my Lunar Thorn of a few weeks ago was in fact Purple, and the more I look, the more obvious it is. Apologies to all.

My first Old Maid at Llansteffan!

Despite the clear sky and biggish moon a good nights trapping in Llansteffan. As well as the Old Maid other highlights were 3 Pale Prominents,  a Ruby Tiger lots of Common and Four Spotted Footmen,  a Scalloped Hazel and a Purple Thorn

Timothy Tortrix en masse

Early in July, from around the 9th, I started to see rather a lot of Timothy Tortrix, in and around the trap. 16+ to start with, then over 40, the following trap day on the 13th saw 250+, on the15th it was an estimated 350. Friday 17th, my Garden Moth Scheme day, they were counted to at least 400, but since then I have seen, at the most, 3 each trap morning. It dawned on me rather late that it might be an interesting phenomenon, so belatedly took some rather poor pics. There were TTs all around me, simply too many to accurately count.

It will take my moth count up though, in this rather dire year when numbers seem to be severely down.