Vestal in Burry Port

 I defied the weather warnings and put my trap out last night. I was rewarded with my first ever Vestal.

There were some firsts for the year in the trap including a Canary Shouldered Thorn.

 

 It appears to have lost a leg, but still a nice moth. I also had another Antler Moth and 64 Large Yellow Underwing. White-lined Darts have been turning up in numbers - only six last night but worth recording the variation.

I was trying to turn the dark specimen in the middle into Square-spot Dart but I think its WLD.

Finally I found a couple of moths that had me a bit puzzled, thinking about Marsh Oblique Barred. However I eventually decided they were probably Eudonia pallida.

I've never seen pallida before so I would be grateful for confirmation or correction.

 

Heatwave at Cnwc

 

I'm afraid I haven't trapped very much at Cnwc over the last 6 weeks despite moving between Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire since 'stay local' ended, because Clare has been floored by Long Covid (caught in early March), and waking us all up at 5am to look at moths just doesn't seem the right thing to do. Signs of a slight recovery in Clare's health coupled with a thundery forecast tempted me to trap on 11th August.

61 spp of Macro and 31 spp of Micro were ample reward, although the migrants flooding into traps in England (and doubtless at Graig too!) failed to appear: a Vestal which arrived at 22:00ish was star of the show. Support was provided by 2 Dark Swordgrass, 18+ Ear sp (at least half of which looked more likely to be Large than The), 1 Bleached Pug, 1 Centre-barred Sallow, 1 Turnip, 3 Mirificarma mulinella, 1 Ptycholomoides aeriferanus, 1 Apotomis capreana etc. I'm back at Dingestow tonight with the MV and Actinic on (and Clare's mother providing support at Cnwc), so I hope other locals will be making the most of the heatwave!

 

Not Trapping

 I avoided mothing disappointment by opting for a lie in this morning. However, whilst mowing the lawn I disturbed a moth from the Hydrangea which I potted up to photograph.

Not rare, but a nice first for the year and a welcome reward for cutting the grass.

Yellow Underwings - Welcome and Unwelcome

First the latter category: I checked the Robinson trap (20W actinic) at 10.30 last evening just before retiring, and it was being bombarded - literally - by hoards of LYUs.  Consequently it was no surprise to find this morning that they occupied most of the 'berths' on the egg cartons.  The final count was 140, which was almost exactly half of the trap's content.  Only three other species reached double figures, namely Dingy Footman, Flame Shoulder, and Ear moth agg.

The welcome category contains only one moth, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, only the 5th time I've recorded it, the last occasion being in 2014.  Not a common species here!

I apologise for the poor quality of the image but the moth wasn't looking its best at 5am this morning, and it's good enough for identification purposes which is my main concern.

A mixed bag in Burry Port

 Last night produced the biggest haul of the year so far, largely composed of 84 Large Yellow Underwings. Other species chipped in with 12 White-line Dart, 6 Shuttle-shaped Dart and 6 Willow beauty. The pick of the macros was my first Dusky Thorn of the year.

There were a number of new micros including Aproaerema anthyllidella.

It's a small, but not tiny, dark micro.

Another life was the attractive Honeysuckle moth, like a giant diamondback.

Finally, what I take to be a Coleophora sp. with quite distinct markings. It's not a family I have seen much at all.

Any ideas? Am I even barking up the right tree?

Llansteffan moths

 I have enjoyed reading about everyone’s trap catches and exciting finds. I have been trapping a lot but I am still having slight problems in posting stuff. Hopefully I’m getting to grips with things.

A few photo’s of my highlights and favourite moth pictures. The next few nights are going to be warm so I shall try to trap regular and post as soon as, instead of waiting months.

Gold Spot

Sallow Kitten

Chinese Character

Double Kidney

White-line Dart?

Barred Rivulet

Acleris emargana

Pammene Auriga

Is this a Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing

A Prominent Night

 A small actinic trap was left out last night and this morning the first moth to greet me was this stunning August Thorn, in characteristic pose on the wall above the trap:

Otherwise it was Prominents that stole the show, with Iron, Pebble, Lesser Swallow, Swallow, and Coxcomb all on the adjoining wall, none of them had entered the trap.  Also worthy of mention, a FFY Copper Underwing (ag): 

No doubt the Prominents, aristocrats that they are, stayed outside to avoid the rabble of 40-odd Large Yellow Blunderwings inside it.