Moths Hotting Up

Despite the temperatures dropping to 1.1ºC last night we still had quite a few moths to contend with. Many of them were on the pergola rather than in the trap, but there were a few unfamiliar ones to me so it took a bit of effort to identify them all.

The catch comprised of:

• Shoulder Stripe x 16
• Dotted Border x 3
• Pale Brindled Beauty x 1*
• Mottled Grey x2
• Early Grey x1*
• Chestnut x1

It looks as though things are hotting up and I’m going to be busy identifying and counting moths throughout the summer.

* = New to our garden

The moth-trapping season is just getting underway and although we’ve yet to catch any moths in the moth trap, we are getting some attracted to the porch light. As I’m still fairly new to moth trapping, most of the species I catch at the moment are new to me, so here’s a new one from last night which I think is a Mottled Grey (Colostygia multistrigaria).

Mottled Grey

So far this year my moth-trapping exploits have been a little disappointing. We’ve put the moth trap out a few times but have had no success.

This has been made more frustrating by the fact that I have seen plenty of moths on the wing in front of my headlights whilst driving between Aberystwyth and Borth, or whilst up in the hills. Also whilst out mountain-biking at night in the hills and forests there have been plenty of moths attracted to our lights. Here at the coast though there is little protection and the moths have been scarce.

I was out mountain-biking last night and saw quite a few moths fluttering around so was pleasantly surprised when I got home and found 5 moths on the porch walls, attracted by the porch light. I quickly collected them and have this morning identified them.

• 3 x Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata)*
• 3 x Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)*

I might put the trap out tonight to see what else we can get, but its good to get off the mark and have a few moths to record.

I’ve put the moth trap out a few times this winter but with no luck, but last night I caught our first moth of the year near to the porch light.

A Spring Usher (Agriopis leucophaeria). Not a bad looking moth and hopefully one that is ushering in the spring, although, we’ve woken up to yet more snow on the ground this morning. I’m sure I’m going to be busy identifying moths soon.

Spring Usher

The Ceredigion Moth Group is up and running and we seem to be making some progress.

I’ve set up a mailing list so that we can all keep in touch with each other and we have been sending our records from 2009 to the new County Recorder. I only had a fairly small number of records from 2009 as I didn’t start moth trapping until late in the year, but I had an e-mail back from the County Recorder saying:

Your data have now been verified without amendment, and incorporated into the VC46 County list – many thanks.

It looks as though the records I kept were worthwhile and will go towards a greater understanding of the moths that are present in the area.

So far the County Recorder has received records from 2009 that amount to more than 9000 recordings. Not all are verified/processed yet, but they have been used to make a start on a County list which is being sent to ‘Butterfly Conservation‘ to be included in the forthcoming Butterfly Conservation Atlas.

We have a meeting / workshop planned for March 27th and there is a Moth Count Event in Conwy on 13th march that I may well go to. I’m getting quite ‘into’ my moths! If only there were some to trap here at the moment.

Ceredigion Moth Group

I attended the formative meeting of the Ceredigion Moth Group last night.

Unfortunately there hasn’t been an active moth group in the county for quite some time and there hasn’t really been any structured recording of the species that we get. All other counties in England and Wales seem to have active moth groups and more importantly a ‘County Recorder’ who collates, verifies and shares the data with nationwide schemes. As in many things, Ceredigion (or Cardiganshire as Vice County no. 46 is known) shows up as a white area on any moth count maps due to the paucity of data from the region.

Hopefully, with the creation of a new Ceredigion Moth Group and the appointment of a County Recorder that is set to change.

As usual with such meetings where a committee of people each with different agendas is involved, the discussions did become a little convoluted and in many instances it seemed as though we were making things more difficult than they needed to be. But we all got on well, we all agreed to the need for a Ceredigion Moth Group and we were all fairly enthusiastic and willing to work on making it a success.

It is my opinion that we should start off small and keep things as simple as possible, especially while people are finding their feet. There was certainly a great deal of knowledge and expertise in the room, and a few enthusiastic beginners such as myself, which I think is a good combination from the start.

All in all the meeting went well and we have another meeting -  that will also involve some actual moth trapping - planned for March 27th. In the meantime I’m going to set up a mailing  list so that we can all communicate with each other and we’re going to organise a structured and consistent format for recording our own moth records which should make the County Recorders job eaiser. No doubt as a website designer my list of tasks will include the buidling of a website for the group at some point.

Its been a while since I put the Moth Trap out. The weather hasn’t been ideal and I haven’t had much time or I’ve been away, but I put it out on Tuesday night just to see if anything would come along.

I thought we might get one or two, but the sub-zero temperatures didn’t help and we ended up with nothing at all in the trap. I’m sure there are some out there during the winter so I shall be trying every now and then despite drawing a blank, as anything we do get is likely to be a new addition to my garden list.

Last night was the first dry, windless night we’ve had for a while so I put the moth trap out to see what we could catch.

We awoke this morning to the first frost of the winter and not a moth in sight. The first night since getting the moth trap that we’ve caught nothing.

Oh well, I guess that’s a small price to pay for a beautiful clear, frosty morning.

Don’t worry, I haven’t stopped moth trapping. I haven’t posted any lists of ‘this weeks moths’ as it has just been far too wet and windy to deploy the trap this week.

Things should be fairly quiet on the moth front at this time of year, but I shall still be putting it out now and then as you just never know what will turn up.

Also, few people trap at this time of year so I have more of a chance of finding something a little unusual such as a moth that doesn’t usually visit Cerdigion if I’m trapping throughout the winter. There may only be a few species out and about throughout the winter, but it will be good to trap and photograph some of these and at least the identification and photographing process won’t take all day if there are only one or two moths in the trap each morning.

There may be a break in the weather on Sunday night, so I might put it out then.

October 26th 2009

13ºC and damp.

• 1 Rush Veneer
• 1 Red-line Quaker
• 1 Angle Shades
• 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character
• 1 Large Yellow Underwing
• 1 Large Wainscot
• 1 Feathered Ranunculus

October 29th 2009

13ºC, moderate winds

• 1 Black Rustic
• 1 Large Wainscot
• 1 November Moth

New this week

November Moth