October Moths in Ceredigion

Another week and more moth trapping.

10th October 2009

It looked like a good night so after last nights successful trapping we put the moth trap out again. Temperatures remained mild, only dropping to 13.8ºC and there was no rain and relatively light winds; Westerly, gusting to 20 knots..

  • 1x Angle Shades *
  • 3x Silver Y
  • 4x Red Line Quaker
  • 3x Feathered Ranunculus
  • 8x Black Rustic
  • 10x Lunar Underwing
  • 2x Setaceous Hebrew Character

13th October 2009

A lovely night with light winds and temperatures down to 8.8ºC. I even sat out by the trap for a while enjoying the sounds of the night. Trap was set by the compost bins and Gunnera with a sheet over the frame.

  • 5 x Large Wainscot
  • 1 x Black Rustic
  • 4 x Lunar Underwing
  • 3 x Red -line Quaker
  • 3 x Angle Shades
  • 1 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
  • 1 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
  • 1 x Silver Y

15th October 2009

A promising night. Mild at 11ºC with light cloud cover and light winds.

  • 6 Lunar Underwings
  • 4 Large Wainscot
  • 4 Setaceous Hebrew Characters
  • 1 Red Line Quaker
  • 5 Black Rustic
  • 1 Common Marbled Carpet
  • 3 Spruce Carpet
  • 3 Small Square Spot*
  • 1 Beaded Chestnut

Totals so far for October

Nights Trapping: 7

  • Lunar Underwing 45
  • Black Rustic 22
  • Setaceous Hebrew Character 15
  • Red-line Quaker 10
  • Large Wainscot 10
  • Silver Y 7
  • Feathered Ranunculus 7
  • Spruce Carpet 7
  • Common Marbled Carpet 4
  • Angle Shades 4
  • Small Square-spot 3
  • Beaded Chestnut 2
  • Shuttle-shaped Dart 2
  • Square-spot Rustic 1
  • Blair’s Shoulder-knot 1
  • Brimstone Moth 1
  • Gold Spot 1
  • Large Yellow Underwing 1

Also, Mike Bailey from CCW came around this week and dropped off a list of moth species that have been seen at Ynyslas, and a booklet published by the nature Conservancy Council called ‘The moths of Ceredigion”. I wonder how many of these we’ll manage to tick off the list.

New this Week

1 Response

  1. Avatar forComment Author Dean Norman says:

    While searching the internet for information about some moths, I found your site. Thought you might enjoy a cartoon story about some curious moths I saw this past week. The story is posted on my website: sites.google.com/site/wallyswoods/index Title of the story is “Wally the Wizard”.
    From some photos on an agricultural site I guessed these moths might be forage loopers. Since there are no flowers to visit in the river bottom woods in Cleveland, Ohio where I saw them, I would guess they don’t feed, but may be coming out of cocoons and looking to mate and lay eggs. They were clustered low around tree trunks, and an occasional single moth flying about head high through the woods. Early morning with the sun warming the east side of trees there the moths were most active. They seemed to like all rough barked trees, but were particularly fond of American Sycamore where they blended perfectly with the bark. It was quite magical to see them fluttering near the tree trunks and then disappear as they landed on the bark. Saw them again a week later under the same conditions. But the second group may be another brood as they didn’t seem as white when flying.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Avatar forComment Author

Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

You may also like...