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.
Hello, is the moth group open to complete novices? I attended a meeting on moth conservation in Wales tonight and would like to get involved somehow. Thanks.
Hi Gemma,
Yes, the group is open to all and you’ll be most welcomed. I was at the meeting last night too.
I’m quite new to moths myself, but you’ll be amazed by the number and variety of moths you can trap and record in a simple moth trap.
I’ll send you an e-mail to tell you how to join the mailing list and get a little more involved and if you need help with starting recording there will be plenty of people willing to help out.
Al.
Does Ceredigion have a county moth recorder that I can send some old (1966) records to? I now trap in Leicestershire but did a little bit at Trawscoed near Aberystwyth during a student placement. I’ve just found them after 40+ years in a heap I was about to shred!
Hi Ray, Yes we do, but I don’t know if I should give his e-mail out here so I’ll send you an e-mail and if you send them to me I can pass them on to him.
Al.
I have some records from last night, could you send me the county recorders e-mail so I can pass the on
http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/amigo
regards
Mark C.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for that, I’ve sent you an e-mail.
Al.