Things are looking up….a bit….

 I’ve had a few Rusty-dot Pearls over the past week, plus two separate Scarce Bordered Straws, and this morning found this nice White Point in the trap. A first for me. Thanks Ian for confirming.

Some more migrants...

 Southerly winds bode well for migrants on Weds 23rd and Thurs 24th nights, this time in Llanelli. The 23rd yielded a scarce bordered straw, but the next night was more productive with a delicate, Palpita vitrealis, a diamond-back and multiple silver y`s. Less welcome were two box moths, one dark phase, the other the more usual white form.

                                               Above: Palpita vitrealis and below, the delicate.

Arfon Williams reports a recent capture of a Clifden nonpareil at his north Carmarthenshire home trap site. As mentioned previously, this magnificent moth is likely to be resident in Arfon`s home patch, given the number of records made by him.

Persistence, providence and a porch...

 Arfon Williams seems to be a clear Carmarthenshire champion this autumn, a reflection of his enthusiasm and dedication. The maxim `if you don`t try, you don`t get` is true though, on the relatively few occasions that I`ve trapped this year, I personally had minimum luck! 

Arfon has the presumed advantage too that he - as with Stephen Rundle in the hill country near Llandovery - has a good mothing site with, possibly, passing moths being funnelled along the valley where their home traps are situated. Similarly, Arfon does not have the competition with numerous urban lights that, for example, must diminish the attraction of my Llanelli trap. Also with a trap it also helps to have a good position within the trap site, one that is visible from several angles and, lastly, especially in this horribly wet year, a form of shelter helps - hence the word `porch` in the title, to avoid wet or de-scaled moths.

Anyway, on 17th October, AW had his highest number of scare bordered straws (x 6, pic below), along with one Palpita vitrealis and a rusty-dot pearl. Full marks again!

Furthermore, he does it AGAIN!

 `Magic Mothboy in the hills` (aka Arfon Williams) scored another new county record on 6th October (Sunday), catching a Radford`s flame shoulder, as well as some other migrants. 

The Radford`s is seen at the bottom right and it is a species that I`ve  been after recently, obviously without success. The other moths shown are (clockwise) Palpita vitrealis, rusty-dot pearl, and scarce bordered straw. Well done, once more, Arfon!

I had a scarce bordered straw on Friday 4th October but, apart from that, nothing of note. Also two (unwanted) sightings of more box-tree moths including one to kitchen light last night (both moths are shown below).

Yes, he does it again.

 More top-notch records from the Ffarmers hill-billy, Arfon Williams, were made on the night of 25th September. He had SEVEN Palpita vitrealis, a delicate, a small mottle willow and a Clifden nonpareil (likely resident in his local patch). Well done once more, Arfon! (My limited recent efforts have brought nothing).

Of interest is the fact that Arfon - noting potential `migrant southerlies` only trapped until c 11.00 pm (he had more than one trap), as heavy rain was forecast for later. This sensible approach certainly worked.

Unwelcome guest becomes unwanted garden resident

 I`ve noticed an increase of box-tree moth records in my Llanelli garden trap over the last couple of years, with any reduction in 2024 simply due to me trapping less. I have a short length (c 15ft+) of tall box, planted in c 1980, which performs a valuable privacy screen as well as a nesting site for birds. It is only very lightly pruned in the winter and is not tightly manicured. I had hoped that this exceptionally light regime, when the cursed box moths are n`t around, may save my boxes from their rapacious caterpillars. This summer, I noticed a low box bush in a private garden at Stradey, Llanelli that had been decimated by box moth caterpillars - the box looks whiteish in colour with webbing, the result of eating frenzies and the webs in which the caterpillars reside.

A few weeks later I discovered a couple of caterpillars by some diagnostic white leaves on my boxes. These caterpillars were removed and I hoped that was it (for now, at least). However, whilst up lopping some branches on an adjacent tree last week, I noticed several hitherto unnoticed ex-larval `nests`. I`m afraid that they have likely defeated my efforts and disproved my hope that minimal winter pruning may avoid their colonisation. We`ll wait and see to what extent they`ll damage my old box hedge in 2025.

                                           Above: one my August box moth caterpillars in situ.

Above: a graph prepared by George Tordoff showing this species` rapid increase in part of Cardiff.

Rusty-dot Pearl and Beaded Chestnut

 Once again a small trap on Monday night produced a few good moths, including three Large Ranunculus. Best was a lovely Beaded Chestnut as well as a hyperactive Rusty-dot Pearl.