My first post in a few years (I think) as I haven't been living in Carmarthenshire but I trapped at my parents' house in Salem on Saturday night. The big excitement for me however was early evening beforehand when we found my first ever Striped Hawkmoth resting in long grass on the lawn.

In the trap itself I had 280 moths of 77 species. Plenty of migrants: 42 Small Mottled Willow, Rush Veneer, Rusty-dot Pearl, Dark Sword-grass, Diamond-back and Silver Y. Highlights for me were my first ever Scorched Carpet and Privet Hawkmoth which I rarely catch.

107 Small Mottled Willows in this morning's trap along with this Eastern Bordered Straw. Other migrants included 26 Silver Y's, 4 Rusty Dot Pearls and a single Rush Veneer.

Moths at Saron, Llandysul

I have never seen so many Silver  Ys. Over the last few days our hay fields and garden have had hundreds of this species. I will check for Eastern Bordered Straw. There are also several Rush Veneers. The highlight for me this week was a Little Thorn (see photo) and a few micros (Cydia ulicetana, Nemapogon cloacella and Tinea trinotella) I had not had here before

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eastern Bordered Straw in Brechfa

This morning Ian emailed to say he had seen Carmarthenshire’s first Eastern Bordered Straw in Llanelli yesterday afternoon but that it had flown off while he was getting his camera. This was one of those immensely frustrating ‘ones that got away’, as the rule is that we need a photo/specimen of a County First. He replied in full acceptance, joking that maybe Joe Blogs would catch one today to confirm it on the VC44 list.

Well Joe Bloggs (me) did - I noticed a lot of Silver Y nectaring on Geranium in our garden in Brechfa and upon investigation spotted an Eastern Bordered Straw among them. It was immediately obvious, with a fainter black hindwing bar and fainter black forewing mark than Bordered Straw. There is a huge influx of this species in Britain at the moment, so it’s great to add it to the County list. Ian’s can be retrospectively accepted as the first and mine is the second.

Stripey!

 Striped Hawkmoth in the garden at Rhandirmwyn this morning, eventually got a pic of it at rest. Very excited to see it especially as I’ve had relatively few migrants over the past few days.

New for the Garden

 My last night of trapping for a while brought a new pug to the garden

Amongst a legion of Common Pugs was this Grey Pug - identification credit goes to Obsidentify, but it does fit. Also present was my second Satin Wave - slightly battered but extremely active.

Small Mottled Willow

 The best moth in a decent trap was Small Mottled Willow.