Welcome to the recording blog for the Carmarthenshire Moth and Butterfly Group. Could members please add any moth or butterfly records or any general items of interest by making a new post. Although everyone can comment on a post you will have to be a member to add a new post.
Friday, 9 May 2014
More Micropterix calthella
Dodging the showers, I ventured through the wet jungle at Cwmllwyd to check out the Marsh Marigolds, as requested by Sam. There are thousands of flower heads in the 1.3 hectares. Wherever the plants were sheltered from the wind, I found the moths; sometimes singles, sometimes more abundantly. There must be thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands of the moths on site! I looked at Globeflower, too, but the flower buds have yet to open, so no moths visible - I will check again later.
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The Marsh Marigolds are over here, but there are plenty of Buttercups and many of the flowers resemble the ones in Steve's photo, i.e. covered with small moths. I wrote a blog with a photo about half an hour ago, but for some reason it didn't get posted. Never mind, Steve's photos are better than mine!
ReplyDeleteNo reason at all why you should not still post - your record is as valid as mine. I'm sorry that I have barged in!
ReplyDeleteChris' record from buttercups nicely fills in a gap, as Steve's did a couple of days ago. Please can everyone else keep an eye out for these little critters. In the next week or two we should get the silver-barred M aruncella alongside M calthella (tricky as one sex lacks the thin silver bar), and there are a couple of other Micropterix to look out for on Hawthorn flowers and in western woodlands with Bilberry.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, they are peculiar little moths as they have jaws not a proboscis: they munch on pollen rather than sipping nectar!