I had an awful feeling that I had missed the 2015 Bordered Straw influx because I was in Snowdonia for last week's best nights. With the winds back in the south and good cloud cover I ran my MV last night, getting up at 05:15 and sorting through a great many moths. By 06:15 I had worked through the entire trap and found no Bordered Straw, although the supporting cast was pretty good. I checked the surrounding grass, still nothing, and then packed the trap up. One last scan of the grass, and there was a Bordered Straw! Our neighbours must have been baffled by my jumping around and punching the air at 06:20!! The moral of the story is to keep persisting (and you'll make your own luck).
The other 81 species of Macro and 18 species of Micro that had kept me busy for the previous hour included a good range of nice things. 7 Alder Moth, 1 Waved Carpet (left), 1 Welsh Wave (right), 1 Alder Kitten, 3 Brown Rustic, 5 Little Emerald, 1 Map-winged Swift, 2 Double-line, 2 Lunar Thorn, 1 Oak Hook-tip, 1 Beautiful Snout and my first garden July Belle; 1 Coleophora mayrella (new for Cnwc), 1 Phylloporia bistrigella, 1 Rusty-dot Pearl and 1 Diamond-backed Moth.
This presumed very poorly-marked, muddy-coloured Riband Wave had me wondering about Plain Wave, but there's an incurved edge to the (faint) outer line so I guess it's just an odd Riband.
There are 20 previous records of Bordered Straw from Carmarthenshire (plus records this year from Ian, George and Steve), with half of those coming from the big influx of 2006. Looking back at the records, I'm wondering why I didn't spot Colin's records from 2012 and 2013 previously - they have been checked and were data input errors for Barred Straw (WWBIC and NMRS have corrected them too).
| 05/07/1952 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Conwil Waterworks (Cynwyl Elfed) | DL Thomas |
| 25/06/1994 | Bordered Straw | 1 | 35 Maesquarre Road | Steve Lucas |
| 16/06/1996 | Bordered Straw | n/c | Argothi | Williams, Mr A. |
| 20/06/1996 | Bordered Straw | 2 | Erw Las | Barry Stewart |
| 11/09/2000 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Nantgwyn, Trawsmawr | Jon Baker |
| 05/07/2001 | Bordered Straw | 1 | 14 Job's Well Rd, Johnstown | Jon Baker |
| 30/06/2003 | Bordered Straw | 2 | Pembrey Forest | Jon Baker |
| 27/05/2006 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Gellywen | Lee Walker |
| 17/06/2006 | Bordered Straw | 8 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker |
| 18/06/2006 | Bordered Straw | 2 | 14 Job's Well Rd, Johnstown | Jon Baker |
| 19/06/2006 | Bordered Straw | 3 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker |
| 24/06/2006 | Bordered Straw | 10 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker & Sam Bosanquet |
| 01/07/2006 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker |
| 26/07/2006 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker |
| 05/08/2006 | Bordered Straw | 2 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker |
| 21/08/2006 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Pembrey Burrows | Jon Baker |
| 10/09/2006 | Bordered Straw | 1 | Pembrey Forest, beach | Jon Baker |
Proof that I'm not digging up my 2006 photos of this species from another VC! Our barn and neighbour's house in the background.
Well done....and with proof of location in background too! So, they`re certainly inland in Carms for those who trap. I did n`t trap last night but it looked nice and overcast!
ReplyDeleteSign me up, too! Two in the hay field on Monday (sorry, no photo), along with several Silver Y and a single Hummer on Red Valerian in the garden last evening.
ReplyDeleteHas Mel had one on the coast at Llansteffan yet.....?
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't had one yet :-( I may go hunting tonight
ReplyDeleteWell done with Bordered Straw, hopefully these are the harbingers of a bigger influx to come. That is a very plain Riband Wave, but I'm sure your id is good.
ReplyDeleteMel, it's well worth checking flowers at dusk as BS behaviour is very similar to Silver Y - Red Valerian is a profitable species to check.
As Barry says, dusting with torch and net can be great for Bordered straw - the 10+ at Pembrey that Jon and I saw were mostly netted at dusk.
ReplyDeleteThanks Barry, I did dig up a Valerian from waste ground last year and put it in my garden so I will go and set a vigil next to it, in the hope, I don't want to miss out. Many thanks as well Sam and well done.
ReplyDelete