Due to the likelihood of heavy rain by dawn, I set up the MV trap in the Dutch barn on the evening of 25th July - but in fact the rain stayed away until well after first light on Sunday morning. Despite all the clutter in the barn, the position was reasonably successful, with 101 moths of 44 species recorded, including 11 FFY. These were mostly common species of annual occurrence, but they included three micros which were firsts for the site and for me - I would be most grateful if someone could confirm, or correct my ID on these:
Beautiful Plume
Epinotia cruciana
Epinotia nisella f. cinereana
Moth of the night for me, a target species for Cwmllwyd having been seen here only three times since 2000, was Oak Eggar. They're not here sufficiently frequently to suggest a breeding colony, so I believe that they may come down from the heather and bilberry up on the mountain - we get a range of strays from up there throughout the year. A huge moth, this female was 40mm overall length. Delighted with that one!
Oak Eggar
It's nice to have a record of Epinotia cruciana from the eastern uplands: most Carms records are Jon's from the coast although I tend to think of it as an upland species and have seen it in the NW, N and NE of the county.
ReplyDeleteThe other Micros look good too.
Thanks, Sam. Any improvement in my micro ID results is entirely due to Chris Manley's excellent book, British Moths 2nd Edition.
DeleteYes, you`re correct Steve re the usefulness of Chris Manley`s new book - it is extremely helpful, with great photos, to aid the novice micro-moth`er like me. I`d recommended it to everyone.
ReplyDelete