I collected every moth in the trap, a total of 19 individuals of 11 species!!.
The best by far was a Scarce Footman, a Garden Tiger and another Reddish Light Arches.
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| Scarce Footman |
This afternoon whilst carrying out some work on the reserve we noticed the cattle being bothered by an enormous "horsefly", after collecting a specimen I think its either Tabanus sudeticus, Dark Giant Horsefly or Tabanus bovinus, Pale Giant Horsefly, at 25mm long you wouldn't want to be bitten by it!
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| Tabanus sudeticus ? |
Well done Paul. The second capture of reddish light arches is significant as it may suggest that a small resident population is established at Pembrey, rather than it just being a wanderer from NW Gower.
ReplyDeleteI would n`t like to say at present whether your tabanid is sudeticus or bovinus from the photo, and I`ve had both locally. I rather like them and welcome them, though I do `bump off` the small clegs and also those sneaky Chrysops that land on your head (unless you`ve got a mop of thick, protective hair). Look out for the rarer and larger cleg Haematopota grandis at Pembrey in July/August.
Your HF looks much the same as mine, Paul, whatever the species I'm happy to give them a headache! I remember Sam telling me a few years ago that the large Tabanus spp. don't generally bother humans, but they certainly bother the livestock. As for Clegs large or small, I'm always on the lookout for them, usually with fly swat in hand.
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