MONMOUTHSHIRE MOTH & BUTTERFLY GROUP NEWSLETTER No 38 August 2006. A monthly newsletter covering Gwent and Monmouthshire Vice County 35 Editor: Martin Anthoney Wentwood Lepidoptera Wentwood Forest has been in the news this year as a result of the purchase in January by the Woodland Trust of 352 hectares. This means nearly all of the 1000+ hectares comprising the forest are now in the ownership of the Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust. Situated to the east of the River Usk between the A449 and A48 roads, Wentwood is the largest ancient woodland in Wales, rising from almost sea level to a highest point of 1013 ft. Despite its large size, it is only a remnant of the huge forest mentioned in records as far back as the 9 th century. It was entirely deciduous woodland until the 17 th century when conifers started to be planted. The process of coniferisation accelerated in the last century, particularly during the World Wars, changing the character of Wentwood as blocks of conifer plantations replaced the mosaic of largely deciduous woodland, clearings and heathland. Neil Horton knew and worked the area for sixty years, and nothing was guaranteed to make his blood boil so much as a mention of the coniferisation of Wentwood! Heathland Lepidoptera species suffered most and, as far as I am aware, none remain today. Narrow-winged Pug and Small Purple-barred were last recorded in 1969, Clouded Buff in 1974 and Wood Tiger in 1976. Whilst taking me around Wentwood in the mid 1980s, Neil Horton showed me the area (ST414946) north of Little Oak where he had last seen these species flying. At the time there were still some patches of heather to be seen, but twenty years on the site is dense with conifers. Hopefully the Woodland Trust will remove many of the conifers and encourage regeneration of heathland as well as deciduous woodland, though whether the butterflies and moths will return is another question. In 1974 Neil Horton published, through the auspices of the Gwent Wildlife Trust, a leaflet on the Butterflies and Moths of Wentwood , which sold for the princely sum of ten pence. He listed an impressive 31 species of butterfly and 300 macro moths, or ca. one-third of the British list, which had been recorded from Wentwood. Direct comparison with today is difficult, since he included some surrounding areas not strictly in the forest itself. As far as I can tell, 30 species of butterfly are known to have occurred in Wentwood Forest, of which 23 may still be seen today. My favourite memory of Wentwood goes back to 4 th Sept 1979. What I thought was a resting Small Tortoiseshell suddenly took off, flying at speed at 1 the top of the canopy, before obligingly returning to lower levels where I got good views of my one and only Large Tortoiseshell. The resident fritillaries have long since gone – High Brown Fritillary was last recorded in 1968 and in 1978 I saw my last Wentwood Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Dingy Skipper, and the occasional vagrant Grizzled Skipper, can still be seen: the best spot is adjacent to the car park above the reservoir. One surprise is that there are no records from Wentwood for either White Admiral or Silver- washed Fritillary, even though both occur regularly at woods within four or five miles. I keep telling myself it is only a matter of time and they are bound to turn up in due course, but so far – nothing. My best estimate is that 291 species of macro moths have been recorded from Wentwood. Larvae of the UK BAP Priority species, Buttoned Snout, were found feeding on hop in 2003 by Nichola Davies, and the list contains another seven nationally notable species and no fewer than 71 species classified as “local”. Species such as Welsh Wave, Little Thorn and Barred Hook-tip occur regularly. Barred Hook-tip Welsh Wave Scarce Prominent was last recorded in 1976 and Mocha in 1983, though I would be surprised if both were not still present. After fifty years when the mood was one of depression, the future looks bright for Wentwood. However, many of the Lepidoptera records go back twenty or thirty years, so perhaps it is opportune to pay more attention again to this marvellous area as we herald the era of deconiferisation! Martin Anthoney. Newport Report Butterflies We continued our butterfly transect on the Newport Wetlands Reserve on 3 rd August in near perfect conditions. Numbers were down on the previous week, with Gatekeeper below the 500 mark and Meadow Brown down to 251. Migrants were strongly in evidence with 7 Red Admirals, 11 Painted Ladies and 27 Clouded Yellows. Small Copper was disappointing, with only 2 specimens seen. Perhaps the most pleasing record was that of 95 Common Blue encountered in five of the transect sections. The downward trend in numbers continued on 12 th August with just 412 individuals recorded. Speckled Wood showed strongly with 96 individuals. Clouded Yellow was still there in numbers (23) showing, as usual, a preference for those sections nearest the coast. 2 On 16 th August numbers declined further to 269 specimens of 13 species. Interestingly, the largest number present was Large White at 72 individuals.. Common Blue was still around (21 individuals) and this number held up on 24 th August with 22 recorded. Overall numbers had slumped by then to just 160 individuals of 10 species. The most dramatic fall was that of Gatekeeper, down to just 2 individuals as against 1278 a month ago. We are coming to the close of our transect year; its continuation is weather dependant. This year we have managed to record 15 weeks of butterflies. All in all, it has been a pretty good year with the only disappointment being the very low numbers of Small Copper recorded. Moths On 31 st July I recorded (a day early!) August Thorn whilst Kevin had two Red Underwings at Goldcliff. I trapped two Satin Beauty at Summerhill on 1 st August. Saltern Ear and Straw Underwing were taken at Goldcliff on 2 nd , with a Hummingbird Hawk making an appearance on 3rd August. This was the first of 6 individuals recorded in Newport this year, mostly at Goldcliff, but with one each at Haisbro Avenue and Melfort Road on the Gaer. I saw an interesting example of instant habitat creation at the CCW offices at Red House, Goldcliff. Kevin et al. have constructed an attractive butterfly garden outside the offices. Within hours of the plants going in, they were visited by a Hummingbird Hawk! On 5 th August Kevin recorded Red Twin- spot Carpet on the Gaer and on 6 th I trapped a Garden Dart at Summerhill. A Dark Brocade and a Six- striped Rustic were recorded at the same site on 12th with Orange Swift on 18 th and Hedge Rustic on 19 th . Kevin trapped two Bulrush Wainscot at Uskmouth on 21 st August. Rosy Rustic appeared at Haisbro Avenue on 26 th August. The last records I have to hand for August occurred on 27 th with Ear Moth, Svennson’s Copper Underwing and three Centre-barred Sallow at Summerhill. Thanks, as always, to my fellow Newport trappers for their records. Roger James August Highlights August was very much a case of “after the Lord Mayor’s Show” compared to July, with many cool, showery – or sometimes very wet – days and nights. Details of the significant August records (and two from July) are as follows. 24 th July White Admiral, three separate individuals, at Hendre Wood, SO466124 all within 0.5km of one another. Chris Fox. 3rd August 27 Clouded Yellow counted on the Gwent Wetlands Reserve transect. Roger James et al. Hummingbird Hawk at Goldcliff. Kevin Dupé 5th August 2 Small Mottled Willow, 1 Goldenrod Pug, 1 Yponomeuta sedella, 1 Caloptilia semifascia, 1 Swammerdamia pyrella (new for Dingestow), 3 Nephopterix angustella to light at Dingestow Court. Also, 1 Phyllonorycter platanoidella from Acer platanoides, Blue Door Lane. Sam Bosanquet. Immigrant Vestal found in a Caldicot garden. Bryn Burgess per Chris Jones. 3 Vestal (Bryn Burgess) Mocha, Bordered Beauty and Devon Carpet amongst 44 species to light at Cleddon Bog. Roger James and Martin Anthoney 6th August 1 Clouded Yellow, 1 Essex Skipper, 1 Purple Hairstreak butterfly, also at Dingestow Court. An MV light in the evening produced 1 Tawny Speckled Pug (2nd Dingestow record), 1 Chevron (2nd Dingestow record), 1 Small Dotted Buff, and 1 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla (2nd Dingestow record). Sam Bosanquet. Clouded Yellow recorded on a transect at Cwmynyscoy Quarry, Pontypool. Leyton Williams-Davies Hummingbird Hawk feeding at Phlox flowers in an Osbaston garden in the late afternoon. Ian Smith 9th August Colony of Brown Argus butterflies at Pillgwenny, Newport ST304868. Found by consultants during an environmental impact assessment. Gerard Cheshire 11 th August Hummingbird Hawk in a garden, hovering on white phlox flowers, at Lone Lane, Penallt. Stephanie Tyler. 15 th August Hummingbird Hawk, also feeding on phlox, at Angiddy Cottage, Angiddy Valley. Bob Medland. At least 3 Clouded Yellow butterflies at Peterstone Gout. Eddie Wang 17 th August 1 Hummingbird Hawk at Cwmcarn (ST 217940). One had previously been recorded from the same site on 23 rd July. Darryl Spittle 19 th August Pinion-streaked Snout to light in a Risca garden. Second generation Maiden’s Blush are particularly common - 3 or 4 per night have been caught since 2 nd August. The presence of Udea ferrugalis (Rusty-dot Pearl) suggests migrants are about. Martin Anthoney 24 th August In the evening, a Hummingbird Hawk visited buddleia at Hafod Farm,Brynmawr.