CARMARTHENSHIRE MOTH & BUTTERFLY GROUP NEWSLETTER ISSUE No.5 SEPTEMBER 2006 Editor: Jon Baker (County Moth Recorder for VC44 Carms) INTRODUCTION This is the 5th newsletter of the VC44 Moth & Butterfly Group. In this edition you will find the moth highlights from September 2006 as well as a number of articles which I hope are informative and interesting. September 2006 must go down as one of the best periods of immigration ever recorded in Britain. Throughout the month wave upon wave of migrants from the south arrived, often in unprecedented numbers. However, coastal areas of England got the lion’s share with far smaller numbers reaching Wales. And those that did, it seems, preferred to drop on The Gower rather than push that little bit further into our county. By comparison to The Gower’s impressive lists, we scored poorly. However, we never do well for migrants by comparison with truly coastal counties so by our very modest standards, we did have a record breaking season. As well as the migrants there were also a few notable records of our rarer native species, as well as a whole host of sightings of species outside their normal flight times. Some of these will be abnormal late emergences, whilst others will be unusual second broods – it is often impossible to know. I will review these in the next bulletin. Ian Morgan has kindly written a piece on elms and the related lepidoptera that might be encountered in the county. I also include the results (so far received) of National Moth Night efforts within the county. Convolvulus Hawk-moth Agrius convolvuli (photo: Julian Wormald) NATIONAL MOTH NIGHT - 23rd SEPTEMBER 2006 The event was held this year on the exact same date as NMN in 2000, which will be interesting to compare when the full national results are in. The weather for much of the country was far from ideal, and Carmarthenshire had wind, rain and thunder to contend with. The official NMN event was held at Keepers in Brechfa Forest, hosted by Fay Sharpley and Martin Lovell. It was well attended by interested members of the public, and though the moth count was not extraordinary, hopefully it might have inspired interest in some new people. Elsewhere traps were run north of Whitland by Melanie Collier, at Pwll and Llanelli by Ian Morgan, and at Rhydcymerau by Julian Wormald and Martin Lovell. Sam Bosanquet visited several sites in the coastal southwest of the county, while I did Pembrey Forest, Pembrey Dunes, Llansteffan, Carmarthen and Trawsmawr. Many thanks to everyone for finding the time, and persisting despite the horrible weather. The actual results were excellent. The total number of species recorded was 81, which comprised 16 species of micro-moth, a butterfly (to MV) and 64 species of macro- moth. Two new species of macro-moth were added to the county list, and there were records of several other scarce species and migrants. Below is a table summarising the results. The totals are not precise, as some sites did not report counts – in those instances I have had to assume 1+ and reflect that in the total. No. SCIENTIFIC NAME ENGLISH NAME SITES TOTAL 449 Prays fraxinella Micro 1 1 460 Ypsolopha parenthesella Micro 1 6 464 Pl u t ella xylostella Diamond-backed Moth 1 1 688 Agonopterix heracliana Oecophorid 1 1 Agonopterix nervosa Oecophorid 1 2 706 977 Archips podana Tortricid 1 2 Epiphyas postvittana Tortricid 2 4 998 1038 Acleris laterana Tortricid 2 3 1042 Acleris rhombana Tortricid 2 5 1062 Acleris emargana Tortricid 2 2 1309 Agriphila genic ulea Pyralid 1 1 1344 Eudoni a mercu r ella Pyralid 1 1 1397 Mecyna asinalis Pyralid 1 1 1398 Nomophila no ctu e lla Rush Veneer 10 32 1413 Hypsopygia costalis Gold Triangle 2 2 1425 Galleria mellonella Wax Moth 1 1 1524 Emmelina monodactyla Plume Moth 2 2 1590 Vanessa atalanta Red Admiral 1 1 1702 Idaea biselata Small Fan-footed Wave 2 2 1716 Rhodometra sacr aria Vestal 2 2 1728 Xanthorhoe fluctuata Garden Carpet 1 1 1751 Lampropteryx otregiata Devon Carpet 1 1 1752 Cosmorhoe ocellata Purple Bar 1 1 1755 Eulithis testata Chevron 1 1 1760 Chloroclysta siterata Red-green Carpet 1 1+ 1764 Chloroclysta truncata Common Marbled Carpet 12 33+ 1767 Thera firmata Pine Carpet 1 1 1768 Thera obeliscata Grey Pine Carpet 1 1 1769 Thera britannica Spruce Carpet 3 5+ 1776 Colostygia pectinataria Green Carpet 7 10+ 1777 Hydriomena furcata July Highflyer 1 1 1862 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata Double-striped Pug 1 1 1906 Opisthograptis luteolata Brimstone Moth 6 6+ 1913 Ennomos alniaria Canary-shouldered Thorn 1 1 1914 Ennomos fuscantaria Dusky Thorn 3 4 1915 Ennomos erosari a September Thorn 1 1 2030 Euproctis similis Yellow-tail 1 2 2085 Agrotis vestigialis Archer's Dart 1 1 2087 Agrotis segetum Turnip Moth 4 10+ 2091 Agrotis ipsilon Dark Sword Grass 5 16+ 2107 Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing 3 4 2109 Noctua comes Lesser Yellow Underwing 2 2 2117 Eugnorisma glareosa Autumnal Rustic 7 58+ 2119 Peridroma saucia Pearly Underwing 2 11 2123 Diarsia rubi Small Square-spot 1 1 2126 Xestia c-ni grum Setaceous Hebrew Character 7 17+ 2134 Xestia xanthographa Square-spot Rustic 9 95+ 2195 Mythimna vitellina Delicate 1 1 2198 Mythimna impura Smoky Wainscot 1 1 2199 Mythimna pallens Common Wainscot 1 1 2201 Mythimna litoralis Shore Wainscot 2 2 2202 Mythimna l-album L-album Wainscot 1 2 2230 Aporophyla aust ralis Feathered Brindle 1 1 2232 Aporophyla nigr a Black Rustic 4 4 2236 Lithophane hepatica Pale Pinion 2 3 2240 Lithophane leautieri Blair's Shoulder-knot 2 2 2245 Allophyes oxyacanthae Green-brindled Crescent 3 3 2247 Dichonia aprilina Merveille du Jour 2 3 2252 Polymixis flavicincta Large Ranunculus 1 3 2258 Conistra vaccinii Chestnut 1 1 2262 Agrochola circel laris Brick 4 5+ 2263 Agrochola lota Red-line Quaker 5 5+ 2265 Agrochola helvola Flounced Chestnut 6 6+ 2267 Agrochola lychnidis Beaded Chestnut 5 8 2270 Omphaloscelis luno sa Lunar Underwing 2 3 2273 Xanthia togata Pink-barred Sallow 10 65+ 2274 Xanthia icteritia Sallow 5 43+ 2297 Amphipyra pyramidea Copper Underwing 2 3 2306 Phlogophora meticulosa Angle Shades 8 38 2353 Luperina testacea Flounced Rustic 1 1 2361 Hydraecia micacea Rosy Rustic 1 2 2364 Gortyna flavago Frosted Orange 3 3+ 2375 Rhizedra lutosa Large Wainscot 2 2 2389 Paradrina clavipalis Pale Mottled Willow 1 1 2394 Stilbia anomala Anomalous 1 1 2400 Helicoverpa armigera Scarce Bordered Straw 2 2 2410 Protodeltote pygarga Marbled White Spot 1 1 2434 Diachrysia chrysitis Burnished Brass 2 2 2441 Autographa gamma Silver Y 7 8+ 2469 Scoliopteryx libatrix Herald 2 2 2477 Hypena proboscidalis Snout 6 14+ 2484 Schrankia costaestrigalis Pinion-streaked Snout 3 4 Sallow Xanthia icteritia MIGRANT MOTHS Since this month has been so spectacular for migration and many scarce species have appeared in Carmarthenshire, I thought it a good time to summarise the records of migrant macro-moths and pyralids in the county. Below is a table of those species which are generally migrant in the county. Some have been known to breed, or suspected of it – with early summer migrants producing a second generation. The Turnip Moth Agrotis segetum is included as I believe that most of the records of it relate to migrants. The records of Humming-bird Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum are skewed by the fact that many are from members of the public, who at times have been forthcoming about submitting them and at other times, less so. Clearly dozens, if not hundreds will have been seen this year, but very few have so far been submitted to me. There are, of course, countless other species which migrate, but which also have resident populations here – for example Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba. But I am simply looking here at those species which are wholly or for the greater part considered migrants. Vestal Rhodometra sacraria The table below lists the number of records prior to 2006 on the VC44 database (A), then the number of records from January to August 2006 (B), and lastly the number of records for September 2006 (C). No. Scientific Name: English Name: A B C 1395 Udea ferrugalis Rusty-dot Pearl 125 18 8 1398 Nomophila noctuella Rush Veneer 173 25 39 1403 Diasemiopsis ramburialis Pyralid 2 none none 1408 Palpita vitrealis Pyralid none none 2 Pyralid 1454.5 Dioryctria sylvestrella none 1 none 1716 Rhodometra sacraria Vestal 28 1 13 1720 Orthonama obstipata Gem 19 1 1 1972 Agrius convolvuli Convolvulus Hawk-moth 10 none 4 1973 Acherontia atropos Death's-head Hawk-moth 2 none none 1984 Macroglossum stellatarum Humming-bird Hawk- 50 12 2 moth 1990 Hyles livornica Striped Hawk-moth 4 none none 2087 Agrotis segetum Turnip Moth 104 4 19 2091 Agrotis ipsilon Dark Sword Grass 185 4 21 2119 Peridroma saucia Pearly Underwing 17 2 11 2195 Mythimna vitellina Delicate 2 none 6 2203 Mythimna unipuncta White-speck 16 none 1 2385 Spodoptera exigua Small Mottled Willow 9 6 none 2400 Helicoverpa armigera Scarce Bordered Straw 3 4 17 2403 Heliothis peltigera Bordered Straw 7 9 1 2408 Eublemma parva Small Marbled none 1 none 2432 Trichoplusia ni Ni Moth 3 1 none 2441 Autographa gamma Silver Y 564 90 43 ANALYSIS: Some species have not had a spectacular year – Rusty-dot Pearl for example has arrived in only moderate numbers and White-speck has been surprisingly scarce both locally and nationally. Though we didn’t record any Striped Hawk-moths, they were seen in other parts of Britain, including Wales. We were just unlucky it seems.