MONMOUTHSHIRE MOTH & BUTTERFLY GROUP

NEWSLETTER No 98 February 2014.

A monthly newsletter covering Gwent and Monmouthshire Vice County 35 Editor: Martin Anthoney

Monmouthshire Lepidoptera – The Story of a Book January 2014 saw the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Neil Horton’s book Monmouthshire Lepidoptera (The Butterflies and Moths of Gwent).

Neil Horton in 1985, aged 70 Neil was concerned for many years at the lack of a definitive county list for the butterflies and moths of Monmouthshire. In 1968 he set about compiling such a list, but the bulk of the work had to await retirement from his GP practice at Usk in 1985, aged 70, and a move to Llansoy. Born and bred in the Newport area, Neil had personal records for butterflies and day-flying moths dating back to the 1920s, and had light-trapped moths since 1966. He carried out a thorough search of the literature and collections, advised by his friend John Bradley (who later wrote the 1998 Checklist of Lepidoptera Recorded From The British Isles), and he corresponded with several other experts such as Michael Chalmers-Hunt, Baron Charles de Worms and W.G.Tremewan. Despite health problems which culminated in heart surgery in 1989, the Monmouthshire county list was essentially complete by 1990, in the form of a card index box file, which is now in my possession. 1

Much of the credit for persuading Neil to incorporate his county list into a book goes to the late Patrick Humphreys, a veterinary surgeon who at the time was President of Gwent Wildlife Trust whilst I was Trust Vice Chairman. Patrick owned a small publishing company, Comma International Biological Systems, and it was agreed to use this to publish a book by Neil. Assisted by his son, Neil took his first steps into the world of computing by purchasing an Amstrad computer and he enthusiastically set about writing background and introductory chapters to accompany the lepidoptera list, a task which was completed by 1993. During the summer of 1993 I helped Neil photograph some important habitats and Patrick made contact with Images Ltd, of Upton-upon-Severn, about the possibility of them producing and distributing the book. Neil was adamant that his book must be done “properly”. “Properly” included, in addition to county lists for butterflies, macromoths and micromoths, hard-back cover, good quality paper, extensive historical and background material, full indices and colour photos of habitats and some of his set specimens. The recording area covered by the book reflected Neil’s strong views on county boundaries, largely following those of the old county of Monmouthshire before it became Gwent in 1976. Neil never accepted the Watsonian vice county VC35 (Monmouthshire) boundary as set out by J E Dandy in 1963. Hence the book includes Clydach and Trefil areas which were in Monmouthshire (and Gwent) but not in VC35. It also includes Aberbargoed, where the important Marsh Fritillary site was in Monmouthshire (and VC35) but not in Gwent. A total of 320pp plus 16pp colour photos brought quotes of around £10,000 for a print run of 1000 copies. There were no significantly cheaper quotes, so in autumn 1993 contracts were signed with Images Ltd. The finances of Gwent Wildlife Trust did not allow them to contribute towards the costs, a situation which those involved with the Trust today will recognise, but using the auspices of the Trust a grant of £2000 was obtained from CCW (Countryside Council for Wales, now merged into Natural Resources Wales). A promotional flyer from Images Ltd is reproduced below.

AUTHOR : NEIL HORTON PUBLICATION DATE: 22.1.1994 I M A G E S ISBN: l897817 27 4 B O O K SELL ERS & DIS TR IB U TOR S LTD FORMAT: CASED. ROYAL OCTAVO . 320 pp PLUS l6pp COLOUR SECTION NEW TITLE UK PRICE: £26.75 PUBLICATION DETAILS CATEGORY : NON-FICTION NATURAL HISTORY PUBLISHER : COMMA INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM

M O N M O U T H S H I R E L E P I D O P T E R A

The Butterflies and Moths of Gwent fills an important geographic gap in the published lists of butterflies and moths. This is quite remarkable as Monmouthshire, or Gwent as it is now known, provides a habitat for one of the richest and most diverse butterfly and moth populations in the United Kingdom. This comprehensive volume initially deals with the geography, topography, main habitats and their lepidopterous fauna. The main part of the book is devoted to a systematic listing of this fauna together with detailed records. Many species of Lepidoptera are unique to Gwent and it was here in 1972 that the author, Dr. Neil Horton, discovered Eriopygodes imbecilla. This was previously unknown in Britain and is still only found in Gwent.

This book includes a 16 page colour section in which many specimens from the author's collection are shown. The colour section also includes photographs of local habitats that will be of great interest to all entomologists.

MONMOUTHSHIRE LEPIDOPTERA A valuable addition to the published records of Lepidoptera in the U.K.

THE AUTHOR

Dr. Neil Horton was born in Gwent. He studied Natural Sciences at Christ's College Cambridge but after taking his degree decided to change to medicine . He completed his preclinical medical studies at Cambridge and at Genova in Italy and then undertook his clinical studies at Bart's and Cardiff. He was a medical officer in the R.A.F. during the war and took up general practice in Usk at the end of hostilities where he remained for nearly forty years until he retired at the age of seventy. Since his early teens he has travelled a good deal on the Continent and has collected insects in many European countries as well as in India, Burma and Sri Lanka and in East Africa in Tanzania and Kenya. He is the County recorder for Lepidoptera , having published many entomological papers .

Dr. Horton is a Member of the British Entomological and Natural Hi story Society and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Royal Entomological Society. 2

Images Ltd agreed to arrange for photographers to take colour pictures of some of Neil Horton’s important specimens. Unfortunately, the contractors were more used to producing adverts for supermarkets than photographing set specimens of insects and incorrect lighting led to shadows which made many of the specimens unrecognisable. Some books were printed with these pictures and had to be destroyed, though copies escaped and found their way into remainder bookshops. The set specimens had to be re-photographed, but even these left a lot to be desired.

Moths and their shadows - How not to photograph pinned moth specimens!

Neil Horton’s book was finally published on 22nd January 1994. We needed to sell 700 copies to break even, but just over 200 were sold in the first year. Neil, Patrick Humphreys and I contributed equally to make up the deficit. Hopes that sales would continue steadily for a few years were thwarted by a series of sad events. Patrick became ill and died in 1997. Neil’s health also deteriorated and we lost touch by 1998 when his house was sold and he moved into a nursing home near Abergavenny, the location of which we only discovered following his death in 2005. Images Ltd ceased trading around 1996 and, even though they had been paid for, unsold copies of Neil’s book found their way, without our knowledge, into bookshops in Hay-on-Wye and elsewhere, where they may still be available. Though the lists are out of date, the book is still well worth reading for the excellent descriptions of Monmouthshire, its geology, topography and habitats. As events turned out, we were lucky that Neil completed his book and it was published when it was. Although an expensive project, Neil would be gratified by the interest his book generated. For twenty years it has been a bible to those recording butterflies and moths in Gwent, and the number of recorders has increased dramatically. With the proliferation of the internet it is very unlikely that there will be a successor to Neil’s book on Monmouthshire Lepidoptera. Finally, a cautionary note to any budding authors. Neil dedicated his book to his mother (who throughout her 96 years detested moths) and to his wife, Sheila. Unfortunately, a typographical error led to his wife’s name being mis-spelled in the book. As Neil would testify if he were still with us, that is one mistake you never live down! Martin Anthoney

Monmouthshire Moth & Butterfly Group Winter Meeting/ AGM The Group’s Indoor Meeting and AGM will be held on Friday, 7th March 2014, 7.30pm start. The venue will be the Royal British Legion in Usk (Old Market Street, Usk, NP15 1AL). After a short business session Martin Anthoney will give a talk on Lepidoptera Recording in Gwent – highlights of 2013 and targets for the future.

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New Checklist of Lepidoptera of the British Isles December 2013 saw the publication of a new Checklist of British Lepidoptera by David Agassiz et al. Published by the Field Studies Council for the Royal Entomological Society, the book, 206 pages, can be obtained via the website of the Field Studies Council (£25 plus £3 p/p). A lot of thorough work has gone into this checklist, the first since John Bradley in 2000. The familiar sequence of families has been modified to arrange from the most primitive to the most developed. Taxonomic names have been changed in some cases to reflect consensus across Europe, and a new numbering system introduced to replace the present Bradley and Fletcher numbers, though the latter are included to allow cross- referencing. These changes will need a few years to become generally accepted and used, so don’t throw your current books away yet. The book also includes a table showing in which countries of the British Isles a species has been recorded. Sadly, the list for Wales contains a number of omissions, including some of Gwent’s specialities such as Scarce Hook-tip, Pauper Pug and Essex Skipper. Martin Anthoney

UK Atlases In the last newsletter we reported Butterfly Conservation’s announcement that they plan to publish a full moth Atlas towards the end of 2018, following the success of the Provisional Atlas of the UK’s Larger Moths (December 2010). This will include records submitted up to the end of 2016, so we have three seasons to try and fill in some of the gaps. It would help if people could target some of the under-recorded 10km squares for moth recording (see the list in issue 95 (September 2013) of this newsletter). For butterflies, the UK Millenium Atlas was published in 2000, based largely on records for 1995-1999. Since then, Butterfly Conservation has produced three State of UK’s Butterflies update reports covering successive five-year cycles. The current five-year cycle (2010-2014) ends this year, so it is important to fill in as many gaps as possible this year in anticipation of the next update report. So 2014 could be an important recording season for both moths and butterflies.

Recent Highlights The storms of December continued throughout January and into February. We can only await with some nervousness to find out what effect months of flooding have had on butterflies and moths. Temperatures have been well above average, leading to some very early emergence dates, but sunshine has been in very short supply, leading to very few butterfly records, and the severity of many of the storms limited opportunities to run light traps safely.

6th Dec 2013 Northern Winter Moth at Rogerstone (Duncan Richardson) Another Northern Winter Moth at Cwmbran (Kris Roberts) Two records of a species which is under-recorded in the county, certainly compared to Winter Moth.

2nd Jan Common Quaker and Winter Moth to light at Risca. A record earliest date in the county for Common Quaker. (Martin Anthoney)

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2nd Jan Only two days into the new year and already there is a new species for VC35 when a specimen of the micro Caloptila cuculipennella came into a house at Penallt. (Ian Rabjohns)

Caloptila cuculipennella (Ian Rabjohns)

5th Jan Dark Chestnut to light at Risca. (Martin Anthoney)

11th Jan Grey Shoulder-knot to light at Risca. (Martin Anthoney)

The first butterflies of the year flying, with two Small Tortoiseshells: one at Llandogo (Gail Reynolds) and another at Chepstow. (Nick Felstead)

13th Jan Chestnut to light at Risca (Martin Anthoney) 14th Jan and another at Newport Wetlands (Kevin Dupé)

16th Jan Pale Brindled Beauty and Mottled Umber to light at Risca. (Martin Anthoney)

22nd Jan December Moth to light at Risca. With the first record at the end of October, this species has had a flight period of three months this season. (Martin Anthoney)

25th Jan Three hibernating Buttoned Snout at Penallt. (Ian Rabjohns)

27th Jan Early Moth to light at Risca. (Martin Anthoney)

29th Jan Oak Beauty and Pale Brindled Beauty at Risca. (Martin Anthoney)

16th Feb Small Tortoiseshell flying at Monmouth. Also seen was the following strange-looking insect below, which is the flightless female of the micro Diurnea fagella. (Nick Felstead)

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Spring Usher Female Diurnea flagella (Nick Felstead)

th 17 Feb Spring Usher to light at Risca (Martin Anthoney)

Dotted Border at Melbourne Way, Newport (Roger James)

19th Feb Early Grey and Hebrew Character amongst five species to light at Melbourne Way, Newport (Roger James)

25th Feb A freshly-dead Satellite moth, evidently hit by a car, found at Gaer Park Lane, Newport. (Kevin Dupé)

Dates for your Diary 2014

Friday 7th March Monmouthshire Moth & Butterfly Group winter indoor meeting at Usk. See article above for details.

Sunday 9th March Work task at Hendre Woods, near Monmouth. Meet at Old Lodge entrance at Hendre Woods (S0 462146), on the B4233 Rockfield Road from Monmouth, at 11:00 - 15:00. Bring lunch, warm drinks, appropriate clothing, footwear and hand tools. The task will be clearing cut rideside vegetation to encourage germination of Wood Spurge, larval foodplant of Drab Looper. Contact: Martin Anthoney, 01633 612272.

Saturday 14th June Go Wild Show, this year at Parc Bryn Bach, Tredegar.

Thurs 3rd – Sat 5th July National Moth Night. Moth trapping events will be organised in due course. We are hopeful one of the events will be at MoD Caerwent.

Saturday 18th October Butterfly Conservation (S. Wales Branch) Members’ Day and AGM.

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MMBG – Contact Names and Addresses.

Secretary: Kevin Dupé Chairman: Roger James 44 Gaer Park Lane 44 Melbourne Way Newport Newport NP20 3NE NP20 3RF

Phone 01633 216599 Phone 01633 263374 e-mail [email protected] e-mail [email protected] or in case of problems [email protected] Treasurer: Sheila Dupé 18 Haisbro Avenue Newport NP19 7HY Phone 01633 256475

Newsletter Editor & Recorder for Recorder for Micro Moths Butterflies & Macro Moths Sam Bosanquet Martin Anthoney c\o Dingestow Court 23 Malvern Close Monmouth Risca Monmouthshire Newport NP25 4DY NP11 6QY Phone 01633 612272 e-mail [email protected] e-mail [email protected]

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