An Anouncement - Hereford Recording

It is with some sadness that it has been decided that Mike Harper will no longer continue in the role of Hereford County Moth Recorder, due to long term ill health.  Sheila would really appreciate it if no-one made contact with Mike regarding this please.

From immediate effect Phyl King becomes Hereford Macro-moth County Recorder and I become the Micro-moth Recorder.  However, I will also have a copy of the Mapmate Macro-moth database and will be more than happy to receive macro-moth records from you all and answer queries and produce data upon request.  Of course Phyl will too. The county database is for everyone to have information from and I will be glad to help in this respect.

The Micro-moth database needs re-building, with a mass of information needing entering to bring it up to date, a lot of it Mike Harper's records.  This will take some time to do, but I plan to start as soon as possible with the aim to have available all information on Hereford micro-moths, both new and historical.

If you click on the link on the right hand side for the list of County Moth Recorders, you will find details of us both in there and this is a request for all people with moth records, however old, to submit them to me (or Phyl) soonest please.  If they are in notebook form, I am happy to input these for you.  One such recorder last year was delighted when I put in 30,000 of his moth records over the winter months.  I am happy to do this for anyone with Hereford records (notebooks returned after of course).

Some of you I know, and some I don't.  So please can I apologise now if I query a record.  For the micro-moths I shall be using the Butterfly Conservation guide, plus my own experience in micro-moths.  For Macro-moths it will be those that need dissection or are unusual in their rarity or timing.

Regards
Peter Hall

Vestal

Three nights of trapping just South of Barcelona did not produce any Vestals, but I had one at home this morning in Worcestershire. This Striped Hawk-moth was my Spanish highlight.

Palpita vitrealis & aberrant Swallow-tailed

Alan Prior at Hall Green has also had a good migrant in the last couple of nights, Palpita vitrealis (photo may follow).
He also trapped an interesting form of Swallow-tailed Moth which according to Warwicshire CMR David Brown is a recognised form but very scarce. Patrick Clement

Aberrant Swallow-tailed Moth

Palpita vitrealis

Another Vestal

Upon returning from Patrick's Hawkbatch venture I just had time to go through the garden trap. The big surprise was a Vestal on the perspex. Are these breeding individuals? Seems rather like the Bordered Straw Summer records of 2015. Seems most unlikely to be a migrant.
Just to note that this June 2017 has been the second best for moths in 11 years recording, only bettered by 2011.

Hawkbatch, Wyre Forest, 26th June.

              With the weather forecasted to go downhill I decided to make use of possibly the last good night for a while and target the Norway Spruce at Hawkbatch for Argyresthia glabratella and Epinotia nanana. I ran 3 traps, using my custom built wheelbarrow to transport traps, cables and generator to a suitable location and was joined by Ian Machin and Steve Whitehouse.
              Sadly we failed to trap either of our targets or indeed some of the Wyre specialities such as Orange Moth, Great Oak Beauty, Oecophora bractella or Dasycera oliviella so the general feeling was that we had a below par performance despite recording in the region of 140 species!
             I photographed just the two specimens below from the nights catch.   Patrick Clement

Amblyptilia punctidactyla

Piniphila bifasciana

Great Farley Wood, 21st June

Pammene regiana

           Great Farley Wood in North Worcestershire had just a handful of very old moth records on the Mapmate database so my visit on the 21st June, the last night of the heatwave, seemed more valuable than usual because even common moths would be new for the site. As it turned out it wasn't just common moths I recorded, Cydia illutana is a very scarce species in Worcestershire but I recorded 8 of them on a ride bordering mixed conifers and broadleaved trees.
           Argyresthia laevigatella, Cedestis gysseleniella and Narycia duplicella (adult) were all new moths for me and in the perfect conditions my 4 traps were humming. I'm still working on some of the tricky species but the total will certainly be over 160.        Patrick Clement

Cydia illutana

Argyresthia laevigatella

Cedestis gysseleniella

Narycia duplicella

Cryptoblabes bistriga

Brockhampton Estate - updated!

 A small brown pyrale-like moth has now been identified that came to one of the traps.  It's a Marsh Oblique-barred.  Such a tiny macro-moth, but nonetheless a county first for Hereford.

After a very successful return to Bernwood Forest in Buckinghamshire a couple of nights ago where Dave Wilton and myself recorded well over 200 species (and completed the double - 100+ macros and 100+micros), I felt suitably recovered and enthused to venture out again. This time I went to Limepits Wood on the Brockhampton Estate.  I chose this part as it was fairly well sheltered from the stiff breeze.  Not the most exciting of evenings, but the number of species slowly increased during my 3 hour trapping session.  72 macro species recorded and 24 micro species, with a few potted up to look at more closely.  Blomer's Rivulet numbers were surprisingly low considering I trapped next to a line of young Wych Elm trees, with just 7 individuals.  Other species of note: Dingy Shell (4), Lilac Beauty (1), Sandy Carpet (13), Dingy Shears (1), Triple-spotted Clay (1), Minor Shoulder-knot (2) and the surprise of the night a Vestal.  Commonest moth of the night was The Flame (34). Peter Hall

Brockhampton Estate: Beautiful Carpet

Brockhampton Estate:Blomer's Rivulet

Brockhampton Estate: Dingy Shell

Brockhampton Estate: Swallow-tailed

Brockhampton Estate: Vestal