New - Field tips resource -
There is a superb resource available on the Suffolk Moth
Group website of 'Field Tips' which is a searchable database of hints
and tips for finding species of moths - mainly in their early stages.
If you are familiar with the book 'Practical hints for the Field
Lepidopterist' by J.W.Tutt - then this guide is in the same vein and the
site contains mostly tips taken from that book, but with added
photographs in some cases. (added 21 Feb 10).
http://www.suffolkmothgroup.org.uk/cgi-bin/field/viewcurrent.cgi
Wiltshire Moth Group meeting - The Wiltshire Moth
Group will be holding an informal south Wiltshire meeting on Monday 22nd
February at 7pm at the Victoria & Albert PH,
Netherhampton, SP2 8PU. Anyone interested in moth recording in Wiltshire
is welcome including those from over the border in Dorset and Hampshire
as the southernmost part of Wiltshire is poorly recorded. So join us for
a bite to eat, a drink and good conversation about moths. The new
county moth recorder, Marc Taylor, will be present to answer your
questions and gather your records. Netherhampton is about 2 miles
west of the centre of Salisbury, just off the A3094, grid ref. SU108298.
Please let John Muggleton know if you intend to come.
Marc Taylor & John Muggleton ( email on jmuggleton[at]aol.com or respond via link
on UK Moths yahoo website
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukmoths/ ).
Dorset Dragonfly Group Meeting -
I would
like to invite you all to a Dorset Dragonfly Group meeting
scheduled for Wednesday March 10th at the Dorset Wildlife
Trust Head Quarters, Brooklands Farm, Forston, Dorchester ,
DT2 7AA which would be from 6 pm - 7.30 pm.
It would
be a good opportunity to discuss the current state of
recording in Dorset and focus recoding in key areas for key
species in the season ahead.
The
format of the meeting will be that of an open forum so there
are plenty of chances to contribute ideas and information.
Items which we would like to discuss will include:
-
Current state of recording on Dorset , where are the
records coming from?
-
Where
are the 'hot spots', sites rich in species which we
could begin to plot to get a better picture of dragonfly
biodiversity in the county.
-
Are
there any particular species we could target for extra
effort in trying to record, e.g the small red damselfly,
scarce chaser, scare blue tailed damselfly, should we
record these while carrying out casual monitoring or
wait for a lead from the BDS to target monitoring on
individual species.
-
There
are areas of Dorset which are unrecorded and under
recorded, discuss possible approaches to fill in the
gaps in our knowledge – how best can we monitor these
areas?
-
Other
ideas to develop & promote Dorset Dragonfly Group,
website development, publicity, further meetings,
identification days, walks etc
-
A
book on the Dragonflies of Dorset
-
Monitoring the ponds that have been created or restored
as part of the Purbeck Ponds Project.
This area
few ideas for discussion, if there are any other issues
and areas that people want to raise could you please
email
me
for
inclusion.
Please
could you reply to say that you can or can't attend so I
have some idea of numbers.
Andrew
Brown
Dorset
Dragonfly Recorder
The
latest issue of E-moth,
the electronic only update of the Moths Count project and
National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS) is now available. The
newsletter includes details of our upcoming moth recorders
conference in Birmingham on the 23rd January 2010
and gives an update on the exciting progress of the NMRS.
Follow
link.
The
First British Record
of Musotima nitidalis
Meyr. -
On the 11th August 2009, David Evans and Mike Jeffes ran moth
traps and a light above a sheet on Merritown Heath NR, west
of Bournemouth Airport. Among the 55 species of moth in the
trap including 24 species of micros was a small pyralid not
unlike a China-mark at first appearance which was boxed up
for identification later. Unable to identify the species,
even with the help of Phil Stirling, Dorset Micro Recorder,
further assistance from such luminaries as Rev. David
Agassiz, assorted experts at the British Entomological
Meeting on the 7th October at the Imperial
College London, and Martin Honey at the British Museum.
Martin identified the moth as a pyralid, Musotima
nitidalis which is found is Australasia, and in its
natural habitat feeds on maidenhair ferns and related
species.
There is a huge green waste disposal site close to where the moth was
trapped, which handles waste from nurseries, and it may have
come to Britain via the importation of plants. DEFRA
confirmed that the moth had not been reported in this
Country and therefore is new to Great Britain and probably
the whole of Europe. (Edited from a short article in
preparation by David Evans). (added 8 Dec 09).
EuCAN
Conservation
project
- At last we
have
finished
putting
together the
arrangements
for next
year - I
have
attached the
2010
information
sheet and
an
application
form. You
should also
shortly find
the
information
on our
website
www.eucan.org.uk
(in its
early stages
of
development
at the
moment!) and
also much
other
information
about EuCAN
and the
previous
visits we
have run.
If you would like to apply for a place, please email me the completed application form - even if you have already sent me one. If you know someone who might be interested, please forward this email to them, and to any organisations you think might be receptive. If you have taken part before, unfortunately you cannot apply again - sorry!
For information and application click on links. (Contributed by Nigel Spring). (added 10 Dec 09).
Moths of Dorset -
the last section on Pyralids is now added,
making this the most up-to-date information on status,
distribution, occurrences and flight-time of Dorset moths,
with photos. Follow
link
Trips and Holidays -
see new feature called
Trips and Holidays - Hungary and France 2008 to be added
shortly. Please let me have any articles or species lists for moths
while on holiday in the UK or abroad. Thank you.
Latest edition of eMoth - from Butterfly Conservation,
follow link.
The
Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland: Vol. 5: Tortricidae. Publication
2010. Approx. 500 pages and 40
colour plates. In two parts. Hardback. ISBN 87-88757-86-2. Price
per part approx GBP 60.00 / € 95.00 / US$ 132.00 / DKK 660.00.
Latest news from the publisher is that they hope to have the manuscript
by December, with a publication date now 'some months' into 2010 - per T
Box
