Friday 1 July 2011

Two more moths, one new for Islay

Like Becky, I was running a moth trap in the garden last night and caught these two interesting moths which, however, are much less spectacular than her Elephant Hawk-moth.
The Shark appears to be the first record for Islay since 1983. There are three other earlier records, two in the 1970s and one in 1941. There were two on Colonsay in 2007. So it is recorded for the islands but not very often.
The Green Pug, on the other hand, is, I think, new for Islay, and with no records for either Colonsay or Jura. However, there have been three records in the last ten years from Mull to the north and one from Rathlin Island to the south off the Northern Ireland coast, which pretty much bracket us!  I have sent the photograph to an expert for confirmation but I'm reasonably confident in my identification of it!
Malcolm
Shark (c.24 mm long)


Green Pug (c.11 mm long)

3 comments:

  1. I'm absolutely loving this year's fascination with my favourite lepidoptera! Can't wait to get to Islay (we'll be there in 4 weeks) Need to find room in the car for the Robinson's and see if Carnduncan can produce anything 'interesting' for the INHT records!
    Keep up the great work....!

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  2. Hello Karl
    If you can't find room for your Robinson's, you're welcome to borrow the Trust's Skinner trap.
    Malcolm

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  3. Thanks Malcolm - that's good to know.

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