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Tuesday, 29 April 2014

An Emperor Visits....

Had three traps out last night, two just E of Burry Port and one in a garden at Stradey, Llanelli. Only relatively low numbers of the regular, seasonal moths, as it was clear and starry in the first part of the night, though presumably it clouded over later.
A female emperor moth was resting on the outside of one of the Burry Port traps and there were also FFY common white wave and poplar hawk-moths. Have got a couple of moths ( a pug and a carpet) to check later, when I wake up, but nothing too special.

                               Above: the Burry Port emperor - or should it be empress? - in her robes.


  1. Wonderful picture there, Ian. Congratulations.

  2. very nice! - but what's it doing down in Burry Port....

  3. I`ve also had an emperor at Tyrwaun a few years was sitting on my car door! I suspect that they fly over from the Gower heaths on occasion. In the past there was much heathery rhos pasture on the nearby hilly backdrop too, but most such habitat is now gone. It is still possible though if the winds were northerly, that the moth came from Carms rather than Gower.

  4. They do breed on sand dunes too (I've seen larvae on Burnet Rose and Bramble at Merthyr Mawr in Glamorgan).

  5. It could be a sand-dune `empress` then....there`s nearby sandy areas at Burry Port, Pembrey and, of course, just opposite at Whiteford, Gower. Thanks George.