Goat Moth

Group member Sallie Corfield has sent in an exciting bit of news about a moth sighting she reported to the County Moth Recorder. Sallie, in her capacity as Community Ranger for Forestry England, was working on Forestry England's stand at the Timber festival in Feanedock Wood in July, 2019. County Moth Recorder for Leicestershire & Rutland, Adrian Russell had a 'walk-in' moth trap (something I'd love to see in action!) set up there, and Sallie wandered in and spotted and photographed a hitherto undetected moth, which she reported to Adrian. It was a Goat Moth! This once-common moth has become extremely rare, and the previous record in VC55 (Leics & Rutland) was in 1990 at Brown's Hill Quarry, near Melton Mowbray.

Adrian suggested to Sallie that it might be worthwhile surveying the area for signs of the Goat Moth, and I agree with Sallie's suggestion that we should make the groups members aware of this in case they would like to involve themselves in such an activity. Although the moth flies in June and July, its presence can be detected by the holes bored in trees by the caterpillars. If you would like to know more about the Goat Moth, which is one of UK's largest moths, and how to find them, please look at https://butterfly-conservation.org/sites/default/files/1.goat-moth-species-factsheet.pdf. If you would like to discuss this with me (Richard Pegler), please get in touch. In current circumstances, visits will have to be on an individual basis but, in happier times ( fingers are crossed) a small group visit might be arranged. I visited Feanedock Wood yesterday, and it is a splendid place. It is within walking distance of Blackfordby and can be found on the right hand side of Gorse Lane bridleway (as accessed from Boothorpe) through a gate before you descend the hill to Rawdon Road and Conkers.

Goat Moth (Cossus cossus) - Feanedock Wood

Incidentally, I didn't find any hard evidence during my visit yesterday, but did see a couple of tree trunks that had me wondering!?

Thank you, Sallie for this, and congratulations on this fabulous find!

Take great care and stay safe, everyone - - - Richard
 

Cue For a Song?!

Brian has sent in a wonderful image, with the following note:-

Attached is a picture a friend in Montrose, Scotland, sent me of Pink-footed Geese flying in front of a rainbow. My friend's name is Andy Wakelin. Montrose has an inland sea called Montrose Basin which has a Wildlife Centre. It is famous for it's flocks of geese every Autumn. This year there were over 84,000 at the basin. It is a great place to visit if any members are ever on the East Coast of Scotland see web site https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserve/montrose-basin/

Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) - Montrose Basin, Scotland

Thank you, Andy and Brian - much appreciated! 

 

Mouse Problem - Solved!

Our Chaiman, Brian, has had a mouse problem. I'll let Brian take over with the description, extracted from his emails to me. If you have a mouse problem you might find the following useful :-

 

I have a lot of problems with House mice in the shed that we store bird & dog food in, they even chew through plastic storage boxes if given the chance. I hate using lethal traps so bought a humane trap to try. I had tried a different design last year that wasn't very successful, however the new one has been out only 3 days & has already caught 2 mice so seems quite good. I am fairly sure they are House Mice (Mus musculus) but not certain. This one got a bath when I released it in the field away from the house as it jumped straight out of the trap into a puddle, shook itself and hopped off at a great pace. You need to clean & dry the trap between baiting it or the seesaw trap door sticks. They then eat the bait and can escape, cleaning & drying it stops that happening. Best bait is crunchy peanut butter.

The trap came from Ivanhoe Country Store & was less than £8. It works on a seesaw principle the weight of the mouse tips the seesaw & this raises the weighted door on the other end stopping the mouse from getting out again - (most of the time). The previous type I tried was much smaller & the whole trap was supposed to tip & a door shut but I never got it to catch anything so I threw it away. I always use Peanut butter as a bait as they love it, I also bait not only inside the trap but also on the inward end of the seesaw 

 

Thank you for this interesting information, Brian. I hope that the trap is continuing to serve you well