salterhebble to cooper bridge

a long sunny walk today from salterhebble to cooper bridge and back!
lots more dragonfly activity today with

4 banded demoiselle at bradley hall farm(all males)
15 azure damselflies at both elland gp and bradley hall farm
300+ common blue damselflies around elland gp
34 large red damselflies at elland gp
1 broad bodied chaser at elland gp

large red damselfly

common blue damselfly

banded demoiselle

azure damselfly

Stanally Stones,30 05 09

Hi all,had a walk on calderdale way at stanally stones today,7 green hairstreak,small copper,2 wall,3 small heath,10 painted ladies,7 ancylis myrtillana,pic included,13 common heath,20 cocksfoot moth,silver y nectaring on red clover

damselflies elland gp

well the weather has paid off with a great visit to elland gp today,though a bit too early for any dragons it was ideal for damsel's.
upto 150 common blue damselflies along the river bank,30+ large red damselflies and best of all 3 azure damselflies. not sure on the latters status in calderdale but still a nice one to find.

large red damselfly

azure damselfly

also a painted lady this morning by the nestle factory

Langfield Edge,28 05 09

Hi all,looked like a perfect mothing night for a change,i e cloudy warm and a light breeze,12 brown silver lines,dark brocade,glaucous shears,angleshades,garden carpet,foxglove pug,and 2 broom and 3 of those tricky rush feeding coleophora sp,another pic of glaucous shears included.all the best bri.

Hipperholme et al

Just spent a few days in Northumberland, and in response to Nick's post, there were lots of painted ladies along the hedgerows and fields around Bamburgh along with lots of Wall Browns.

Back in Hipperholme, yesterday afternoon lots of orange tips and large whites around the garden

I ran my trap last night, lots of flies, caddis flies and 2 moths.

1 Peppered moth

1 Flame shoulder (above)

Also ran the trap last Saturday night and got 1 pale tussock

Chris

Painted Ladies on the way

See http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=1645 and http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=1649

First Hawkmoth

OK so we know its the commonest hawkmoth (?) and have seen one before but its our first up here in Midgley and we're dead chuffed!

Clouded-bordered Brindle and a few other good lookers

now I know it's not a rare moth, in fact it's common but it is my first this year and a stunning looking one at that






Common Swift



I think this is a Grey Pine Carpet, anyone got any idea



Scalloped Hazel

This week in Hebden Bridge

Hi All, Great to read all the new posts tonight. I have been rather quite on here of late as I have been manicly travelling the country performing. London / Penrith / Nottingham / Glasgow this week (in that order!) I have a day off tomorrow so trap on tonight. Just great ot see the blog thriving and everyones amazing finds and photos. Keep posting ! Winston

puss moth

Hi Paul,following on from your puss moth blog, i found this cocoon 18 inches up on goat willow trunk early on this year,it measures 1 and a half inches in old money ! in lenght,checked it out against sallow kitten,where it seemed to big,and was spot on for puss moth,in souths book.unfortunately,it wasnt camoflaged enough to foil a green woodpecker,which was seen low in same tree,previously,not realising what was happening,further searches in surrounding sallows didnt produce out.all the best bri.

Langfield Edge,25 05 09

Hi all,tried a couple of hours at langfield last night,9 brown silver lines,2 dark brocade,3 glaucous shears,pic included,and 3 diamond back moths,rain got a bit heavy,so packed it in. 1st records of g shears for me .Paul,puss moth larva is amazing.all the best bri.

Puss Moth

Hi all

When we took my mother round Pwllheli a couple of weeks back she spotted a Puss Moth in the car park. On examining it I could see that it was a female and unfortunately someone had stood on it. It had a burst abdomen and some eggs were falling out of the poor thing. It was still alive and as it seemed in no distress I decided to keep it and see if it laid any eggs. Sure enough the next day it had laid loads of eggs in a tub. These have just hatched today and I have dozens of the little buggers feeding (I think) on Dwarf Sallow. The larvae are perhaps the most spectacular cat in Britain when they get larger and I wonder if anyone back home would like a dozen of so to rear through to show the kids ? Its easy enough to post them to anyone and as they feed on a wide range of Sallow sp and Aspen food should not be a problem.

Let me know if you want any and I will get them in the post in the next couple of days with some grub to keep em going. I am keeping some myself to rear through and any surplus will be released in a local lane with tons of Dwarf Sallow. The larvae look like the bottom piccy now but will soon turn into the spectacular beast in the top photo

Last few days

still quiet here despite the weather picking up, however I have had these beauties


Yellow-barred Brindle



Foxglove Pug



Ingrailed Clay



Flame Shoulder



Brimstone



anyone got any idea what this caterpillar is, it's 45mm long and was found feeding on Sallow in the garden, is it anonother Twin-spotted Quaker?

Some photos from the Hebrides

I know these aren't from Calderdale but thought you might like to see some photos of moths we saw/caught whilst on the Outer Hebrides recently, very quiet for moths in the wind but we think we have Puss Moth, Pebble Prominent, Shears, Common Heath and Garden Carpet, are we correct? We tried very hard for Emperor Moth but although saw a couple of what probably were we couldn't be sure.

WITHENS CLOUGH

Thinking of having a try at withens clough car park tonight,if anyone fancies it,sorry its short notice,ive got a generator,let me know if you can make it,about 10 ish should be ok.all the best bri.

NEWS FROM TODMORDEN

Hi all,a bit better last night,peach blossom,3 flame carpet,3 garden carpet,5 scalloped hazel,2 silver ground carpet,brimstone,9 rustic shoulder knot,4 clouded bordered brindle,small phoenix,2 broken barred carpet,with a pic included.also diamond back moth.all the best bri.

elland gp 23/05/09

my first outing for dragonflies this year
only common blue damselfly present about 40+

common blue damselfly
(mature male)

a few butterflies about peacock,orange tip,speckled wood,small white

peacock

Micro ??

Could this be 409 Argyresthia trifasciata it has a gold sheen.See you all in June.

dragonfly

Hi all,just remembered this broad bodied chaser from last year,also saw female ovipositing on starwort in newly established pond in todmorden garden.

on 04 06 08.all the best bri.

epiblema species

Harry beaumont has checked epiblema sp on 14 05 09, and confirms it is epiblema scutulana ,he says on size it is quite small for this species,but feeding on common knapweed could account for smaller moths .I thank harry for checking it out.Paul,had a quick check on woodsage,at ramsden wood today,found what looked like bitten through stems,like in yours and ians pics,but no larva as yet,will have a proper look when i get chance,interestingly found quite a few of the black larva spun up same as Andys.will keep you posted.all the best bri.

tortrix caterpillar

Hi all,Andy heres a pic of the late instar of that tortrix sp,possibly bilberry tortrix, a viburnana ? il see what develops,this was on bilberry.All the best bri.

Wood Sage.

Went out to the local wood sage patch today ,but no sign of C.britanniodactyla,I did find a lot of the above in the tops of spun together heads of wood sage.?Also 2 Small yellow underwing,1 Scoparia ambigualis, 9 Glypipterix fuscoviridella and Cocksfoot moth.

micro

Hi all,yet another Diamond Back Moth,found whilst gardening yesterday,all the best bri.roll on a break in the weather!

Wellholme Park

A particularly "sleepy" green veined white and 1 speckled wood this afternoon.

Only House wood/Northowram

mine on Beech.?

Clouded Silver
A quick walk to the local wood in the rain produced ,1 Clouded Silver,1 Diamond Backed Moth,1 Adela reaumurella,2 cocksfoot moth ,1 Caloptillia syringella and a mine on beech.?

Longhorn

Thought I would post this pic for fun of Nematopogon swammerdamella. 1st I have seen this year. They are very impressive in their own way. Winston

Capperia britanniodactyla

Ian Kimber and I found this species by chance whilst doing a daytime session for National Moth Night on 22nd May 2004. The first Yorkshire records since 1920. Several late instar larva found feeding on Woodsage at SE0990428305 in the Shibden Valley.

It likes dry, south-facing and sloping stony habitats, where the larvae feed on wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia). In spring, the larva bites through a stem of the foodplant, causing it to wilt. These wilted stems can be quite obvious and are a good indicator to find the larva, which feeds amongst the drooping leaves. If the cat is in residence the wilted part bitten through stems of the wooddsage are a dead give away. I only ever managed to find this species in three sites, 2 in Calderdale and one in Kirklees. As far as my experiences go you only have a chance of finding it on woodsage which is exposed to full sun on bare or rabbit grazed areas. The first instar larva overwinters at the base of the foodplant and if this gets shaded or overgrown I suspect the larva perish from damp and cold over winter. As far as I am aware this species has stil not be found in many parts of Yorkshire so any records you can come up with will be notable records nationally and locally