Gothic,Garden pebble,Bee Moth and Red barred tortrix

Antler feeding on Thistle

                                                      Antler moth on Ragwort

Narrow Borderd 5 spot Burnet moth

Loads of antler moths feeding on thistle and ragwort  today at Rishworth in the sunshine

Moth for naming

I disturbed this moth today at the base of meadow grasses, Sunnybank, Tod. I would be pleased to have it identified (not that I can identify moths but this one I haven't seen  before).
Thanks
Philip

Sun Wood, Shelf

Out today looking at Sun Wood in Shelf in terms of future management. Lots of Speckled Woodand Meadow Browns, but the highlight was a Purple Hairstreak on a medium sized oak near the bridge.

Last night

Riband Wave top and Plain wave below  shows  lack of a kink in the outer line,and  has dashes along the wing edge rather than the dots and dashes of Riband Wave

                                        Small yellow wave new for the garden

A cracking night at long last at Northowram , any one like to guess at this lot above...

Carpet - it's a Large Twin-spot. The bulge on the outer edge of the dark fascia

is diagnostic. I find supplementary plate A in the new edition of Skinner to be
really useful here.Thanks Charlie F
 This is the first time this species has been recorded in Calderdale and as soon as I saw it on the Garage window , I had an idea what it was good to get confirmation.



 .

Gorse Pupa Emergance

This beauty emerged from one of the Pupae inside the Gorse Seedpods on 07 07 12,was half expecting a Parasitic Wasp,so what a suprise when this Red-barred Tortrix 1010 Ditula angustiorana emerged,i could see the Pupa darkening so i lightly sprayed it with a bit of water and almost immediately out it popped,i struggled at first on the side on view,but as soon as i saw it from above it was straight forward to id.regards Bri.

More Cromwell Bottom!

I reckon I've finally nailed this one down as Acleris Hastiana. It's a dead ringer for the pic on the Hants moth site complete with two pairs of scale tufts.A common sallow feeding species.

More Cromwell Bottom

A few more from last night at Cromwell Bottom,top Acleris forsskalena a common and beautiful micro,and one of 2 Dingy Shears a uncommon moth in Calderdale.an excellent night. 

Cromwell Bottom micros.

The micros I took home to ID were as follows:

2x 518 Coleophora teifolii

2x 1201 Eucosma cana

2x 640 Batia lunaris

1x Scoparia ambigualis

1x Cydia splendana

1x Bryotropha affinis

1x Batrachedra praeangusta

Plus two to ID.

The mystery micro/caddisfly netted beforehand was indeed a caddisfly.

An enjoyable, calm, warm night with loads of moths and no mossies or midges.

Batia lunaris - forewing 5mm.

Coleophora trifolii - showing the thickly scaled base to the antennae.

Cydia splendana - all three micros new to me plus umpteen new macros.

Cromwell bottom

Brown Line bright Eye the first local record since 1966 a real cracking night with plenty of new faces.Other highlights were southern wainscot,Dingy Shears 2 and only the second and third local records, Suspected,silky Wainscot,Uncertain , and a whole host of micros for id.Many thanks to all who turned up..
More info to follow...............

Sun

Afternoon sunshine today produced 15 Ringlet at a new location in Northowram ,3 Speckled wood, 2 Small Heath,3 small tortoiseshell , 2 yellow shell , 3/4  5 spot Burnetts and 4 large Skippers.1 Marbled beauty on the wall outside the house.

Moth night at Cromwell Bottom will go ahead this sat night but we have only one trap as robin is away..all welcome.

YNU Report 2010

Just been sorting a few stuff out and realised I have two copies of the 2010 YNU Lepidoptera report, spare one is free to anyone who wants it.

Cromwell Bottom Moth Night

Weather looks ok this sat so planning to trap around the site.All welcome 9.30 onwards.

Langfield Edge

Ran the trap last night below the rock face at langfield,A cool breeze blew up the valley but the rain stayed away,Bri ,Peter and myself stayed until 2ish. the highlights were 4 Confused  and  3 Grey Moutain Carpet.supporting cast were 8 Blastobasis Lac ,Small angle shades ,3 Narrow winged pug , 30 ingrailed Clay, 4 Broom Moth 5 Bright Line Brown Eye, Silver Y ,Northern Spinach,Dusky brocade , 6 Purple Clay ,True Lovers Knot and our first Antler of the year.
NEXT WEEK IF THE WEATHER IS GOOD ITS CROMWELL BOTTOM...will keep you posted.

Langfield Edge 14 07 12

Quite a chilly night, though cloudy and dry, as the wind came and went,amazingly 4 Confused checked by the 2 bands on the underside of forewing in amongst the Dusky Brocades,also 3 Grey Mountain Carpets only ever seen 2 before in years of searching locally,also this Scop species Scoparia ambigualis ? Regards Andy,Bri,Peter

Grizzly Goings on in the Gorse

Found quite a few Micros Cydia ulicetana around this large Gorse patch,and found a good few of these Pupae inside the seedpods,i opened one up to show.I noticed some small Parasitic Wasps also s earching out the seedpods,whether for ones still with Larvae inside or with Pupae in im not sure,i could clearly see the wasp inserting its Ovipositor into the Pods ! Uhm Nature ! i have retained a few Pupae to see what emerges.Regards Bri.

Sat night Langfiel Common

We are heading up to langfield common tonight looking for moorland specialities.Meet at shepards rest about 9 ish.All welcome...

Check Those Flowers

Theres good numbers of Moths Nectaring on Flowers at the moment,especially after dark,all manner of Flowers, Thistles,Ragworts and Grass Flower heads are worth checking,in fact its far more productive than using Actinic Traps at the moment,on a relatively small patch of Creeping Thistles the other night 2 species of Pug Narrow Winged,Larch and Noctuids including Dusky,Pale Shouldered Brocades,Purple Clay,Large Yellow Underwings,Ingrailed Clay,Middle Barred Minor all were tucking in.These 2 were Dusky Brocades   Regards Bri.

Hardcastle Craggs 07 07 12

A good night at Craggs with 44 species of macros Beautiful Snout top and Scallop Shell ,although raining for quite a time some great Local Moths came in July Highflyer, Barred red ,Narrow Winged pug,Tawny Barred angle, Green Arches Rivulet,Green pug,Dark Spectacle and Northern spinach.at least 25 Mottled beauty (but no Satins).Andy, Bri ,Peter .

Recent sightings

I've been out and about over the last few days (keeping to the drier days anyway), had a few good sightings that you might like to know about. Beechwood Park LNR, Illingworth/Ovenden The meadow was full of chimney sweeper moths, along with speckled wood. Painted Lady Had my first view of a painted lady this year on 4th July, on the road out of Wainstalls towards Castle Carr top lodge,just as it passes over Caty Well Brook (Grid reference SE045287). It was fliting around feeding on thistles Thursday 5th July Angled Shade and lots of Peacock caterpillars on the footpath linking Bradford Road to Hud Hill/Landmere in Northowram/Stone Chair area (Grid reference SE116275) Chris

Larch Pug 05 07 12

Had another try at Cockhill Wood Plantation with Actinic last night left trap right in plantation and typically no Pugs came to the light! i noticed quite a few Creeping Thistles flowering on the main ride seperating the  Larch and Spruce.And Nectaring on the flowers were 3 Melanistic Pugs and a Narrow Winged Pug plus this Normal form Larch Pug,also nectaring with them  Dusky,Pale Shouldered Brocades,Common Rustic Aggs,Clouded Bordered Brindles,LY Underwings,Purple Clay.Actinic pulled in Tawny Barred Angle dk form,3 Green Carpets,Ingrailed Clay,Pale shouldered brocade and Small dooted buff ,Micro Eucosma sp plus another micro yet to be identified,  Bri.

Bad Weather

Ok so we all know that the weather has been poor since the beautiful March , but we have still recorded some excellent moths , its more of a quality year than quantity.So a quick look at the highlights so far
449a Prays Olea
596 Elashista poae
656 Tachystola acroxantha
Eyed Hawkmoth
Wood Tiger
Larch Pug
Devon Carpet
Chamomile Shark
Red Twin Spot Carpet(thanks Charlie Fletcher)
Broad Barred White
and Satin Beauty (thanks Charlie Fletcher)

September and October must be in for a heatwave......

So if the weather is good hopefully trap a Red necked Footman at Hardcastle Craggs sat night 9.45 all welcome...

Satin Beauty

Many thanks to Charlie Fletcher who has re identified this species as a female Satin Beauty ,I had  id'd  it as an Engrailed reared from a cat found at Hardcastle Craggs in May..

Another French Dragon

Ogden

 A couple of days ago now, when it was slightly warmer and dryer. Not much around, but near the golf course there were large numbers of small heaths around.

Headed up towards the ponds to see if there were Dragonflies around, but only really found large red damselflies, though this one appears to have some kind of mite attached to it, though the picture is not great, the orange marking on the side appears to be a cluster of mites. There was one dragonfly, but it saw me as the moment I saw it and it moved away into the trees. It was defiantly a hawker, though it is a bit early!

It started to rain so I left the ponds in the woods, but the rain soon left so I went to have a look at the pond up the back lane. It was still pretty gloomy, but there were around 5 Azure damselflies in the area that I could see. I know the pictures not great...

Also we had this lovely moth in the garden about a week ago now. I think its a Knotgrass moth, though I could well be mistaken.

Found in France

Took this amongst several others on a recent trip to France (La Brenne area), not had chance to get the books out yet, anyone ID i

t?

Cockhill Wood Plantation 01 07 12

C

Purple Hairstreak 30 06 12

Saw a Purple Hairstreak yesterday at Ramsden Wood Clough,in between torrential rain as the sun came out,and plenty of Nemophora degeerella about.regards Bri.

Engrailed

This emerged today from a larvae found on beech at hardcastle craggs in late May.

Moth Night IS On Tonight

Meeting at cromwell Bottom tonight  about 9.30.All welcome.....

Moths at last

Finally got round to putting the trap on last night as the weather for the first time in ages looked pretty good.30+ species of macro including this rather worn Broad Barred white,Cinnabr,Ghost Moth,Pale Sh Brocade,Gothic,Burnished Brass,BGY,,Campion,Buff arches,Freyers Pug(6) and a lot of micros to sort...

Time to get that new guide out.

Even with the new micro guide I knew the Tortricidae were never going to be straight forward. This was reared from oak, forewing 8mm – anybody any ideas?

Skircoat Green allotments.

I had a 656 Tachystola acroxantha floating in the water tub yesterday - a bit worn and crumpled but still alive. One to watch out for as it appears to be expanding its range in to Yorkshire.

Charlie.

Calderdale Wildlife Blog--PROBLEMS?

I have just tried to open the Calderdale Wildlife Blog and I have been warned by my computer security not to open the page as it is a well known fraudulent website! Has anyone else received this message and is there a problem?

Thanks, Philip

Moth Night Cancelled

To nights moth night at Cromwell Bottom has been cancelled due to the RAIN,..I will try and do it next sat night if this weather ever improves.Many apologies for any inconvenience..Andy,Bri  and robin

I know it's rained a lot but a shark in the garden!

I found this resting on my outside thermometer on the 19^th June and passed it off as a Pale Pinion. I took a couple of photos though and have just gotten around to looking at them. Although the moth is very worn it seems to me to be a late Chamomile Shark (a first for me) - anybody have any thoughts?

 There is a patch of Chamomile just a few yards from where the moth was found – I’ll have to have a good search for larvae if it ever stops raining.

Wood Tiger

Heres a few pics of the Wood Tiger emerged on 18 06 12 from a Larva


found on Whiteholme Drain on 05 05 12.only the 2nd ive ever seen both

were larva.it emerged 3 weeks after pupating,superb moths.regards Bri.

Batings in the rain

managed to get out between the showers today ,1 Chimney sweeper,1 Yellow shell,1 Small white,2 Speckled wood,1 silver Y and a few grass moths....

Malachite Beetle

Found this little chap this morning, malachius bipustulatus, the Malachite Beetle, always nice to see them. Win

Bufftip larvae from Todmorden

Bufftip larvae found by Brian leesey. A good night at the craggs on Sat (lots of midges)30 species the pic being 4 devon Carpets , a very late Red Green Carpet and eudonia pallida.10+ Cockchafers

Sat night

Craggs this sat night weather permitting,top car park about 9.30..all welcome

National Moth Night

23 rd June is National Moth Night, cromwell Bottom at 9.30..all welcome bring torch ,net and lets hope its good moth weather for a change.These organised nights allways seem to be a damp squid....If any one has a spare trap brig it along... I am planning to be there till dawn and will leave traps running all night....