Moth for identifying

This moth came into our house the other evening. Can someone name it? Side on it looked like a small bat!

Also a photo of female Broad Bodied Chaser at Sunnybank, Tod

Philip

Hardcastle Craggs

Will be running trap at hardcastle craggs top car park by the picnic table this sat night from 9ish all welcome.....Target is DEVON CARPET we should get a few with a bit of luck ,this is the best chance to see this species in Yorkshire......................................

Cromwell Bottom Moth Night

Sat 25th  August  weather permitting more details to follow...all welcome

The Olive

Old bird nest

A friend of mine has just cleaned out a nestbox used by Great Tits and mindful of the fact we offered the old nests from the Crags boxes on here for moth IDs has left it with me, does anyone want it?

Orange Swift dark form

Mega Midgley Moths!

OK perhaps not mega but two are new for us up here, Drinker and Buff Arches and the Scarce Silver Y we've only had the odd time.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth Todmorden 27 07 12

Hummingbird Hawkmoth seen nectaring on Honeysuckle in her Todmorden Garden on 27 07 12 Portia.

Bird Dropping That Wasnt !

Thought this Ash Bud Moth was a Bird Dropping at first till i looked a bit closer ! another nice easy one to identify with the aid of the latest Micro Moth Book.

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.