Stainland. 10 & 12 July.

 This is a list of moths I've had at the house for the 10th and 12 of July. There were no moths on the 11th. The 10th was a good night, I was busy taking photos of them from 2:30 until 3:30 am. Today I spent 5 hours trying to ID some of the moths I'd not seen before. I'm more than a bit frazzled now. Those I'm not sure of, or I think are of interest, will be at the end. (Some very poor images here).

 

11th July: (24 moths, a record for me)

2 x small Magpies.

2 x Brimstone

6 x Marbled Beauties (see photo comparison below)

5 x Blastobasis lactocollela

1 x Snout 

1 x Swallowtail (worn and with wing damage)

1 x Riband Wave - Non Banded)

1 x Bee Moth

1 x Common Footman

1 x Brown House Moth

1 x Current Pug (new to me)

1 x Flame (new to me) TBC

1 x No ID (see photo) TBC

There were 3 or 4 larger moths flying around too. Non of them settled, they just kept coming back to tease me.

12th July:

1 x Riband Wave -Banded

 

I managed to get a photo of the snout flying away from me, just before it landed:-

 

 

Snout flying away

 

Marbled Beauties, 2 Different colours. The brown was much bigger than the grey. Some greys were also bigger than this one. Another Marbled Beauty was a mixture of the grey and the brown liveries.

Current Pug

 

I spent a long time trying to ID this next one, I hope I got it right.

 

Flame

After going through all my moth books 3 times, and looking on line, I wasn't able to get a match.

ID needed please

If I got any of these wrong, please correct me. 

Right. I'm off to run my head under the tap, then have a couple of stiff malt whiskies.

 

 

 

 

 

Mirey Wall farm, Sowerby

 Loads of expired adult Common Clothes Moths in a rug at Peachy Steve's farm today. Maybe a first record we have for Calderdale?????

Around 60 species to light including a Rufous Minor - a dissected male.

7 new species for me!

Castle Carr Road and Saltonstall - 10th July

This afternoon - very little sunshine but it was very warm and the still uncut, dry fields were perfect and pretty much alive with butterflies with plenty thistles and ragwort etc along the lanes.

Meadow Brown was the commonest (impossible to count) with Ringlets, Small Tortoiseshells and a few Small Heaths in among. 2 Large Skippers and c 8 Small Skippers and best of all a Common Blue showing well and more or less staying in and around the same spot. No Whites.

Moths included one each of Yellow Shell, Silver-ground Carpet, Latticed Heath and  4 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet Moths in close proximity on Creeping Thistle heads.

Lee Mount - 10th July

 This morning

Coxcomb Prominent x 1

Light Emerald x 1

Riband Wave x 2

Common Lutestring x 1

Green Oak Tortrix x 3

Snout x 1

Green Pug x 1 (well faded but still  a hint of green in places)

Heart and Dart x 1

Buff Arches x 1

Uncertain x 1

Large Yellow Underwing x 1

Hawthorn Moth x 1

+ a few others and some micros etc still to sort through...and the recent Varied Coronet is still present

Buff Arches

Buff Arches

Common Lutestring

Coxcomb Prominent

Green Pug

Snout

9th July - Mytholmroyd

I was in a rush this morning so didn't have time to identify many micros and worn macros, meaning I unfortunately had to ignore about 7 or 8 moths, alongside 5 that flew off

However, despite this, I was shocked to see my biggest ever total of 160 moths of 60 species

Again, not much time for photos unfortunately, but snapped a few

Green Arches

Burnished Brass

Coxcomb Prominemt

 

Rough list below, though a bit of sorting still to do:

Peppered 13

Heart and Dart 9

Garden Grass Veneer 20

True lovers knot 6

Common Wainscot

Common rustic agg

Common footman 3

Snout 2

Dark arches 12

Small elephant

Marbled minor agg 11

Buff arches 6

Elachista argentella

Foxglove pug

Riband wave 7

Eudonia lacustrata 4

Burnished brass

Common Marbled Carpet

Rustic/uncertain 3

Thistle ermine 3

Middle barred minor 2

Brimstone 4

Elderberry Pearl

Celypha lacunana 2

Light emerald 2

Barred fruit tree tortrix

Swallow tailed moth

Eudonia pallida

Flame 7

Dusky brocade 

Pseudogaryzota Congwana

Coxcomb prominent

Bright Line Brown Eye 3

Small angle shades 2

Clouded silver

Marbled beauty

Cabbage (to confirm)

Hediya pruniana 

Common Wave 

Common white wave

Small magpie 

Green pug

Bee moth

Plain wave

Fan foot

Large Yellow Underwing

Elephant hawkmoth

Straw dot

Angle shades

Green carpet

Beautiful golden y

Smoky wainscot

Double striped pug

Plume (to identify)

Broom

Ingrailed clay

Knot grass (to confirm)

Green Arches

Grapholita jungiella

Ogden area

Syke Lane fields and Back Lane fields still uncut. A lovely warm sunny afternoon and the meadows were alive with Meadow Browns (impossible to count). Also a good show of Ringlets, a number of Small Tortoiseshells and a few Small Heaths.

Best of the afternoon was a Beautiful Yellow Underwing - camera wouldn't focus or maybe I wasn't quick enough the more likely explanation. 

Found it at the top end of  Ogden's White Wall End near the bridge across the gully. It was resting on a bracken frond then it flew around us for a moment or two but it wouldn't settle. Only my second one - stunning !

Lee Mount - 9th July

Flame x 1

Varied Coronet x 1 (this looks a darker individual from 2nd /3rd July) They like the Sweet Williams !

Gothic x 1

Clouded Border x 1

Marbled Beauty x 4

Carcina quercana x 1

Unidentified Pugs x 2 (well faded)

Also this micro - could it be Eucosma cana ? (any thoughts welcome)

Gothic

Varied Coronet

7th July

Map-winged Swift

Swallow-tailed Moth

Beautiful Golden Y

Common Footman

True Lover’s Knot

Buff Arches

Elephant Hawkmoth

61 moths of 30 species in the garden trap on my first night back home from Uni Fan foot, Small fan foot, Brimstone 2, The flame 4, Riband wave, Garden grass veneer 14, Crambus pascuella, Snout, Heart and dart 2, LYU 4, True lovers knot 5, Garden Pebble, Marbled minor 3, Purple clay, Dusky Brocade 3, Smoky wainscot, Beautiful Golden Y, Clouded bordered brindle 2, Marbled orchard tortrix, Brindled Pug, Opostega salaciella, Bryotropha affinis, Map-winged swift, Eudonia lacustrata 2, Common footman, Elephant hawkmoth, Buff Arches, Swallow-tailed Moth, Barred fruit tree tortrix, Double-striped Pug,

Drinker

 A very smart Drinker in Todmorden last night...Thanks AArak and Cath Baker....Also  a Dark Green Fritillary at Cromwell Bottom this morning. and a White letter Hairstreak yesterday at Hebden

Lee Mount 8th July etc....

 This morning in the trap a new one.

Thought at first it was a Hebrew Character by the central mark but on closer checks think it must be Double-Square-spot - a new one for here.

Also rans...

Clouded Silver x 1

Marbled Beauty x 3

Lozotaenia forsterana x 1

Bronze Fruit-tree Tortrix

Bryotropha terrella (maybe) ? (TBC)

Bryotropha terrella (maybe) ? (TBC) 

Had  a few of these lately but still unsure of identification !

Clouded Silver

From last night

Silver Y x 1

Blastobasis adustella

Also from yesterday -several Chimney Sweepers found on Castle Carr Road near Wainstalls and later in the day in Crimsworth Dean alongside the road near Grain Water Bridge.

Stainland.

One moth to report today (3am).  A Diamond-Back. I had to use a telephoto lens and 400 ISO, hence the digital noise.

Diamond-Back

Stainland.

Another first for me this morning. It's one of those "common" ones, so common I've never seen one before. I don't get many Swift moths at all. This one's a female Gost Moth. I thought it was very nicely marked, if battle scarred. However, as the female often flies directly at a male in the lekking display and both fall to the ground, I'm not surprised. I laughed when I read that part, it's very like some of the women in our village, cave woman style. :-)

Appart from 4 Marbled beauties who've taken up a squat here, I had:

1 x Light Brown Apple

1 x Garden carpet.

Ghost Moth (Female)

Stainland.

Just before bedtime, on the 5th July, I looked to see if there were any moths by the door. There were four Marbled Beautie,s left from the five I had the night before. As I was focusing the camera, it began to rain. Two more Marbled Beauties and one snout arrived. Hiding from the rain I suppose, lucky timing for me. There were two Blastobasis lacticollela as well. As the year moves on, I suppose I shall get more Blastobasis sp. (Both Blastobasis lacticollela and Blastobasis adustella). I ususally have more of the latter arriving first, I've not seen one. They seem to be late this year, the poor weather perhaps? I'm hoping they are not another climate change casualty.

So: 

6 x Marbled Beauties

2 x Blastobasis lacticollela 

1 x Snout

Snout

 

 

 

 

Lee Mount - 5th July

I managed to get the trap on for an hour just before dark. With heavy overnight rain forecast, it started here around 11 pm so knocked the light off.

Just two moths

Green Carpet x 1 (only six records here since 2015 so this one was a bonus)

Common Pug x 1

Green Carpet

Also yesterday afternoon, after heavy rain all morning, we went along the canal between Luddenden Foot and Brearley in the sunshine !

Meadow Brown x 20+

Small Tortoiseshell x 10+

Ringlet x 1

Lee Mount - 3rd and 4th July

 Not a lot out of the ordinary

Common White Wave x 1

Common Wave x 1

Brimstone Moth x 2

Rustic Shoulder-knot x 1

Dusky Brocade x 1

Green Pug x 1

Heart and Dart x 1

Green Oak Tortrix x 1

Flame x 1

Large Yellow Underwing x 1

Uncertain x 1

The best was this Mottled Beauty

Stainland. 2nd to 4th July 2021.

This is a catch up post for 2nd & 4th July. I've been too busy to post until now. Ah, the joys of being a house owner. There were no moths on the 3rd.

2nd July:  A busy night, 10 moths.

5 x Marbled Beauties

2 x Brimstone moths

1 x Small Magpie

1 x White Shouldered House moth

1 x Angle Shades Caterpillar TBC (See below)

I thought this was an Angle Shades cat at first, now I'm not sure. Can anyone help with an ID please?

Angle Shades Caterpillar TBC

 

 

 4th July.

5 x Marbled Beauties again. A range is sizes this time. They seem to be gregarious, I often get groups of them each year,

 

1 x Brimstone moth

1x  Garden Carpet

Lee Mount

Varied Coronet last night (2nd July). 

It spent at least an hour around  one of their host plants, Sweet Williams. Not sure if it was a female dropping eggs ?

Pleased I planted some last autumn though I bought them as Wallflowers and realised when I got home they were Sweet Williams. Doh !!!

When I first spotted it buzzing around, just after dark, it looked like a small Silver Y type flight. It was there again last night 3rd July. One of my favourite moths.

Varied Coronet

A few about now

Lots of Chimmney Sweeper moths on just about every road verge and bridleway up here at the moment, a very common species again thankfully.

Most closed up fresh Foxglove flowers contain Foxglove Pug Larvae at the moment

Lots of mines of Mompha raschkiella on most patches of Rosebay Willowherb now

Spotted the first narrow Bordered Five Spot Burnett on 1st July some still on the pupal case

I have to admit I enjoy going out into the field to find moths far more satisfying than running an MV light. I run mine in the garden around once every seven days simply to add to the local records for the area but its not my fav method of recording. I think when you start out its great as you see all the moths that even though they may be common you have only seen in books, but once you have seen several thousand LYW or Common Quaker the thrill wears off :)

I have a Robinson 125 Watt MV which I am will to loan to anyone who does not have a trap and wants to trap their local area. Obviously I would like the trap back every 7/10 days to trap up here but if anyone wants to borrow it feel free to contact me for the address to collect it from

Shark ?

I found this in the trap yesterday and to be honest although I know its one of the Cucullliinae I am not sure which. My initial thoughts were The Shark but then it also has features of several others of this family which is a family I have no experience of so before I record it I seek advice from someone more experienced with this family. The moth is retained in the fridge if needed to check.

Lee Mount (micro's)

 Three here that took some puzzling over if anyone can double check, appreciated.

Argyresthia brockeella (28th June)

Ash Bud Moth - Prays fraxinella (30th June)

Elachista argentella (14th June)

Lee Mount - 1st July

Slight improvement last couple of days.

This morning.

Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix x 1

Common Footman x 1

Chrysoteuchia culmella x 2

Peppered Moth x 1

Elephant Hawkmoth x 1

Garden Carpet x 1

Bordered White x 1

Marbled Minor agg x 1

Purple Clay x 1

Heart and Dart x 1

Common Wave x 1

Ingrailed Clay x 1

Ingrailed Clay ? (I think - not had many of these before)

Bordered White

Elephant Hawkmoth

Peppered Moth

Yesterday - last day of June

Silver Y x 1

Flame x 1

Green Oak Tortrix x 1

Cabbage Moth x 1

Tachystola acroxantha x 4

Agriphila straminella x 2

Common Marbled Carpet x 1

Rustic Shoulder-knot x 1

Lozotaenia forsterana x 1

Ash Bud Moth x 1

Brimstone Moth x 1

Anania coronata x 1

Green Oak Tortrix