Lee Mount etc.........

 Moth trap still very quiet. Only one or two moths each day -if I'm lucky. The cool and at times damp nights are certainly not helping. Just hoping for some warmer evenings soon then hopefully things will 'buck up'. 

The best ones recently ...........

Buff-tip, Turnip Moth, Clouded Silver, Flame, Common Pug, Heart and Dart and a Silver Y.

A Yellow Shell was flying about in the sunshine on Hunter Hill yesterday

Buff-tip

Clouded Silver

Flame

Butterflies still very scarce though we did manage a Wall Brown at the weekend at Withens Clough along with a Small Copper. Two Small Coppers were also found at Ogden yesterday.

That's about it !!

Elland Gravel Pits

 Broad-bodied Chaser

Beacon Hill

 Small Copper 1, Painted Lady 1

Lee Mount

Still very slow here - lucky if I get more then 2 moths a night..

Ingrailed Clay on 30th May

Clouded- bordered Brindle x 2 on 31st May

Green Silver-lines, Flame Carpet, Brimstone Moth and Pale Tussock also on 31st May

Common Pug on 1st June

Turnip Moth and another Clouded-bordered Brindle on 2nd June

Straw Dot and a Common Marbled Carpet this morning 3rd June.

Ingrailed Clay

Straw Dot

Turnip Moth

Green Silver-lines

Shibden Valley

 1 Silver Y

Shibden Valley

 Unidentified moth

Lee Mount - 27th May

 Still quiet on the moth front here. Just 2 moths this morning.

Garden Carpet x 1

Alder Moth x 1

Alder Moth (only 3rd record for here)

Lee Mount - 20th May

 

Sycamore (at 22mm) on the pebble dashing still there this morning 21st 

Also this Diamond-back Moth

Pale Tussock is still on the fence from the 18th.

At least 20+ Twenty-plume Moths on the flowering honeysuckle in recent evenings

Lee Mount - 19th May

 Orange Footman was a first for here.......

Also one each of a Bee Moth, Common Marbled Carpet, Brindled Pug and a Shuttle-shaped Dart.

Hebden Bridge

Comma 1 

Lee Mount - 18th May

Slight improvement from recent weeks......

Brimstone Moth x 1

Clouded Silver x 1

Oak Hook-tip x 1 (2nd record for here)

Pale Tussock x 1

Tachystola acroxantha x 8

Brown House-moth x 1

Light-brown Apple-moth x 1

Oak Hook-tip

Pale Tussock

Hag Lane - off Bradford Old Road

The 9th May 2020  was my earliest Wall Brown so today's, 12th May was not far behind. I target this area for them each year as they always seem to be very special, to me anyway, in Calderdale. The hilltops in this area seem to be a reliable spot though they are never plentiful and sometimes take a bit of searching for, usually along the dusty tracks and dry stone walls.

Lee Mount - this last week.

Not a lot. !! It's been really slow.... just a few to share but most mornings - an empty trap..

Lots of Twenty-plume Moths have been showing at dusk with 20+ around the honeysuckle. A couple of Brindled Pugs, Satellite, Hebrew Character, Common Quaker and Dyseriocrania subpurpurella.

Clouded-bordered Brindle (12th May)

Flame Carpet (10th May)

Gracillaria syringella (10th May)

Tachystola acroxantha (3 this morning 12th May)

Cold Edge

 ? Latticed Heath. There were about 5 of these moths in a small area of heather.

Stainland.

 1 x Bee Moth (male)

1 x Moth fly (no photo)   

I've tried for 3 years or more to get a photo of one. I manage one shot two years ago, it was ok, not great. Being so small is one problem - 1.5 to 4mm. I'd consider a 4mm one as a giant. The other difficulty is that they don't sit still very long.

Bee Moth - male

Stainland.

1x Garden Carpet.

Garden Carpet.

Cold Edge

Small tortoiseshell 1, Orange Tip male 1. Searched bilberries for Green Hairstreak without success. 

Wainstalls

1 male Orange Tip

Bar Lane, Rishworth

1 male Orange Tip, 1 Peacock, (my first butterflies this year)

Stainland.

Moths over the two days:

Once the wet and cold weather improves, I should see more moths. Actually, I tend not to get many moths here until our garden has a lot more flowers blossoming/

1 X common plume

1 X Beautiful plume

1 x Light Brown Apple

Luddenden and Emperor Moth

It's been quiet down here so far this April with last night one of the better ones with

Brindled Pug 1

Early Thorn 1 

Common Quaker 1

Small Quaker 1

Hebrew Character 3

Chestnut 1

Early Thorn

This female Emperor Moth emerged yesterday. It was reared from a caterpillar found at Whiteholme on 7th July last year. Another female has also emerged today, again from Whiteholme.

Shibden Valley

Caterpillar - ? Fox Moth

Stainland.

I had one Angle Shades moth on the door and one Angle Shades caterpillar sheltering in a bright red, cup-shaped pansy. I suppose the caterpillar was colour blind, as it was visible from a distance. :-) I've never seen both forms at the same time before,.There is no reason why one shouldn't see that however.

 Luddenden - the end of March

It's been quite but steady this last week with small numbers of the usual Moths nightly. The only different Moth was this rather early Grey Birch, only my third here and the first for 13 years

Puss Moth

Not bad for my first moth of the year. It was reared from this larvae feeding on Aspen found at Hollin Hall, Hardcastle Crags last June.

Stainland.

Sunday night 24 March;

1 X Angle Shades Caterpillar.

Angle Shades  cat.

Lee Mount micro

This smart looking Caloptilia micro showed up this week. Couldn't decide between elongella or betulicola. Yorkshire Moths suggested gen.det. so checked with CF - correct options, but can't reliably tell them apart without dissection. The moth has gone now !

Lee Mount - 17th /18th March

Slight improvement....

Dotted Border x 1

Hebrew Character x 5

March Moth x 1

Common  Plume x 1

Brindled Pug x 1

Agonopterix heracliana x 2

Stainland.

 Happy St. Patricks Day!

I hope everyone is well and looking forward to a lovely, moth-filled Spring.

What a good day to celebrate my first moth sighting since last year. I have 1 Common plume on the door.

 Luddenden 12th - 16th March

It's been pretty good these last four nights despite the windy and often wet weather

These are the totals for the last four nights

March Moth  7   5 on the 12th

Pine Beauty 1   12th

Yellow Horned  1  12th

Early Grey 1   12th

Oak Beauty  8   5 on the 15th

Common Quaker  68   23 on the 14th

Small Quaker  3

Twin-spot Quaker  1   14th

Hebrew Character  27   7 on the 14th

Clouded Drab  5

Chestnut  8

Satellite - orange spotted 1

Yellow Horned

Oak Beauty

Pine Beauty

Ringby Lane and Lee Mount

First butterfly of the year for me with this Small Tortoiseshell this morning on the one small clump of Daffodils on Ringby top. Just lucky as no other flowers on the top other than a few scattered Coltsfoot flowers.

Five moths in /around the trap between 14th and 15th

One each - Clouded Drab, Common Plume, Hebrew Character and a Common Quaker along with an Agonopterix heracliana

.

Common Plume

Hebrew Character

Lee Mount

Just four moths this last week. Common Quaker (4th and 7th), Oak Beauty (5th) and a March Moth (7th).

March Moth

Two shots of the same Oak Beauty

Whiteholme

Unidentified caterpillar

Lee Mount - 4th March

 Just the one moth - Common Quaker in the trap this morning.

Lee Mount - 29th February

Always put the light on if conditions allow. Even then I was surprised to find a March Moth on the fence by the light but that was it - light out.

Luddenden Moths February 2024 so far

 LUDDENDEN Feb 2024 so far

Off to a slow but steady start this year in Luddenden, the first Moth was 2 Pale Bridled Beauty on the 3rd. Since then we have had

Pale Bridled Beauty  20

Oak Beauty  2  14th & 15th - earliest record here

March Moth  6  1st on the 11th 

Chestnut 6

Common Quaker  5  1st on the 14th

Hebrew Character  2  1st on the 16th - earliest record here

Pale Brindled Beauty

Pale Brindled Beauty

March Moth

                                              Oak Beauty 

 

Lee Mount -17th and 19th Feb

Light on till the heavy drizzle, turned the light off at 11 pm - nothing doing. 

In the trap this morning (17th) a Satellite was a nice surprise.

(19th) - Dotted Border and (20th) 2 March Moths

t

 Dotted Border

Lee Mount - 14th Feb

At last some mild weather but then the rain set in so it curtailed matters.

Pale Brindled Beauty x 3 (typical forms)

March Moth x 1

Agonopterix heracliana x 4

Tortricodes alternella x 1