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

ID help please

Larvae feeding on Oak.(Dohhhh)

Cat on folded Birch Leaf 12mm long.

news from todmorden

Really poor weather last night,2 diamond back moths,2 rustic shoulderknot,worn pug sp at mv,nowt at heath trap,3 larva either square spot rustic more probably or six striped rustic feeding on a type of grass,looks like wavy hairgrass,il have to check ,when this sodding weather allows !

Last few Days in Northowram

Stigmella sp.?(C.Streets)

Glyphipteryx_fuscoviridella(C.Streets)
With only 2 Hebrew Character,1 Rustic Shoulder Knot and a Double striped Pug in the trap last night,I have found a small walk to the local wood a lot more rewarding the last few days,with full list below.Thaks to Charlie for photos.
2397 Panemeria tenebrata Small Yellow Underwing 2
391 Glyphipterix simpliciella Cocksfoot Moth 25
396 Glyphipterix fuscoviridella 3
321 Phyllonorycter messaniella 1
293 Caloptilia syringella 1
150 Adela reaumurella 150
140 Nematopogon swammerdamella 2
130 Incurvaria masculella 2

epiblema sp

Hi all,found 2 epiblema sp,14 05 09,i gather there are 3 very similar ,these were on common knapweed which might indicate cirsiana,or is it gen det the only sure way to id them.superb patterning and texture.can anyone recommend a decent sweep net for heather ?all the best bri.

Thistles

Hi all

A little challange for you all and one that Charly should have no disagreements with as the plant is dead easy to ID :-))

Personally I like to pick out a plant and observe it during a whole year to see what I can find entomological wise visiting or breeding on it. One plant I always wanted to get around to and for one reason and another never did in Calderdale was Thistles. It has a huge possible list of lepidoptera and plenty of other insects that utilise it.

On the old Lowfields site before it was developed were nice areas of thistle. I regularly found 1458 Thistle Ermine (Myelois circumvoluta) sitting on the plants at dusk and truly spectacular it is as can be seen in the photo which I "borrowed" from my mate Ian Kimbers website. I only found Thistle Ermine and the cases of Coleophora peribenanderi on Thistles so there is a huge range of species and ecology you can discover over the coming year on a easily found and recognised plant. Its also a great opportunity to record many firsts for Calderdale both as species and confirmed breeding when larvae are found.

A quick look on Ians website gives a list of 32 species that can be found on Thistles. So Charly when you have rested some more I am looking forward to seeing some more of your superb photos of the various things found on Thistles. Link to Ians site with list of species

http://ukmoths.org.uk/search.php?entry=thistle&searchtype=fulltext

todmorden news

Hi all,not much to report at moment,coleophora serratella larva and case on birch,6 adela reaumurella,and this p quercifoliella found on oak leaf,nice p tussock winston.found some interesting spinnings on bilberry,will have to see what develops,im doing well at raising diptera at moment,charly,that white cocoon at broadhead on harts tongue was a tiny fly also ! all the best bri.

Last Night in Hebden Bridge

And so, luckily it falls to me to post something exciting in the current spell which has been poor for night time moth trapping. Last night in the Skinner trap there was just one moth which arrived early in the night 2028 Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda. A new one for me and a quite remarkable chap! Winston

Hipperholme

Put out the trap last night.

Empty apart from this nice White Ermine

This week in Hebden Bridge

3rd to 10th May inc

Hi all, a poor week for sure

In the trap -

Hebrew Character 1
Flame Shoulder 1
Pugs 3

On the Railway station -

White-shouldered Housemoth 2

Round and about near the boat this morning however -

Orange tips (m & f) ~5
Peacock 3
Speckled Wood 1
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Green Veined White 4
Adela reaumurella 1
Caloptilia syringella 2
Nettle tap 1

looks colda again for tonight

Winston

Small yellow Underwing

A very windy day turned out well with this Small yellow Underwing,and swarms of Adela reaumurella displaying.Small Yellow Underwing are local in yorkshire and I only recorded them for the first time in Northowram last year,they should be looked for during the day and when flushed from vegetation look like a sandy coloured micro its only when you get a close look you see how beautiful they are.Flower rich meadows with plenty of sunshine.I am sure they must be at Copley Meadows and Cromwell Bottom.?
Small Yellow Underwing x 2
Adela reaumurella x 150 +
Nematopogon swammerdamella x 1

larva

Hi all heres a brown form of heath rustic,swept at night on heather,langfield common,04 05 09,b leecy

Grey Scalloped Bar Larvae

Hi,swept this grey scalloped bar larva and 7 green form of heath
rustic,last night on langfield common on heather,09 05 09,Brian

Midgley GMS

Nowt! Are we sure its May?

First week of May

Wet,windy and not very good for Moths, what a start to May!

Well I've kept trying despite the weather and here's what I've had,

anyone else had anything?

Early Grey 8

Hebrew Character 3

Common Quaker 1

Scalloped Hazel 2

White Spotted Pug 3

Peppered Moth 1 - this dropped in last night and is the earliest I've ever had by a good 4 weeks





Scalloped Hazel


White-spotted Pug

A Windswept rainy Cromwell Bottom

Oak tree Pug.?

E.cicatricella?

Cat on Birch 16mm Long??
A bit of a wash out this morning just as i had found some E.cicatricella mines on birch and this cat the heavens openend and I had to bid a hasty retreat.Loads of Orange Tips and Speckled woods out before the rain.Any comments on the above would be appreciated.

Cunnery Wood/Shibden..Field Trip No4

High winds and clear skies did'nt help so the catch was low.At least 15 Pugs were caught but not 1 was easily identifiable.2 Common Newts
130 Incurvaria masculella 1
701 Agonopterix ocellana 1
1722 Xanthorhoe designata Flame Carpet 3
1760 Chloroclysta siterata Red-green Carpet 1
1858 Chloroclystis v-ata V-Pug 2
2187 Orthosia cerasi Common Quaker 1
2190 Orthosia gothica Hebrew Character 1

News from todmorden over the weekend(photos)

Female Emperor with egg batch.Common Heath and Heath Rustic larvae

Bits and Bobbs

There are 32 records from 20 sites of Athrips mouffetell in Yorkshire. The only larval record is one from Derek Parkinson at Otley on 20/5/07.Many thanks Charlie Fletcher for the map.

There is an excellent article on hants moth http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk/tree
about leaf mines on Birch at this time of year with excellent photos by our very own Charlie Streets.
I will be at Cunnery wood this evening about 9ish if any one fancies seeing no Moths.I did find an Oak tree Pug,Loads of Adela Reaumurella displayiny,and a Phyllonorycter tristingella in the local wood this morning.So we may get something.

The RES Insect Festival is to be held on Saturday 4 July in the Museum Gardens, York. This is shaping up to be a very significant event, with a wide range of exhibits, trade stands, public talks, bug hunts, etc., to some extent replacing the event organised jointly by RES and AES at the Racecourse in some previous years. Dave Chesmore has booked a stand for the Lepidoptera Group. He needs volunteers to help run the stand, and also suggestions for topics and themes. He also needs good quality photographs of Yorkshire moths. If you can help Dave, please contact him on 01430 861964 or edc1@ohm.york.ac.uk

Larvae on Honeysuckle

Found this today on Honeysuckle any ideas.

News from todmorden over the weekend

Brian reports Emperors still flying at whiteholme Drain, also a common lizard and Common Heath.He also found a female emperor with a batch of eggs at Langfield common and 3 Heath Rustic larvae.

Green Hairstreak?

Spent this afternoon up on Midgley Moor looking for Twite and Emporer Moth, sadly no luck with either but we did have what we think were a couple of Green Hairstreak butterflies, is this likely? We have a couple of photos which I can upload if needed.

Hipperholme

In the garden yesterday

1 Green veined white
1 Common blue

Lat nights moth trap
1 Hebrew character
1 Clouded drab
(both slightly soggy after the downpour about 4.30am)

Small White

This little chap seemed happy to pose for a photo yesterday

Winston

Lime Hawk Moth

We have just started putting our moth trap out again and have had very little in it. Last night however I went out to have a look around and was very pleased to find this one on the white sheet I put up. Its a first for us and look forward to more Hawk moths

Skinner & Waring

Hi all
You might or might not be aware that a new revised and updated edition of both of these books is being published. Skinner is now published by Apollo Books in Demark and is out now at £48 HB only. The revised edition of Waring is due on the 31st May and will cost £29.95 SB and £45.00 HB.

Should any of you want copies I can obtain these for you at trade price. I am not sure of the exact cost per volume as this depends on how many are ordered and P&P costs. It will however be significantly less expensive than buying them at full price. If you want a copy of either book let me know and I will order you a copy. Its perhaps best if I can mail them all to one address as you can then share P&P costs to reduce the amount or I might be able to send them back to Yorkshire with Sue where you can pick them up.

Both books are worth buying if you are serious about your moffing as both are much enlarged with many more photos and drawings included and up to date information on migrants and new species to Britain.

April 2001 in Elland

Hi Guys
I picked a year at random from my Park Road back garden records for April 2001. This shows whats likely to be around in woodland in Calderdale in April most years. My back garden backed onto Park Wood and thus was exceptionally rich in woodland species. If you find this list useful I can extract each month as it starts and put up a list of what I recorded for that month. The list below is from the garden Robinson trap but I can widen this to all species recorded in the month if this would be of use.

Notice the high numbers of "Orthosia" spp. This is typical of my garden records in early spring where Orthosia are around in huge numbers in or near woodland.

0006 Eriocrania subpurpurella 8

0283 Caloptilia betulicola 1

0461 Ypsolopha ustella 3

0464 Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella) 1

0663 Diurnea fagella 3

0688 Agonopterix heracliana 12

0697 Agonopterix arenella 2

1044 Acleris ferrugana 1

1524 Emmelina monodactyla 3

1722 Flame Carpet (Xanthorhoe designata) 1

1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 2

1775 Mottled Grey (Colostygia multistrigaria) 2

1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 135

1858 V-Pug (Chloroclystis v-ata) 1

1862 Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata) 2

1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 2

1919 Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria) 2

1927 Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria) 1

1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 7

2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 144

2186 Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis) 2

2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 2279

2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 118

2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 182

2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 129

2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 15

2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 35

2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 70

Last Week in Hebden Bridge

Moths trapped 20th - 25th April 2009

Pale Pinion 5
V-pug 1
Small Quaker 1
Brindled Pug 13
Hebrew Character 8
Clouded Drab 4
Common Quaker 14
Purple Thorn 1
Early Tooth-striped 5
Double-striped Pug 1
Unknown Pug 2
Early Thorn 1

Total 56

Winston

Cunnery Wood/Shibden..Field Trip No4

Met up with chris today and had a look at Cunnery wood a good mix of trees (elm,oak,sallow,birch,beech) and a small pond.We have decided to run the traps there next wenesday night 6th May at 9-11 weather permitting.Its opposite the top car park at shibden.Peacock,Speckled Wood,small white,Er.sub,Nettle Tap and a large Hawthorn Shield Bug were seen today.All welcome.

No idea!

This was on the sheet by the trap this morning, I guess its a Pug sp. but how on earth do you take it beyond that?!

News from todmorden

Beetle photo for Paul

Green Hairstreaks,

elachista+canapennella

Withens Clough Car park

Meet tonight 8.30 to 9ish ,all welcome.

Hipperholme

Ran the moth trap on Friday night, 4 hebrew characters and two others that I am having trouble identifying.

Top image I have no idea, bottom image I thought might be a satinwave but not too sure. Any help to identify them welcomed.

Midgley 25th April 2009

Another new one last night, Iron Prominent (we think!) plus an interesting micro moth, not sure what it is so any suggestions welcome!

Also photos from Wednesday at Midgley and Monday at Withens Clough, sorry for the dealy but was having problems with the computer.

Caloptilia syringela - Hebden Bridge

Nice to follow charlie's post with this one as todays highlight for me and another micro. I was sat this evening in the last sun enjoying a pint after work and saw something landing on a leaf out the back door. Shot out with a pot and bingo! it was a micro. Now, I believe this is a very common chap but if he were scalled up to macro moth size he would surely rival the most spectacular of species.

This species is completely new to me and I only managed to identify it by remembering it was the same shape and stance as the Caloptilia we cought on the field trip to Withens res' so I am learning from our trips. also managed to get a pic of him too so extra chuffed

Winston

Yorkshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation

I've put a new link up to the Yorkshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation under Yorkshire Butterflies.This is a great site run by Lee and Jax Westmorland from Scarbrough its full of very usefull information and a very good sightings page.
Founded in 1981, the Yorkshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation is one of the largest geographically as the county of Yorkshire measures approximately 150km north to south and 170km east to west!
From its humble beginnings with eighteen members, the branch has grown steadily to more than five hundred members today.
The branch works closely with the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union and promotes the jointly administered but independent recording scheme known as ButterflyNet Yorkshire, with a co-ordinator in each of Yorkshire's five vice counties and species co-ordinators for the county as a whole.
The branch magazine Argus is published regularly and details of both it and our other publications can be found on this site.

Midgley Moth Night Wednesday 22nd

Another good night with the following caught:

1 Twenty-plume Pug
2 Double Striped Pug
2 Autumn Green Carpet
3 Early Grey
1 Common Quaker
2 Hebrew Characters
1 Brindled Pug
1 Swallow Prominent
1 Unknown Pug Sp.

Will put photos on later, seem to be having problems with it at the moment!

Purple Thorn

Lovely rich colours in the first generation of these splendid moths. This one came to the Skinner Trap last night.

Winston

Emperor Revisited

Hi All

Set out again today to try and see the elusive Emperor Moth at Whiteholm Drain. The weather became cloudy again but strong sunny spells remainedall afternoon. Two possible sightingsin the distance of large orange looking insects flying really powerfully, then a third. I was off after this one. With me I had a large fishermans landing net with a 9 foot pole! After leaping over ditches and through muddy pools I made one final dive and had the Emperor in the net. This net is so big that I could put the camera under it too to get the pics shown here, enjoy.

Paul has made some comments on my last post to help us understand how this species operates.

Possibly the most impressive thing I have ever seen.

Also 1 x Common Heath, 1x Eriocrania sp, 1x unk micro oh and 2x redshank (also new)

Yours (in excitement) Winston