Water Carpet

as predicted by Brian I had my first Water Carpet for Luddenden last night, not as bright as some individuals I've seen but not bad

any more predictionss Brian

Common Quaker - 1 day old

my Common Quaker eggs hatched yesterday and here's one of thee cats, very small at just over 1mm in size, shame I can't post it in RAW format it's lost a lot of detail during compression

Hardcastle Craggs thurs 21 04 11

New genny has arrived will try thurs will meet at top car park 7 30 ish if anyone can make it regards Bri.

Saw my first Speckled Wood of the year today in Sunnybank wood, Todmorden. Quite a few Orange tips around as well.

Purple patch

Looks like were in for a real purple patch over the weekend with tepms set to rocket so good luck .3 Powdered Quaker,Early and Purple thorn ,Common and Foxglove Pug and 20+ hebrew Characters last night.Today at Norland opposite the Moorcock 4/5 Green hairstreak ,2 Common Heath,10+ Peacock,6 Small tortoiseshell an  Incurvaria species which I think is  pectinea  but it was flying round billberry but birch nearby??? .My first Speckled woods and loads of Large and Green veined whites.

Swarming behaviour of insects (Update)

Hi all, A follow up to my post from last week -

http://calderdalemoths.blogspot.com/2011/04/swarming-behaviour-of-insects.html

I seem to have got to the bottom of this. Largely with thanks to Tony Irwin via The Society for the study of flies (Diptera) who have an excellent resource in their website here -

http://www.dipteristsforum.org.uk/

The swarming flies turned out to be Non-biting midges (Chironomidae) are also sometimes called chironomids. There are There over 5000 known species worldwide. Exhibiting a high degree of sexual diamorphism the males have hugely feathered antenae. It is extremely difficult to accurately identify an individual species so this is the best we can do.

Win x

Yesterday's Sightings

Took a stroll on Midgeley Moor yesterday (Sunday) and saw lots of these Common Heath (This one a female with simple antenae) also possible Emperor Moth. Eleswhere Eriocrania, Orange Tip, Peacock, Small Tortoise Shell and a single Green Hairstreak were all on the wing.

White ermine

An early White Ermine this morning resting near the trap.Dont usally get um till erly May.....

Orange Tip stages

Now Orange Tip Butterflies are on the wing its a good time to find the eggs,they are quite obvious to see being orange, around the flower heads especially of Cuckoo Flower cardamine pratensis and Garlic Mustard alliaria petiolata.Females usually lay 1 egg per flower head as the larva are cannibalistic,but as often happens a later Female can lay an egg already with a larva on as in this instance where the younger larva became a meal for the older,the older larva are very cryptic when resting on the seedpods,these were on Garlic Mustard

Scalloped Hazel

This scalloped hazel was found last night on a tree trunk in the back garden,my previous earliest was the 28th April.with a nice autumn Green Carpet on the fence..Caught a few micros round the house with the net and torch last night including White Shouldered and Brown House Moth,Agonoptrix arnella ,Twenty plumed moth and Diurnea fagella.

SUNDAY NIGHT CANCELLED

Sorry all tonight is cancelled as I have to go for an x-mas dinner(its a long story)....will try tomorrow Monday..Brians genny blew up mlast night so all in all a poor weekend

This week in Luddenden

It's been very poor this week with few Moths about, I wonder if this is because they were all active earlier in the warm weather, anyway a couple of Purple Thorns saved the week, I also thought I'd post a photo of Hebrew Character as I don't recall seeing one on the blog before

Caloptilia sp.?? Caloptilia rufipennella

This Caloptilia looks just like leucapennella in Manley page 21 but is most likely to be rufipennella ??....anyone got any ideas.??This was gen det by Jon Clifton at Anglican lep supplies on the 19th April as a Caloptilia rufipennella ...

Swarming behaviour of insects

On our way through Luddenden foot this afternoon we noticed some swarming insects over the main road. Eager to see what was going on at close had, I turned around the car and returned to the sycamores which were just coming into leaf. 1000's of small flies / midges were on the wing, but not just in a cloud. The behavious of the whole group was extraordinary: vertical and diagonal lines of insects resembled smoke which every now and again seemed to generate 'clumps' of insects which fell to earth only to disappear (They were over the busy main road). Many insect were on nearbly fences and the footpath but no others were seen on our way through the Calder Valley. Has anyone else seen anything like this (I am guessing they have and will make our observations seem idiotic) and can they identify these insects. We managed to take a poor vid of the event and get a pic of 2 of the insects in-cop. Winston & Maisy

Bird guides Article

Another article from birdguides...

http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2630


Looking like Sundat night at hardcastle Craggs and then any day anyones free the week after weather permitting....

This week in Luddenden

another good week with lots of the commoner species with this years first Red Green Carpet, Double-striped Pug, several Brindled Pugs, a few Early Greys, 3 Red Chestnut and Pine Beauty the pick of the bunch

Water carpet from Midgley

Which Eriocrania?

A very pleasant walk in the woods today and lots of Eriocranias but no pots! Got home and this one flew in through the back door so no worries! But is it possible to say which one it is? Subpurpurella? Win

Wine Mop 3

Hi All, One of my favourite moths 2469 The Herald has been a feature of this weeks mothing. First of all on Wednesday night on appeared in my light trap and then this thursday the Wine Mop came up trumps! Two late night visitors (no other moths) but compared to the moths attracted to the two light rtraps we were running nearby, these two were the stars of the show. Unfortunately my camera is not sophisticated enough to get a proper flash shot but you can see the ghostly silouettes above and two pics of my midweek visitor. Win

Early Thorn

Heres a Early Thorn at rest from Hardcastle Craggs last night,genny still going after 4 hours ! must be a record .regards Bri.
















Engrailed    7
Water carpet 2
Chestnut      6
Brindled Pug      10
hebrew Character       3
Common Quaker     47
Early tooth striped    2
Twin spotted quaker    1
Early Thorn    3
Clouded Drab       19
Mottled Grey          1
Red Chestnut         1
Herald                  2
Agonoptrix Arnella     1
D.fagella             3
Tort.alt             1

Early Grey

Caught a nice Early Grey at Pellon last night. Only 3 other moths caught, 1 Hebrew Character and 2 Common Quakers.

Hardcastle Craggs

Brindled Pug 11, Mottled Grey 2,Water Carpet 1(pic above earliet Calderdale record by 10 days)Engrailed 3,hebrew character 8,Chestnut 8,Common Quaker  50,Small quaker 4,Twin Spotted Quaker 3,Red Chestnut 1,Diurnea Fagella 7,Early Tooth striped 3,Clouded drab 4.

If any one would like a list of the species and numbers recorded so far please leave a message below and I will send one ..27 species of 627 moths so far..

Wine Mop 2

Hi all

Another interesting night in Hardcastle Craggs last night. And success for the wine mop! On his way up Brian spotted 3 chestnuts on the mop (see pic) and 2 more on the nearby tree recovering after imbibing. 3 were still there at the end of the night.

50 moths last night

Hi all, Over 50 moths last night. 8 species of all the usual visitors included this pug. In an effort to get to grips with them a bit more this year I remembered to measure this melanic specimen. WS 23mm. Looking at UK Moths and Hants moths however the Brindled and Oak-tree are both listed as 19-22mm? In the Lancs pugs article it states that the Oak-tree is smaller. Is this info right and is this a melanic brindled? Win

Early Tooth-striped

Hi All, Just another ETS but thought it looked nice resting on a sycamore near the light trap all day today in a natural posture. Strange thing is I saw it last night and this morning and this afternoon was walking past. Could swear it had gone, took me quite a while to find it again, and I knew where to look. They must be all over the place if only our eyes could see them! Win

2139 Red Chestnut Cerastis rubricosa

This very handsome Red Chestnut visited my trap in Hebden Bridge last week. A new entry on the all time list for me.

1775 Mottled Grey Colostygia multistrigaria

Hi all, sorry been unable to post these pics from last Thursday's evening at Gibson Mill until now. You can see the male (notice the feathered antenae) above right and smaller (about 13mm WL) female above left. I was trying to get both in the same shot for a better comparison but it wasn't to be. The wing shape is distinctly different from Early Tooth-striped (Below) caught in my trap last week which does not have a straight or concave costa.

Hardcastle Craggs

Hardcastle Craggs next Thursday and saturday nights meet in Top car park at 7.30...All welcome

Micro's for i.d.

any ideas on this one, wingspan 27mm


this one was slightly smaller with a wingspan on 25mm

please note the wing posture, is this a useful i.d. feature, thanks for taking the trouble to look at these Martyn

Cocoons

After releasing nine Fox Moth caterpillars at Cold Edge in September I followed the info in Margaret Brooks and put the remaining eight in a large tub with peat, moss and bramble. Two died in February, two in March and three have now formed cocoons, fingers crossed for a male and female




Fox Moth at top, Northern Eggar middle and bottom two Emperor Moth

Oak Nycteoline

A Oak Nycteoline last night which is a first for me here in Northowram .Also in 2010 doing the GMS I recorded 34 moths in March this year i recorded 122 moths which shows how mild it has been.Last night moths -

Common Quaker 10

powdered quaker 1

Small quaker    3

hebrew Character 18

Clouded drab    8

Brindled Pug 1

Double striped Pug

Brown house Moth

A

Hardcastle craggs last night and the last Mad March Moffers

Hi all a very good way to end march with this Oak Beauty a very hamsome moth.A slow start with clear skies but it soon picked up and in just over 2 hours we recorded----
Ypsolopha ustella    1
Diurnea fagella          6
Mottled Grey    6
Engrailed          5
Early tooth striped   5
Brindled Pug           6(all well over 23mm)
Oak Beauty         1
Small quaker        3
Common Quaker     62
Clouded drab             8
Hebrew Character       8
Twin spotted quaker    1
Chestnut                       6
Thanks to all at Hardcastle craggs for letting us trap there and many thanks to all who attended in March.Will keep you posted about April shortly.Well done to Sandra and Christine for getting into  identifying some moths.......

Powdered Quaker?

As requested Andy here is the pic of what we think is Powdered Quaker, can you confirm please?

Weekly round up

Above a Powdered quaker recorded last night,I usually get my first one around the 10th April so nice and early.Masses of orthosia sp over the weekend and my best year for twin Spotted Quakers so far .This Brindled Pug was on the fence this morning.(its best to record pugs this way if poss showing size and allways record date)

HARDCASTLE CRAGGS THURSDAY NIGHT

Going to try and trap and Gibson Mill from 8 o'clock if the weather  holds.Please do not drive down to gibson mill.We will meet in the top car park at 7 and give any one a lift who wants..After this walk down and get a lift back.Thanks Andy..

New Blogg

Hi all an excellent new blogg on calderdale wildlife has been set up about calderdales varied wildlife and  can be viewed at the link below.
http://calderdale-wildlife.blogspot.com/

Wine Mop

Hi all, for those who wern't there last night there was an exciting innovation to the moth trapping experience at Hardcastle crags. Introducing - The "Wine Mop". This is a mop head soaked in an enticing recipe of Red wine, Black treacle, Dark Brown Sugar and Vanilla Essense. It was hoisted up into the trees on a long string to aid dispersal of the sugary scent. What moth could resist? Results - Two Skinner type light traps. approx 140 moths, The Wine Mop. Nil. I will keep trying. Winston

Back in Business in Hebden Bridge

Hi All, back in business here on the Rochdale Canal after a burnt out control box! 28 Orthosias last night and a very nicely marked pug. Winston

Hardcastle craggs

The temp was only 6 degrees and we only staye a couple of hours but a great catch...... ....
Common Quaker   45
Small Quaker    15
Twin spotted Quaker  12
Chestnut 7
Hebrew Character   10
Mottled Grey 12
March Moth 3
Yellow Horned   4
Red sword grass 1
Satellite       1
Brindled Pug    2
Agonoptrix her    4
Dieurnes fagella   1
Engrailed     6
Clouded Drab 20