Hi all, Some interesting moths over tue and wed night here on the canal -

Pale-Shouldered Brocade 1
Flame Shoulder 2
Hebrew Character 3
Pale Tussock (m) 1
Brindled Pug 1
Garden Carpet 1
Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet 1

Requiem for a Moth

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b010t6nr
Requiem for a Moth was an interesting program on R4 this morning
11:00–11:30 on Radio 4

Available to listen again here -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b010t6nr

"What does the quest for moths reveal about Britain's human inhabitants?"

Pic - Butterfly Intaglio Print by Ambera Wellmann

Last Nights Moths

Thinking it would be a realy good night last night I was pleasantly suprised to find 3 Campion ,1 Poplar Hawkmoth and 1 hebrew character but dissapointed with only 5 moths.?

Hardcastle Craggs sat night

Meeting with Bri on sat to run two traps one at Gibson Mill and one at Hollin Hall and sugaring the Mop tree.Should be the last one before we get attocked by swarms of midges.
All help will be much appreciated looks like it may be a good one with muggy conditions forcast..

All welcome..

Oak Tree Pugs

A

 couple of oak tree pugs caught at light on the 1st and 3rd May 2011.Strong discal spot,pale area near discal spot both 20mm and early may flight time are good indicators for this species.

Hardcastle Craggs 1st may

 Nematopogon swammerdamella 10
Brindled Pug  32
Brown silver Lines  4
Common quaker        2
Engrailed                 2
Pale Tussock           1
Flame Carpet           1
Autumn Green Carpet    2
Grey Pine carpet               1
Water Carpet                     2
Powdered Quaker              1
Early tooth striped            1
White ermine                   1 
Early Thorn                     1
Coxcomb prominent        1
Hebrew Character          2 
Eriocrania  Subpurpurella    2

Cockchafer bettle              10
Thanks to Sandra for tea and thanks to Bri,Martyn and carol. f

Oak Tree Pug

Heres a nicely marked oak tree pug at 20mm wingspan,personally i dont think wingspan measurements are the most accurate ie not always are their wings fully extended and often 1 wing is tucked slightly in a tad which could mean the differance of a mm or so,which might be crucial with some species of pug,maybe measuring the forewing from base to tip and width of body ! a bit faffy maybe!interesting to see what others think ?

Heads Up for Brimstones

Loads of Brimstones on the wing in Marbury, Cheshire yesterday. I had a fast flying single with ND on 17th downstream of Ryburn Reservoir. Originally thought it might have been a Clouded Yellow. Didn't get chance to film any in Marbury, so hoping some more will turn up over here.
Plenty Green Hairstreaks on the Bilberry around Widdop, and at Sheddon Clough in Cliviger, plus Green Tiger Beetles at Blake Dean

Last Night in Hebden Bridge

An interesting selection last night.

Pale Tussock 1

Common Wave 1

Unknown pug 1

Poplar Hawkmoth 1

Hebrew Character 1

Common Quaker 1

Glaucous Shears (pictured) 1

Hardcastle Craggs Sund 01 05 11

Trying Hardcastle Craggs sund 01 05 11,meet about 8ish if anyone can make it.lets hope it warms up a bit ! regards Bri. ps a few Pugs would be nice,like maybe Ochreous !!

Thorn Help please

This fine 1917 Early Thorn Selenia dentaria visited my trap on 14th April and I put her in a pot till I could get a photo. Moments later I realised she had laid 7 eggs. That was 12 days ago and the eggs have sat there on the worktop till today when 6 have hatched into vigerous 2mm long caterpillars! I read in W & T that Hawthorn is one of their foodplant so I have put some leaves in the small pot and the whole thing in a small jam jar with pop sock and elastic band on top outside. Hopefully they will come out of the small pot and feed. Have I done the right thing and about how long will the different stages take? Please help. Win

Crags Sunday night

Lesser Swallow Prominent from Sunday night in the Crags

Saturday 23rd in Hebden Bridge

Hi All, An interesting selection in the trap on Sunday morning.

Hebrew Character 1

Brindled Pug 17

Unidentified pug 1

Common Quaker 5

Knot Grass 1

Eriocrania subpurperella 1

Alucita Hexadactyla 1 (Which I have only recorded once before years ago in a chip shop!)

Syndemis musculana 1 (At least thats what I think it is , pic below)

Oak Tree Pug 1

Lime Hawk Moth 1

Hardcastle Craggs Sund 24 04 11

A chilly clear night only produced 4 brown silverline,1 lesser swallow prominent,2 brindled pug and 1 common quaker to light,we found 4 brown silverline and 1 water carpet on the wing by torch up at Hollin Hall as we thought it would be even colder down by the river at Gibson Mill,nothing at all came to the sugared tree where Winstons sugar mop usually go,s,regards Bri and Martyn.

Hardcastle Craggs Sund 24 04 11

Having a try at Hardcastle Craggs tonight if anyone can make it ? sorry its short notice,but not been able to get access due to Easter Hols,until today,will meet top car park 730 ish.let us know on this blog if you can make it,regards Bri.

Micro for i.d.

can anyone i.d. this little beauty please

Prominent night in Midgley

Looks like the prominents were out in force last night - We had an Iron Prominent and Pebble Prominent, but the star of the night was our first Poplar Hawkmoth! Also got a cracking Flame Carpet just asking to be photographed. Hebrew Characters were aplenty too with 17 in the trap.

Looking forward to emptying the trap tomorrow morning...

Cock Hill Moor Thursday

Hi All, Wandering on Cock Hill Moor yesterday saw lots of Common Heath and about 30 Green Hairstreak, these two enjoying the sun. Also saw what I think is a wild violet. Can anyone confirm? Win

Hardcastle Craggs thurs 21 04 11

Tried 4 hours or so at Hollin Hall, 22 species, brown silver-line 5,flame carpet 2,a arenella 2,brindled pug 30,red chestnut 2,small phoenix 1,small quaker 1,v pug 1,iron prominent 1,lesser swallow prominent 4,hebrew character 8,purple thorn 1,early thorn 4,common quaker 19,eriocrania subpurpurella 1,diurnea fagella 1,water carpet 3,clouded drab 21,twin spot quaker 1 worn,powdered quaker 2,autumn green carpet 1,common pug 1,and 2 pugs to be checked.a pic of iron prominent.regards Bri. ps im saying nothing about generators !!

Green Hairstreak

Spotted this near Jack Bridge yesterday.

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