Rain

It started raining in Northowram on Sunday 23rd at 18.30 GMT on Wednesday 26th at 18.00 GMT its still raining ,it has'nt stopped at all in  that time.For the last 5 years Ive run my trap every night in september so this rain was'nt going to stop me so I have put it in the greenhouse with all the doors and windaws open for the last 3 nights.(pic above)
amazingly there have been moths out there...
Pink Barred sallow  5
Light Brown apple Moth  1
Black rustic   5
Silver Y  1
Large Yellow Underwing  1
Angle Shades     1
Common Marbled Marpet  3
The Silver Y was most unexpected....,,....

Spider prey

Sunday Night Craggs

Meeting on sunday night at 7 ish top car park.Weather permitting,all welcome..Bri and Andy

Phyllonorycter platanoidella Mines 20 09 2012

Found 3 Phyllonorycter platanoidella Mines on a smallish Norway Maple Tree at Todmorden station,underside of mine top, upperside lower pics,same trees ive noticed them before and where previously this Adult emerged from the above Mine,regards Bri.

More Caterpillars

Noticed this Green Silver-lines  Larva ,top,on a Elder Tree it wasnt feeding probably looking for a place to Pupate,while this Elephant Hawk Larva was feeding in earnest on Rosebay Willowherb nearby.

More Copper Underwing agg

Hardcastle Craggs

Meeting tonight at 8ish all welcome......
Great to see Marion and Cheryl and the weather was not bad for us.
Common marbled Carpetr  17
Dark Marbled Carpet            2
Dark arches                           2
Copper underwing agg          2
Spruce carpet                         2
Large YU                              7
Common Carpet                    1
Autumnal   Rustic                 3
Dunbar                                   3
Pine Carpet                             3
Devon carpet                           1
Straw Dot                                1
Lesser YU..                              3
BBYunderwing                       1
Eudonia   mer                         15
The Highlights were 3 Pine Carpets and a freshly emerged Devon Carpet.also not seen Dunbar this late before,next time we should be getting some November aggs to sort through.
Bri and andy

Copper Underwing agg ??

Still struggle with these two......

Pine carpet

Another cracking night last night,with this pine Carpet the pic of the bunch.Only the 4 th local record and the first away from its stronghold in hardcastle Craggs.A beautiful Red underwing also.

Early September

A real start to September with sun and a couple of cloudy nights.Has produced 50 species in the garden,Nettle Tap , Udea lutealis,brown and White shouldered house moth,Garden carpet,agriphila tristella,marbled Beauty and Acleris literana have been netted around the house.
 ,Orange Sallow,Orange Swift, Centre Barred Sallow(pics above) Sallow, Canary Shouldered Thorn,Black Rustic,Autumnal Rustic and Rosy Rustic  have given the week an autumnal feeling .Yellow shell,Campion, Small Phoneix, Brimstone and riband waves are the last of the summer moths.
  The new micro book has been an excellent aid in identifying the micros especially  Epinotia nisella ,ramella and  Gracillaria syringella. (caloptilia).

Well worth a look......

http://charlielepidopteraofcalderdale.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/adult-micros.html

White-letter Hairstreak

A quite ragged looking White-letter Hairstreak spotted on the canal towpath in Hebden Bridge Today, Never seen one in Hebden before. Alas no camera. Win

Iron Prominent Pupating

Found this Iron Prominent Larva, making its silken cocoon on the underside of an Alder leaf,quite a spectacular Caterpillar,the swirling gale force wind made it difficult to get a decent image,regards Bri.

Acleris literana

Netted this in the garden last night an Acleris literana quite a under recorded moth in yorkshire.The photo has'nt picked up the colour which is like a fresh V-pug,green and black.38 species so far in the trap and 3 species netted around the house .Holly Blue,speckled wood,Large white and Red Admiral seen yesterday in Northowram.

Argyresthia bonnetella

Found this striking little Micro 421 Argyresthia bonnetella in a Hawthorn patch ,noticed quite a few Small Heath Butterflies nectaring on Ragwort,also a Haworths Minor Moth nectaring on same Ragwort along with countless Hoverflies and Bees.regards Bri

Midgley Butterflies

A real morning when the sun came out around the edge of Midgley Moor.
12 small copper
30 green veined white
10 small white
14 Peacock
2 Gatekeeper
8 Meadow brown
22 small Tortoiseshell
14 Small heath

Canceeled tonight

tonight is cancelled due to weather

Any Cinnabars being seen ?

Anyone finding any Cinnabar Moths/Caterpillars ? Locally in Calderdale,done a lot of searching and only saw 1 Moth and Caterpillars in 2 places in the Todmorden area,think Andy saw a Moth ? Regards Brian 

Neglected Rustic?

Caught in Midgley last night, not much else of note though.

Ghost moth update

It looks like 40mm+ to me,?? most books and  web sites quote 'when fully grown 28 - 32mm.I wonder if this is a female .?
1.Eggs collected from pair in cop 7th june 2011
2.When laid the eggs were white and turned black within 24 hours
3.4th- 21st  Julyeggs hatched
4.larvae start off clear with pale heads soon turning to white with orange heads after 10 days.
5 After 10- 12 days larvae are about 8/10mm
6.larve feed on the roots of young dandilion
7.By late September only 4 larvae left at 20mm
8.The four soon became 2 as we approached late September
9.the 2 stayed deep in the soil until April 2012( still 20mm) when they were observed feeding in new growth dandilion roots
10.21st august 2012 one larvae left at 40mm and feeding well...

Craggs Sat night

A hot and humid night ,2 Devon Carpets , 1  Buff Footman,2 Lempke's Gold Spot ,and 2 Dark Marbled CarpetsStill a few micros to sort.

Moth for identifying

This moth came into our house the other evening. Can someone name it? Side on it looked like a small bat!

Also a photo of female Broad Bodied Chaser at Sunnybank, Tod

Philip

Hardcastle Craggs

Will be running trap at hardcastle craggs top car park by the picnic table this sat night from 9ish all welcome.....Target is DEVON CARPET we should get a few with a bit of luck ,this is the best chance to see this species in Yorkshire......................................

Cromwell Bottom Moth Night

Sat 25th  August  weather permitting more details to follow...all welcome

The Olive

Old bird nest

A friend of mine has just cleaned out a nestbox used by Great Tits and mindful of the fact we offered the old nests from the Crags boxes on here for moth IDs has left it with me, does anyone want it?

Orange Swift dark form

Mega Midgley Moths!

OK perhaps not mega but two are new for us up here, Drinker and Buff Arches and the Scarce Silver Y we've only had the odd time.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth Todmorden 27 07 12

Hummingbird Hawkmoth seen nectaring on Honeysuckle in her Todmorden Garden on 27 07 12 Portia.

Bird Dropping That Wasnt !

Thought this Ash Bud Moth was a Bird Dropping at first till i looked a bit closer ! another nice easy one to identify with the aid of the latest Micro Moth Book.

Gothic,Garden pebble,Bee Moth and Red barred tortrix

Antler feeding on Thistle

                                                      Antler moth on Ragwort

Narrow Borderd 5 spot Burnet moth

Loads of antler moths feeding on thistle and ragwort  today at Rishworth in the sunshine

Moth for naming

I disturbed this moth today at the base of meadow grasses, Sunnybank, Tod. I would be pleased to have it identified (not that I can identify moths but this one I haven't seen  before).
Thanks
Philip

Sun Wood, Shelf

Out today looking at Sun Wood in Shelf in terms of future management. Lots of Speckled Woodand Meadow Browns, but the highlight was a Purple Hairstreak on a medium sized oak near the bridge.

Last night

Riband Wave top and Plain wave below  shows  lack of a kink in the outer line,and  has dashes along the wing edge rather than the dots and dashes of Riband Wave

                                        Small yellow wave new for the garden

A cracking night at long last at Northowram , any one like to guess at this lot above...

Carpet - it's a Large Twin-spot. The bulge on the outer edge of the dark fascia

is diagnostic. I find supplementary plate A in the new edition of Skinner to be
really useful here.Thanks Charlie F
 This is the first time this species has been recorded in Calderdale and as soon as I saw it on the Garage window , I had an idea what it was good to get confirmation.



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