News from Todmorden

Bri is having laptop problems at the moment but is well chuffed with two leaf mine emergences this week 363 Phyllonorycter platanoidella and 316 Phyllonorycter roboris.Pics to follow.

Last Night in Knott Wood

Brian and I met in Knott Wood last night. As usual for this week any cloud cleared and the stars all apeared. Also it felt colder than of late to me. Despite this the catch was still a good one. Brian has the official list and is off line at the moment but we had well over 100 moths of 11 species which included 10 Early Tooth-striped, all well marked and one of the target species Brian earmarked for this location. Yellow Horned and Orange Underwing already ticked off.

Clouded Drab x 13
Early Tooth-striped x 8
Diurnea fagella x 3
Red Chestnut x 17
Chestnut x 6
Common Quaker x 41
Twin-spot Quaker x 5
Engrailed x 3
Hebrew Character x 19
Brindled Pug x 2
Early thorn x 1
Small quaker x 2

(numbers from Bri by text)

Winston

Mystery moth

a friensd of mine on the Orkneys caught this on Friday night any ideas,>?????

Orthosia gothica

A massive 43 Hebrew Characters last night in the trap.By far my favourite spring species.,Double Striped Pug,E.Monodactayla and a large collection of common Orthosia sp also.

Last Nght in Hebden Bridge

Engrailed 1

Early grey 1

Early tooth-striped 1

Chestnut 1

Common Quaker 7

Hebrew Character 3

Total 14

Winston

Orange Underwing Action

Yesterday (Fri) I bumped into Brian in Knott Wood. Sitting above the tops of the birch trees 4 Orange Underwings came close to us. but not close enough for my net. There were also at least 3 peacocks flying strongly. Winston

GMS Northowram

A good night for the GMS for a change produced an excellent catch in the garden trap.
Common Quaker x 20
Hebrew Character x 23
Clouded Drab x 6
695.Agonopterix alstromeriana x 1(new for garden, the food plant is hemlock ?)
Diurnea fagella x 1
Chestnut x 1
Small Quaker 1
Early Grey x 5
Mottled Grey x 1
twin spot quaker x1
Brindled Pug x 1
satellite x 1
12 species 62 moths

Trapping in Knott Wood

Hi all,

do we have a date for going trapping in Knott Wood next week?

I am free all days appart from tuesday.

I also now finally have a net!

Win

Last Night in Hebden Bridge

All these came to a rather soggy skinner trap during the night

Common Quaker 16
Hebrew Character 1
Clouded Drab 1
Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella 1
Diurnea fagella 2
Chestnut 6
Small Quaker 1

total 29

Monday Night in Hebden

Hi all. A good night on the Rochdale Canal last night.

I am pretty sure this is A. acanthadactyla (A new species for me) as it's a more red-brown colour and less speckled than its close relative A. punctidactyla which also seems to have a more southern distribution. (Charlie, what do you think as I recal you having this one once). I have also included pictures of possibly the lightest Clouded Drab I have seen and a very nicely marked Twin-spotted Quaker.

Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 1
Twin-spotted Quaker 1

Diurnea fagella 1

Chestnut 9
Clouded Drab 2

Common Quaker 14

Total - 28 moths

Pheromones

http://www.angleps.com/pheromones.php


371 Lunar Hornet Moth Sesia bembeciformis (Hübner, 1806) 1
Collinson wrote .’This species is well established in the trunks of mature sallows throughout the district 1965’.No recent records.


381 Large Red-belted Clearwing Synanthedon culiciformis (Linnaeus, 1758) 1
Collinson wrote ‘Larve and empty pupa cases are easily found 1965’.No recent records.It may well be worth a look for these species in appropriate habitat .

Knott Wood Sunday night

Clear skies and cool temps produced:-
Eriocrania semipurpurella x 1
diurnea fagella x 4
Acleris hyemena 1
Common Quaker x 36
Small quaker x 3
Clouded Drab x 3
Hebrew Character x 3
Brindled Pug x 1
Mottled Grey x 1
March Moth x 1
Red Chestnut x 1
Chestnut x 3

Mottled Grey?

The top photo is what we identified as a Mottled Grey a couple of days ago and the bottom is what we identified as a Mottled Grey from March of 2009, any comments? (click on photo for a larger image)

Mottled Grey and Early Tooth- striped

There has been much discussion recently about these two similar species,I think so far they have all been Mottled Greys,this article on the Lansweb site is excellent.
http://www.lancashiremoths.co.uk/visitor/downloads/Mottled%20Grey%20Early%20Tooth%20striped.pdf

Midgley last night

Clouded Drab 3
Hebrew Character 2
Mottled Grey 1
Chestnut 1

Orange Underwing,03 04 10

Hi all,6 or so Orange Underwings,at Knott wood,but the 1st ive seen land,they are cracking moths ! regards Bri

Midgley GMS

Hebrew Character 1
Clouded Drab 1
Chestnut 1
Mottled Grey 1

Midgley last night

Hebrew Character 2
Clouded Drab 1
Early Grey 1

April Tips on Sallow

If you have a garage or outside shed, etc, now is the time to start collecting Sallow catkins which have fallen on to the ground from the Sallow trees. Many of these fallen catkins will often contain various Tortricidae, Geometridae and Pug larvae. The way to check the catkins for larvae is very easy. Simply spread them out on white kitchen roll in some seed trays or similar, no need for any sort of lid at this stage. If you keep checking the catkins you will see signs of frass appearing on the white kitchen roll under the occupied catkins. Once you find these move them to a lidded container and keep an eye on the situation. The larvae may need fresh catkins adding and then as soon as the sallow leaves are out pop some leaves in the tub with the occupied catkins. Some catkins will have only one species and some will have more than one species on/in them. Most of these are fine kept together until they are large enough to ID. The only exception to this are Pug larvae which I find are mostly cannibalistic even when enough food is present, if you want more than one survivor its pays to house pug larvae in solitary confinement ! Its great fun with catkins at this time of the year as you never know what you might find and rear through.

We are now getting close to the one of the best times of the year to find moths on natural food sources. Any night now when its cloudy and reasonably mild its the time to go "Sallowing". This is one of the great classic tecniques used before the advent of MV lights to collect large numbers of moths in one place. Cromwell Bottom is an ideal place to try this out but any area with large numbers of Sallow in bloom is fine. You simply stick a few pots in your pocket, pack a decent torch and a butterfly net. In practice one simply walks around shining the torch on Sallow catkins until you pick out a moth feeding, they can usually be spotted by the light reflecting off their eyes. One a good night there can be hundreds of moths on each Sallow bush, but often around here one is lucky to get a few dozen per bush. If its moth sp you wish to confirm or look through a hand lens its usually dead easy to simply pop the net over them and tap them off the catkins. They are mainly Orthosia spp, but also Chestnut, Satellite, perhaps some Thorns and Pugs. The only other time of year when one can get the same effect with natural sources is in autumn when you search Ivy Blossom in the same manner.

This was originally posted by Paul Talbot in April 2008

Knott Wood Sunday night

We are having a session on sunday night if anyone fancies it,,if we meet at Saville Bowling Club at the small car park bout 1945 ish, its 10 min walk,although it will be muddy in parts.Oak Beauty is target.