Knott Wood last night

A cool night with temp down to single figures and a strong breeze so catch was well down on recent nights ...Coxcomb Prominent(above)40 Ingrailed Clay.20 Green Carpets and map winged swift the highlights.

A few hawks

Last night was the first time I had all four common local Hawkmoths in the trap 3 Poplars,1 Lime,2 Elephant anf 1 small Elephant,along with 12 Beautiful Golden Y,Gold spot,Peppered Moth and 4 Small angle Shades(I have not had Angle Shades this year so far??).250 Ghost moths last night with 20 pairs in cop and at least 200 + Small Magpies in the field at dusk.

wassat?

Found this interesting critter this evening. The antennae are very long. I have no idea what it is-do you?

Manor Heath

Working at Manor Heath today and pretty sure I had a Dark fruit tree tortrix (972 Pandemis heparana) land on my shirt. Only there a few seconds and then flew off into the grass.

Ghost Moth Spectacular

Tonight was fantastic in the field just in front of my house with no less than 238 Ghost Moths and 190 Small Magpies displaying in the twlight.I found 10 pairs of ghost moths in cop.........They appear for about an hour first showing about 10 o'clock......

Eggs and Caterpillars

the Fox moth caterpillars are pretty much the same but now measure 8mm and are busy scoffing away at Heather




also had a Green Silver Line lay eggs


















and found these eggs in one of my pots, these hatched today, the cats are about a mill in length. I'm not sure just what they are but they may be Knot Grass
































these are Buff Ermine that hatched yesterday, again very tiny, about 1.5 mill




















these are eggs of Angle Shades, these are scattered all round the tub in ones and two's

A couple from last night

Pebble Prominent (Northowram)

Map winged Swift(Midgley

Knott wood Friday night meeting about 10ish.........................

Beautiful Golden Y

Sandra, snap!

Campion vs Lychins.??

Cromwell Bottom

http://calderbirds.blogspot.com/Further to a post on the Calderdale birders blog with regard to the Local Nature Reserve at Cromwell Bottom and a request from Hugh Firman for more local naturalists to get involved in its future there is to be an opportunity to join the staff from Calderdale Council's Countryside Service for an evening of discussion over the key issues the Reserve faces. The evening walk will include a look at the access issues, habitat management and discuss plans to help this Local Nature Reserve improve and develop towards its potential. The meeting will be held on site on 22nd June meeting at the Fisherman's Car Park (behind Cromwell House) at 7pm.

This is an opportunity for local naturalists to have an involvement in the area and hopefully influence the decisions that are taken re habitat management etc. an area which it has to be said has received its share of criticism in the past.(and justly so)

Recent sightings and trappings

A few records from the past couple of days

Friday 11th June
Langfield Common
Latticed heath
Small heath
Small tortoiseshell
Peacock
Lots of whites
Orange tip

Saturday 12th June
Trapping - garden in Hipperholme
1x Pale tussock
1x Heart & dart
1x Common marbled carpet
(Unfortunately my girlfriend turned the trap off at 2am as there was a lot of noise in the area and she did not want anyone coming into the garden)

Sunday 13th June
Trapping - garden in Hipperholme
4x Pale tussock
4x Heart & dart
1x Clouded bordered brindle
1x bright line brown eye

Alder Moth

Caught this beauty i n the trap at northowram last night a rarely recorded species in calderdale.

June so far

A real week so far with this female Ghost Moth the first of many I hope.43 species of macro this week so far and the Top pic is a selection from last night in the trap with 8 species on show if you would like to guess and 131 Incurvaria oehlmanniella from Knott wood last week.

Knott Wood sat night

Meeting with Bri about 10ish up there ,all welcome.............................................Highlights were Scalloped hooktip,Welsh Wave,Green Arches(4)Grey Birch(2) , White Pinion spotted (5).Pale Tussock (2)Green Carpet (22)Coxcomb prominent(1),flame sholder (13). Broken Barred Carpet(5),Ingrailed Clay(29)Small rivulet(1)Small angle shades(4)Purple Bar (9)Broom Moth (2)True lover knot(2)Peach Blossom (2).

Also the cat found on the 1st May feeding on Heather emerged today...a Mottled Beauty.(nice one Martyn)

Northern/Oak Eggar Caterpillar

Thanks to Andy and Charlie for identifying this caterpillar which I found at Cold Edge Dams this morning.

Found on Honey suckle

One of the larvae I found on honey suckle earlier in the year has spun this' little hammock ' !!Should I discard the leaf or just leave it to decay around it .??

Midgley Moths

We have made some modifications ( put card round the inside to make it darker) to the Actinic trap which seem to have made it more moth friendly as we have gone from around 3-4 a night to 10-15, not as many as some folk I know but still an improvement. Have also tried moving it around to attract more moths so will see what happens.

Recent Moths include :
Orange Swift
Flame Shoulder
Scalloped Hazel
White Ermine
Brimstone
Ingrailed Clay
Silver Ground Carpet
Common White Wave

Beautiful Golden Y

Clouded Silver

Have put on some pictures of a couple of Pugs which we are unsure of ID (is one Foxglove Pug?)

And have put the Beautiful Golden Y on because it's a belter!

1076 Celypha lacunana

Hi all. This one arrived in the trap last night. Initially the nearest I could get is 1087 Orthotaenia undulana but thanks to others I can now reval it is in fact 1076 Celypha lacunana. Many thanks. Winston

Fox Moths

here's a few photo's of the newly emerged Fox Moths and a couple hatching out

Marbled White Spot 05 06 10

Heres a pic,finally,forewing is 11mm,from knottwood sat night 05 06 10