Old Lady On the Canal

Difficult times on the Rochdale Canal as I struggle around with a broken foot. Trying to do some gigs but in pain and frustrated.
Anyway…. As I hobbled my way to bed on Monday night, I was suddenly disorientated by what I first thought was a bird in the confined hall just outside the boat’s toilet. After the flapping had stopped I was stood looking at a very large moth on the tiled wall. None other than 2300 Old Lady Mormo Maura. Easily identified even though I have never seen her before. I have never had a Macro moth on my boat and now this. Pic and wing detail shown here. Not such a drab species as is often described. Winston

Heath Royd last couple of nights

A few new ones for me over the weekend given that it's my first year with a trap! Several nights produced amongst the more common;

33 Scalloped Oaks
12 Dun-bars
1 Phoenix
1 Burnished Brass
1 True Lovers Knot
3 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1 Early Thorn
2 Copper Underwings
1 V-Pug
1 Grey Chi
7 Mother of Pearl
1 Dark Spectacle

Several of the above chilling in the fridge waiting for photo shoot! Told off by her indoors for filling one shelf with moths so had a clear out tonight! Have what looks like a Small Quaker in the fridge but it was a bit lively earlier so couldn't get a decent shot. Is it a bit late or would it simply be part of a second batch?

Sean

Cromwell Bottom Sat night....

Runnibg two light traps at Cromwell bottom on Sat Night meet about 9.30.near where the bird watching platform is going(?).All welcome............

Dark Green Fritillary(Only House wood Northowram)

Today about 2.30 I noticed a large orange butterfly feeding on thistle heads about 20 feet from where i was stood ,unfortunatly there was a large barrbed wire fence between me and the butterfly,as luck would have it, the strong wind was bowing my way the butterfly was heading straight for me as it took off.I netted it with one swoop I could see the large orange butterfly was a beautiful male Dark green fritillary(seen many times before in Cornwall)curved lower wing eliminating Comma.bad luck again with the barrbed wire as the net was stuck and the fritillary was escaping and I could not get it free. I watched it fly off about 30 feet away and despite looking for at least an hour it was not seen again.Also seen :-
Comma 7
Gatekeeper 28 (a pair in cop pic above)
Meadow Brown 40+
Small copper 3
Small Heath 2
Small skipper 6
Small White 5
Small Tortoiseshell 3
Speckled Wood 1

Keep and eye out..

White Letter hairstreak at Manor Heath
I thought that one of the Calderdale team may be interested in the finding of one of the above in my garden last week feeding on Angelica flowers. I’m 95.5% certain of its ID and after checking its host realised it was elm! There is a wych elm growing in next doors garden, so I wondered if any body would be interested in determining if any eggs have been deposited on this tree. Is the white letter hairstreak common in Calderdale?

2 Heath Avenue
Manor Heath
Thanks for the info Lawrance

Cromwell Bottom (lunch time stroll)

Had a quick look round tag Loop this lunch time which was quite produtive in light drizzle.
Shaded broad Bar x 15
Yellow Shell x 2
Common Carpet x 1
Latticed Heath x 3
Common wave x 3
Clouded Border x1
Small fan - Footed Wave x 1
Udea Lutealis x 2
Gatekeeper 50 +
Meadow Brown 20 +
Small Skipper 5
Large Skipper 2
Speckled Wood 2
Large white 1

Clay Triple-lines 23 07 10

Hi all,walking through some Beech woodland near Stoodley Glen,i flushed a brownish carpet type moth which landed on a beech trunk,i got a good look at it,but made the mistake of trying to get a pic on the tree where settled !! and youve guessed it off it went !! thinking of seeing if can get a light in the area hopefully one night.not sure if it was 1st/2nd generation,though it looked quite nicely marked.Bri.

Confused 22 07 10

Had a try with actinic at Langfield Edge on a cloudy but cooler night only saw 2 moths,at first thought this was a dusky brocade obscura form,but after checking the underside of forewing which shows 2 faint bands on confused and 1 on dusky brocade,i sent pic off to Charley Fletcher,coincidently he saw 3 confused the night before,which were exactly like this 1,and reckons this is indeed a Confused,which is the 1st ive seen,probably they are being under recorded no doubt !

Dark Green Frit update

Andy,
I keep working on Brian re going on line but I dont think it will happen any time soon.
I'll ask him about photos when I see him or get time to ring.
Great Blog by the way.

Baldibis,
the site for DGF at Withens Clough was: park at res. Walk up the tarmaced lane which doubles back on the road up from the bottom. Brian showed us the spot which was about half way up to the trees.
Marsh thistles are the common upland thistle, on tall stems, sometimes up to 6ft. Purpley-pink, occasionally white flowers. Can imagine butterflies would feed from any thistle, though. (just 3 common ones - marsh, creeping and spear- )
Same with violets, for the cats to feed on. Many bogs have a little marsh violet in them - I've seen it at Dean Head (Scammonden) and top end of Stoodley Glen recently, though I've never seen the flowers.
Dog violet is only in and around gardens as far as I know, in Calderdale.
Good Luck! Steve

Common or dingy Footman..???

Be good year for Common footman in Northowram but this one stood out in the crowd of Commons,any body got any ideas.???

Pug Help

Pug from pellon 4th July.??

Below is an excellent guide to pugs of Lancashire,and very useful for calderdale species.


http://www.lancashiremoths.co.uk/visitor/downloads/Pugs%20of%20Lancashire%20%208.4.10.pdf

Feeding on next door's nettles

Anyone ID this please?

Burnet Species

I noticed a few of these up on Soil Hill in the last 3 weeks, today I got lucky.

Another Oak Eggar

Cold Edge Dams around 1235hrs.

Anomalous update,18 07 10

Hi all,14 3 10 i planted up 2 large plant pots with a clump of wavy hairgrass in each and covered both with very fine mesh,after methodically checking for any other larva/predators in the grass/soil below.18 3 10, 6 brown form larva and 5 green form were collected from Jailhole by me/Andy,size range was 10/13mm,and placed in pots seperated by colour.both pots being kept outdoors at meadows edge garden checking at night they were feeding ok.on 03 04 10, pot A, 4 out of the 5 green form had turned brown ! pot B, 4 out of the 6 seen were the same brown colour.on 23 04 10,pot A,1 green larva still feeding at about 26mm,pot B,1 brown larva restless,indicating probably close to going underground to pupate,as hopefully all the others had ! it will be interesting to see which sex comes out of which pot.heres pic of pupa and cocoon,which was a fragile case of soil 15mm long opened up,pupa 1cm long,i cm below ground aprox,checked on 19 06 10.all the best Baffled/Bewildered Bri.

And here are a few toxic beauties..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdGKY6LQcG8

Footage from Cromwell Bottom - 30th June.

Knottwood,17 07 10

Some good local species last night,scallop shell 1,suspected 4,also large emerald 11,green arches 2,common lutestring 1 mel,purple clay 58,engrailed 24,light emerald 28,northern spinach 14,dark arches 22,large yellow undrwings 8,brimstone 7,common white wave 16,common wave 2,riband wave 4,fan foot 1,clay 1,green carpet 11,burnished brass 1,pebble hook tip 1,ghost 1 f,carcina quercana 1,mottled beauty 23,plain golden y 1,beautiful golden y 2,smoky wainscot 2,common rustic agg 2,common footman 4,clouded border 7,july highflier 7,v pug 2,yellow shell 2,argyresthia brockeela 1,dotted clay 3,purple bar 2,lesser swallow prominent 3,early thorn 2nd gen 1,coxcomb prominent 1,bird cherry ermine 5,common marbled carpet 1,clouded bordered brindle 2,dunbar 2,straw dot 2,narrow winged pug 1,large fruit tortrix 2.suspected pic .regards Bri.

Common Blues 17 07 10

5 common blue butterflies today at meadows edge garden,birds foot trefoil having bing planted up in this garden to specifically atract this species,1 female seen 2009.and i noticed a female egglaying and found a few eggs laid singly on the upper surface of b f trefoil leaves today.also 2 common hawker dragonflies freshly emerged with larval skins in the largest pond.

Big Butterfly count

http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/

Foodplant questions?

Would I be correct about the vetch that the Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnets were feeding on down Cromwell Bottoms being primarily Tufted Vetch, V. cracca?
And were the yellow flowers favoured by some specimens, Meadow Vetchling, Lathyrus pratensis, or Birdsfoot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus?
The shots I have of the moths on yellow flowers, unfortunaely do not show the leaves of the plant for an easy i.d.