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

Cocoons

After releasing nine Fox Moth caterpillars at Cold Edge in September I followed the info in Margaret Brooks and put the remaining eight in a large tub with peat, moss and bramble. Two died in February, two in March and three have now formed cocoons, fingers crossed for a male and female




Fox Moth at top, Northern Eggar middle and bottom two Emperor Moth

Oak Nycteoline

A Oak Nycteoline last night which is a first for me here in Northowram .Also in 2010 doing the GMS I recorded 34 moths in March this year i recorded 122 moths which shows how mild it has been.Last night moths -

Common Quaker 10

powdered quaker 1

Small quaker    3

hebrew Character 18

Clouded drab    8

Brindled Pug 1

Double striped Pug

Brown house Moth

A