Langfield Edge

Ran the trap last night below the rock face at langfield,A cool breeze blew up the valley but the rain stayed away,Bri ,Peter and myself stayed until 2ish. the highlights were 4 Confused  and  3 Grey Moutain Carpet.supporting cast were 8 Blastobasis Lac ,Small angle shades ,3 Narrow winged pug , 30 ingrailed Clay, 4 Broom Moth 5 Bright Line Brown Eye, Silver Y ,Northern Spinach,Dusky brocade , 6 Purple Clay ,True Lovers Knot and our first Antler of the year.
NEXT WEEK IF THE WEATHER IS GOOD ITS CROMWELL BOTTOM...will keep you posted.

Langfield Edge 14 07 12

Quite a chilly night, though cloudy and dry, as the wind came and went,amazingly 4 Confused checked by the 2 bands on the underside of forewing in amongst the Dusky Brocades,also 3 Grey Mountain Carpets only ever seen 2 before in years of searching locally,also this Scop species Scoparia ambigualis ? Regards Andy,Bri,Peter

Grizzly Goings on in the Gorse

Found quite a few Micros Cydia ulicetana around this large Gorse patch,and found a good few of these Pupae inside the seedpods,i opened one up to show.I noticed some small Parasitic Wasps also s earching out the seedpods,whether for ones still with Larvae inside or with Pupae in im not sure,i could clearly see the wasp inserting its Ovipositor into the Pods ! Uhm Nature ! i have retained a few Pupae to see what emerges.Regards Bri.

Sat night Langfiel Common

We are heading up to langfield common tonight looking for moorland specialities.Meet at shepards rest about 9 ish.All welcome...

Check Those Flowers

Theres good numbers of Moths Nectaring on Flowers at the moment,especially after dark,all manner of Flowers, Thistles,Ragworts and Grass Flower heads are worth checking,in fact its far more productive than using Actinic Traps at the moment,on a relatively small patch of Creeping Thistles the other night 2 species of Pug Narrow Winged,Larch and Noctuids including Dusky,Pale Shouldered Brocades,Purple Clay,Large Yellow Underwings,Ingrailed Clay,Middle Barred Minor all were tucking in.These 2 were Dusky Brocades   Regards Bri.

Hardcastle Craggs 07 07 12

A good night at Craggs with 44 species of macros Beautiful Snout top and Scallop Shell ,although raining for quite a time some great Local Moths came in July Highflyer, Barred red ,Narrow Winged pug,Tawny Barred angle, Green Arches Rivulet,Green pug,Dark Spectacle and Northern spinach.at least 25 Mottled beauty (but no Satins).Andy, Bri ,Peter .

Recent sightings

I've been out and about over the last few days (keeping to the drier days anyway), had a few good sightings that you might like to know about. Beechwood Park LNR, Illingworth/Ovenden The meadow was full of chimney sweeper moths, along with speckled wood. Painted Lady Had my first view of a painted lady this year on 4th July, on the road out of Wainstalls towards Castle Carr top lodge,just as it passes over Caty Well Brook (Grid reference SE045287). It was fliting around feeding on thistles Thursday 5th July Angled Shade and lots of Peacock caterpillars on the footpath linking Bradford Road to Hud Hill/Landmere in Northowram/Stone Chair area (Grid reference SE116275) Chris

Larch Pug 05 07 12

Had another try at Cockhill Wood Plantation with Actinic last night left trap right in plantation and typically no Pugs came to the light! i noticed quite a few Creeping Thistles flowering on the main ride seperating the  Larch and Spruce.And Nectaring on the flowers were 3 Melanistic Pugs and a Narrow Winged Pug plus this Normal form Larch Pug,also nectaring with them  Dusky,Pale Shouldered Brocades,Common Rustic Aggs,Clouded Bordered Brindles,LY Underwings,Purple Clay.Actinic pulled in Tawny Barred Angle dk form,3 Green Carpets,Ingrailed Clay,Pale shouldered brocade and Small dooted buff ,Micro Eucosma sp plus another micro yet to be identified,  Bri.

Bad Weather

Ok so we all know that the weather has been poor since the beautiful March , but we have still recorded some excellent moths , its more of a quality year than quantity.So a quick look at the highlights so far
449a Prays Olea
596 Elashista poae
656 Tachystola acroxantha
Eyed Hawkmoth
Wood Tiger
Larch Pug
Devon Carpet
Chamomile Shark
Red Twin Spot Carpet(thanks Charlie Fletcher)
Broad Barred White
and Satin Beauty (thanks Charlie Fletcher)

September and October must be in for a heatwave......

So if the weather is good hopefully trap a Red necked Footman at Hardcastle Craggs sat night 9.45 all welcome...

Satin Beauty

Many thanks to Charlie Fletcher who has re identified this species as a female Satin Beauty ,I had  id'd  it as an Engrailed reared from a cat found at Hardcastle Craggs in May..

Another French Dragon

Ogden

 A couple of days ago now, when it was slightly warmer and dryer. Not much around, but near the golf course there were large numbers of small heaths around.

Headed up towards the ponds to see if there were Dragonflies around, but only really found large red damselflies, though this one appears to have some kind of mite attached to it, though the picture is not great, the orange marking on the side appears to be a cluster of mites. There was one dragonfly, but it saw me as the moment I saw it and it moved away into the trees. It was defiantly a hawker, though it is a bit early!

It started to rain so I left the ponds in the woods, but the rain soon left so I went to have a look at the pond up the back lane. It was still pretty gloomy, but there were around 5 Azure damselflies in the area that I could see. I know the pictures not great...

Also we had this lovely moth in the garden about a week ago now. I think its a Knotgrass moth, though I could well be mistaken.

Found in France

Took this amongst several others on a recent trip to France (La Brenne area), not had chance to get the books out yet, anyone ID i

t?

Cockhill Wood Plantation 01 07 12

C

Purple Hairstreak 30 06 12

Saw a Purple Hairstreak yesterday at Ramsden Wood Clough,in between torrential rain as the sun came out,and plenty of Nemophora degeerella about.regards Bri.

Engrailed

This emerged today from a larvae found on beech at hardcastle craggs in late May.

Moth Night IS On Tonight

Meeting at cromwell Bottom tonight  about 9.30.All welcome.....

Moths at last

Finally got round to putting the trap on last night as the weather for the first time in ages looked pretty good.30+ species of macro including this rather worn Broad Barred white,Cinnabr,Ghost Moth,Pale Sh Brocade,Gothic,Burnished Brass,BGY,,Campion,Buff arches,Freyers Pug(6) and a lot of micros to sort...

Time to get that new guide out.

Even with the new micro guide I knew the Tortricidae were never going to be straight forward. This was reared from oak, forewing 8mm – anybody any ideas?