More butterflies today !

Sitting in the conservatory a Small Copper x 1 landed on a double daisy in a garden pot. Don't often get those in our garden.

Prompted by the Small Copper we took off up to Ploughcroft and the hill above Boothtown and Claremount on this sunny afternoon. We were not disappointed..

Wall x 2

Small Tortoiseshell x 20+

Record shots only but I'll see if they are good enough to post later !

Mixenden / Ogden golf course

Small Heath butterflies x 2 we're the first for the year on an area of close cropped turf and a nice

 selection of ground cover flowers. 

Plenty of Green-veined Whites (maybe 30+) especially at the lower end of the golf course in Carr's Beck along with a few Small Whites 

and 20+ Orange-tips. 

Just one Peacock and no sign of any Small Tortoiseshells. 
I couldn't find any Green Hairstreaks in the heather / bilberry, just a couple of  Common Heath moths. 

Also from yesterday on Shroggs reclaimed landfill - looks like Bird-cherry Ermine are preparing to scoff the leaves in due course......

Lee Mount - 29th May

 Just one moth in the trap this morning though I did expect a few more with it being so much warmer and overcast last night and a bright morning today !

Ruby Tiger

Light-brown Apple-moth x 2 on the fence

Brown House-moth x 1 inside the house

Hoping to find some day flying moths today ! We'll see...

Shroggs reclaimed landfill site - 28th May

 Spent an hour or so on the site. Not a lot but it's enjoyable to look, and it's a start !

Speckled Wood x 1

Green-veined White x 2 (it's a shame the grass stem got in the way)

Also Peacock x 2

Chamomile Shark

 Only 2 moths last night this beautiful Chamomile Shark and a Poplar Hawkmoth

BARRYS MOTH NIGHT THIS SATURDAY AT CROMWELL BOTTOM ,ALL WELCOME

Stainland.

 One Bee Moth this morning. 

The moths are starting to come, slowly.  Once the weather starts to warm up, it should get more lively.

Rishworth last night

 Spectacle x1 (NFY) 

Double Striped Pug x1 (NFY)

Brown Silver Lines x1 (NFY)

Finally some vaguely summery moths and weather!

Lee Mount - 27th May

Flame Carpet x 1 in the trap this morning and nothing else. Hopefully  a start of better things to come if the temperature starts to increase !

Flame Carpet

Cold Edge dams this afternoon - Common Carpet x 2 - both on/around dandelion flowers. Also a few Orange-tip butterflies but a total lack of any other species.

Common Carpet

Bits and bats

 Nettle tap on pink forget me nots now here in the garden. Green hairstreak on great manshead 2wks ago. trap will be on tonight for the first time in what feels like ages

Stainland.

 My first Garden Carpet of the year.

Garden Carpet

Stainland.

 A new moth for me, (whatever it is). I have spent several hours trying to get an ID on this. I think It's a Flame Carpet - Xanthorhoe designata. Could someone please ID it for me? Thanks.

 

All about Dragonflies and Damselflies.

There is a book titled, "Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Natrural History by Dennis Paulson", £25 now £10. It's available from :

www.bibliophilebooks.com

It's in this months Bibliophile Books catalogue. The book covers them from all over the world, as well as UK. It's described as comprensive and beautifully illustrated. It covers classification, evolution, place in the food chain, mating, life cycle, and their relationship with humans. It's a comprehensive natural history resource, (it says here).

It sounds like a bargin.

Oak Eggar from Walshaw Dean

 

Not a moth but...

I have been trying to get a a photo of these camara shy creatures for 5 years. Finally, I found one sleeping in the hall. I got five shots before it flew off. Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for, (or not), a Moth Fly - Psychodidae, which is a family of true flies.

As the blog is quiet just now and one of the common names of this 2mm beastie is Moth Fly, I thought I might just get away with posting it.

Moth Fly

Ogden Water

 Tuesday 18th 

1 x brimstone flying over picnic area at Ogden

2x orange tip

1x peacock

Lee Mount - 17th May

Every moth is precious at the moment !

One moth so far tonight........

Oak Nycteoline

(This time last year it was Fox Moths on Soil Hill)

Lee Mount - 15th May

Just 2 moths
Common Pug x 1
Garden Carpet x 1

Stainland.

 Anne found another moth as we were going to bed last night. I got a very bad, blurred photo, before it flew away. It's OK for an ID however. It was a Double Striped Pug, only the second one I've ever seen.

Stainland.

 Anne found a Twenty Plume in the hall this afternoon. (I trained her well). It's very near the floor. I can't easily get that low down these days, so one side of the moth is in soft focus. That's a technical term for blurred by the way.

Twenty Plume.

Lee Mount - unexpected surprise !

Last year I managed to collect eggs from a Lesser Swallow Prominent

Eggs laid - 27th April 2020

Eggs hatched - 14th May ( I raised the caterpillars on birch leaves till they pupated)

4 adults emerged 27th July 2020

7 pupa did not produce anything but were still intact so I re-potted in an ice cream box with compost and left them in the garden hut overwinter.

This morning - an adult (2 images below) had emerged overnight - wonder if there are another 6 to come ? - I'll wait and see !

Lesser Swallow Prominent

I find it strange that they were all collected at the same time last year and all received the same treatment - some emerged last July and one (so far) emerged overnight and photographed this morning.

Also, this quite cold morning, Jen managed to find just one Green Hairstreak on Castle Carr Road resting on a roadside mossy wall.

Green Hairstreak