Luddenden this week

 It's been a bit quiet for Moths in Luddenden this week with 4 - 5 nightly but with some real beauties

Early Tooth-striped - 5th record here

Light Knot Grass - 3rd record here

Eyed Hawkmoth - 1st record here

Pale Tussock - female - a regular Moth in

Luddenden in May - June with 25 last year 

but this is the first female

Lee Mount and Swales Moor etc.

Small Copper on the track up Ringby Lane yesterday along with 3 Orange-tip, 8 Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock.

Last few days from the moth trap - still pretty cool evenings...

Hebrew Character x 1

Early Grey x 1

Common Quaker x 1 (looking pretty worn now)

White-spotted Pug x 1

Twenty-plume Moth x 1

In Hardcastle Crags today - pretty dull - just two butterflies

A Green-veined White feeding on the last remnants of a flowering willow tree

Orange-tip x 1 flew along the riverside at Gibson Mill

Cold Edge

Orange Tip 4 males,  Green-veined White 1,  Peacock 1

Lee Mount - 2nd May

Thought last night might have been more productive - just 4 moths.

Flame Carpet x 1

Hebrew Character x 1

Twenty-plume Moth x 1

Brindled Pug x 1

Also earlier in the day in Carrs Beck, lower end of Ogden golf course, a male Emperor Moth over the heather then the short grassland but it didn't stay still for a photo. 

Stainland. 1st May. 2022.

I was just locking the gate and door about 11 p.m. last night and found four moths on the door. It was a mild night. Not a bad find, considering the cold nights we've been having.

2 x Twenty Plumes.

1 x Small Phoenix

1 x Worn Double Striped Pug. TBC.

 

The Small Phoenix start to show in May.  Arriving on May Day was impressive.

I  had to use a zoom lense to get the photos, it's not perfect, but better than nothing. I'm not 100% sure that the pug is a Double Striped, as it's quite worn. It was the most likely, given it's condition and time of year. I'd like a second opinion on it please.

Small Phoenix

Double Striped Pug TBC

Cold Edge - 30th April

Lots of Orang-tip butterflies all over the site this morning in the warm sunshine. Also a good show of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells and 2 Green-veined Whites identified.

Lee Mount - 29th April

 Just two moths in the trap..... better than nothing at all !

Clouded Drab x 1

Small Phoenix x 1

Also an ant on the paving carrying a dead Bee Moth

Cold Edge

 Large White 1,  Orange Tip 2 males,  Small Tortoiseshell 2,  Peacock 1

Lee Mount - 28th April

Still cold overnight and very quiet for moths...........

White-spotted Pug x 1

Hebrew Character x 2

Early Grey x 1

Lee Mount and Castle Carr Road

Still too cold at nights and still nothing in the trap - it must warm up for moths soon !!

Castle Carr Road

One or two nicely sheltered spots in the sunshine this afternoon we found...

Green Hairsteaks  x 3 (on Bilberry including one pair spiraling)

Small Copper x 1 (on a dusty track)

Along with just a few Orange-tips, Small Tortoiseshells and a Peacock.

Phone photos

Green Hairstreak

Small Copper

Copley Garden

 Small whites been flitting around last few days. Orange tips as well. Just had holly blue fluttering around the ivy.

Shroggs landfill and Shroggs Park

Peacock x 7 this morning was the only species on the grassland landfill - mostly on Dandelions. Orange-tip x 2 on the edge of the woodland 

I came back through the park woodland - that's the steep hillside facing Shroggs Road (and B and Q). Full sun, south facing. There's a small area which was originally used as a garden waste area. Its now full of wild vegetation without the grasses and it's been a good little butterfly spot in early spring for the last couple of years. I stayed there for nearly an hour.

Holly Blue x 1

Orange-tip x 6 (2 males)

Speckled Wood x 3

Small White x 1

Peacock x 5

The Oak woodland further on the hillside was also alive with insects and I suspect there were some micr-moths in places around the oaks - Dyseriocrania subpurpurella - might take a net down next hot sunny day !

Also a Holly Blue on Thornhill Beck Lane on 18th from John M.

New Bank

 Orange Tip, 2 males

Speckled Wood

 Just moved the curtains and this little fellow was on the window.

Lee Mount

This week to 16th April

Pretty slow going...

Early Grey x 2

Hebrew Character x 4 maximum

Small Quaker x 1

Beautiful Plume x 1

Twin-spotted Quaker x 1

Satellite x 1

Brindled Pug x 2 on 16th along with a Double-striped Pug x 1

Bee Moth x 1 found inside the house

Twenty-plume Moth x 1

Common Quaker x 1

15th April 2002

                                                Oak Eggar covered in morning dew

                                                               Oak Nycteoline 
 

Stainland.

 Just one moth this morning. I was hoping for more, as it was a mild night. 

1 x Twenty Plume.

Stainland.

 My first moth of the year, an Early Thorn. It was a welcome sight.

Early Thorn.

Vapourer Eggs

 Found these two on the moors on Monday..ALso first Light Brown Apple moth in the trap...

                                                          Square spot Rustic

Lee Mount - 25th and 26th March

25th

Diurnia fagella x 4 (all shades)

Chestnut x 1

Early Grey x 1

Double-striped Pug x 1

26th

Oak Beauty x 2

Clouded Drab x 1

Common Quaker x 4

Twin-spotted Quaker x 3

Hebrew Character x 5

Agonopterix heracliana x 2

Left the trap off last night as seemed to be catching the same moths for a couple of nights. 

See what this week brings !