Lee Mount - 7th August

 Best this morning an was an Orange Swift. Still getting lots of Large Yellow Underwings with 44 today along with fading Dun-bars, Bird-cherry Ermines and a few other recent 'regulars'.

Orange Swift

Still plenty of activity on the Buddleia with 3 Red Admirals, 1 Peacock, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 5+ Large Whites

Painted Lady yesterday from SC's garden Buddleia.

Beacon Hill

Gatekeeper 1

Speckled Wood 1

Beacon Hill

Gatekeeper 7 (!), Speckled Wood 1, Red Admiral 1

lee Mount - 27th July

One special moth this morning, it flew out of the trap as I opened it. Luckily, followed it as it landed on the wall underneath a fuschia.

Blood-vein (4th record for here)

Also last night, out with the torch, found 7 Varied Coronet pupa on the Sweet William seed heads. Growing fast now, just short of 30mm.

Lee Mount - 26th July

 First of this season Copper Underwing agg this morning..x 2 of.

Also a nice Purple Bar (losing it's purple) and couldn't get it in a nice spot for a photo so it had to go with the egg box writing !

Ringstone Edge

Speckled Wood 2

Varied Coronet update.

I've been watching the Sweet Willaims as they have now almost finished flowering and are setting seed. They were visited recently by an adult moth around 1st July though I only saw one at a time over several evenings. 

A search through the seed heads this morning resulted in 2 caterpillars, quite small at no more than 15mm. Find them and then lose sight of them, they are so well camouflaged.......I did manage a few record shots - this is the best one and seems to confirm their identity.

Another look tonight - found one with what looks like its head into the seed pod. Will check again in the next few days and try get some better shots. That's if the Robin doesn't find them first !

Cold Edge....25th July

Hummingbird Hawkmoth on buddleia at Cold Edge this morning just before I started on the butterfly survey of a tetrad covering the top end of Cold Edge and Ovenden Moor. A decent count with Peacock being the most common butterfly today with Green-veined Whites - still to go through the count so will try update later.

Shibden Valley

Gatekeeper 1

Lee Mount - July (micros mainly)

 Quite a challenge getting decent photos of some of these. The 'Thorn' proved the most tricky but the micros are not easy either - must keep trying.!

Angle-striped Sallow (20th July)

Canary-shouldered Thorn (23rd)

Coleophora sp. ?(2nd)

Eudemis profundana (2nd)

Gypsonoma dealbana (22nd)

Caloptilia rufipennella (23rd)

Epiblema foenella (18th)

Shroggs - reclaimed landfill site

Spent just over an hour there this morning. Not a great deal of sunshine, just enough for the butterflies. 

12 species mostly on the thistles and brambles. 2 Comma, 2 Gatekeeper, 8 Green-veined White, 

1 Holly Blue, 4 Large White, 5 Meadow Brown, 2 Red Admiral, 1 Small Copper, 2 Small Skipper, 1 Small Tortoiseshell,, 1 Small White and 3 Speckled Wood.

Comma

Gatekeeper

Holly Blue

Ringstone Edge

Gatekeeper 1

Cold Edge

Comma 1

Also: Small Copper 1

New Bank

Painted Lady 1

Lee Mount - 18th July

An Oak Hook-tip this morning - 4th record for here. Yesterdays, I presume,  Pebble Hook-tip was next to it on the top of the trap.

Oak Hook-tip

Pebble Hook-tip

Lee Mount

 This morning a very nice moth - only the second for here

Pebble Hook-tip

Quite a hectic week for moths (and butterflies). The moth trap has been busy - mostly with the species that I would normally expect here. One morning the trap was alive with 140+ Large Yellow Underwings.

Impossible to post all the recent sightings - just one or two here

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (2nd record on 9th July)

Gold Triangle (17th July)

Map-winged Swift (2nd July)

Riband Wave (banded) (14th July)

Stainland.

 Bit of a boring post really. I'm posting it as it's the first of the brown Marbled Beauties I've seen this year. It's also one of the bigger ones. This one very kindly sheltered by the door handle. I got a nice shot with my macro camera for a change. I call it that, as it has a lovely Leica Macro lens, it's all I use this camera for.

1 x Marbled Beauty

Marbled Beauty

Peacock Moth Luddenden 13th July 2025

I caught this beauty in the garden last night, again in the 22W Actinic. A rare moth in Yorkshire, this is the second Calderdale record.

also another Drinker (three this week) and another Box-tree Moth (3 this year)

Drinker

Box-tree Moth

 

Four - spotted Footman

 One in a light trap in Warley , a first locally so many thanks to Mark Hollroyd for sending  in the record and information. CF says its the first one in VC 63 since 1886...!!! but there have been a few Yorkshire records this year and on the increase..

20 years ago we were lucky to a Common Footman in the trap , in recent years we can expect to catch , Red -necked , Muslin , Dingy , Orange , Scarce and Buff..!!!! Rosy or Hoary could be next...!!!!!

 Another night of moth trapping at Clockface Quarry, Krumlin, resulted in 70 species including a Bilberry Pug, two Agonoterix angelicella, and a Scarce Silver Y amongst others.