Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar

Sowerby Bridge last night

Most interesting night so far down here with me borrowed heath trap, though curtailed by huge downpour. I have the top one (wing span just less than 20mm) down as a Small Fan-footed Wave, can anyone confirm/correct?. Others were :

5 Large Yellow Underwings

3 Marbled Beauty

2 Lesser Broad bordered YU's

2 Dark Arches

1 Sallow Kitten (pictured)

1 Small Phoenix

1 Mother of Pearl

Lime-Speck Pug

Nice little moth from last night , and a new one for us is this Lime - Speck Pug moth . Last night was probably our best night so far this year for variety.

Last night Midgley

A few more moths last night to increase our enthusiasm including Common White Wave (?) and Least Yellow Underwing, UK moths says the latter occurs mainly in the southern half of Britain so have we dropped a "moth ball"?

Others were

Small Phoenix 1
Lesser/Common Rustic 4
Large Yellow Underwing 44
Clouded Bordered Brindle 1
Marbled Beauty 3
Common Wainscot 4
Burnished Brass 1
Ruby Tiger 1

We also had the top photo which we aren't sure of, is it a micro or White Line Snout?

Moths at last!

Good couple of nights with the usual high numbers of LYU (I like them, they are easy to ID!!)but a couple of nice new ones for us including Mother of Pearl micro and Riband Wave.

4/8/09

Ruby Tiger 1

Common Rustic 1

Common Wainscot 3

Marbled Beauty 2

Dusky Brocade 1

Antler Moth 1

Middle Bar Minor 2

Riband Wave 1

Mother of Pearl ( micro ) 1

LYU 60+

Will post last nights when we have ID them all!

Many thanks to Brian for help with ID on the above.

Red Underwing

Heres the picture of last nights Red Underwing. Fabulous moth and was very photogenic for us. .

Anymore Room?

A great night was dominated by Large Yellow Underwings (246), lots of other goodies though included Tawny Speckled Pug, a new species for me, and Campion which is always a cracking Moth. I'll have to get in to Micro's and Pyralids, I had about 100 last night

Last nights trappings

Results from the trap last night

Light emerald 2
July highflyer 2
Early thorn 1
Antler moth 5
Phoenix 1
Dun0bar 1
Large yellow underwings 56

How come we get more yellow underwings to traps than anything else, I don't think I have ever seen one of their caterpillars but they always seem to be around at lights?

Red Underwing

Just had a Red Underwing to light. Its very active so we will wait till tomorrow to try and get a photo . What a cracking moth , and what a size

Unknown caterpillars

Could anyone identify these two caterpillars that I found in the garden the other day. Both are on my flag iris and the bottom one is happy chomping its way through the leaves. The other just seems to sit there and sulk. Top is about an inch long and the bottom cat is about 3/4 inch (but growing). I've seen the top one at Cromwell Bottom but have never been able to find out what it is.

Indian stick Insects

Help - 25 Carausius morosus have now emerged, good homes required! Winston

Last night in Pellon

A good night here was unfortunatley dominated by Large Yellow Underwings. Also good numbers of Early Thorn around at the mo, 8 last night was more than I've had in the last three years combined,


Garden Dart 1 first this year
Large Yellow Underwing 86
Lesser Yellowunderwing 2
Lesser Broad Bordered Y U 4
Dark Arches 22
Scalloped Oak 16
Brimstone 2
Garden Carpet 5
Common Carpet 1
Snout 3
Common Wainscot 1
Smoky Wainscot 3
Riband Wave 6
Clouded Border 1
V- Pug 1
Marbled Minor 1
Slender Brindle 2
Marbled Beauty 6
Mottled Beauty 2
Willow Beauty 3
Plain Golden Y 2
Silver Y 2
Gothic 3
Dunbar 2
Lesser / Common Rustic 7
Clay 2
Early Thorn 8

get those traps out tonight, the forecast is for a warm humid night, should be good

Martyn

cinnabar pupae

Hi, these are apparently cinnabar pupae, taken from an article about this moth in New Zealand where they were introduced to control ragwort! Noticed a few caterpillars round near my house recently, thought he ragwort appears to be doing pretty well nonetheless!

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biocons/weeds/book/documents/Ragwort_Cinnabar_Moth.pdf

Cinnabar pupa

Does anybody have a pic of one they can post ? Thanks.

Sowerby Bridge over weekend

A bit more variety in the trap down here of late. Anyone know what the 'micro' is?(not a great photo I'm afraid) If indeed it is a micro. I'm not too great at identifying the so called 'macros' either but apart from this nothing too taxing has turned up. Thought the Marbled Beauty was worth a pic, though not so nice as the recent one by Winston in a more natural setting. Total was :

9 Common/Lesser Rustic

6 Large Yellow Underwing
5 Dark Arches

2 Lesser Yellow Underwing

1 Marbled Beauty

1 Grey (dark?) Dagger

1 Dotted Clay

1 Brimstone Moth

1 Willow Beauty

Twenty-plumes

Netted this interesting one over the weekend. They actually seem to have 24 plumes. Presumably they started out with 4 wings and then evolved to this form. Any ideas why ??

ID help

I think the first one is a yellow shell, not a clue about the other two.

Donacaula forficella

Nice little micro from last night

Two new Ones from Last Night

Scalloped Hook Tip and Orange Swift are two new ones for our Garden from last nights catch. (or at least thats what I hope they are ) .

Sallow Kitten larva,30 07 09

Hi all,heres a pic of larva at 9mm ,its interesting to note quite a few preferred birch leaves rather than goat willow,when given the choice,its fascinating to see how they feed at this stage ,just eating small sections off the leaf surface rather than bite right through it,saw some amazing moths in guernsey,ie orache,marbled green,coronet,jersey tiger,privet hawk,rosy footman,among the pick.all the best Bri