Meadows Edge 11 12 10

Nearly forgot about this,found 11 male Winter Moths on the surface of a small pond, recued 6 which were thought dead which came around when placed on Birch trees.there must have been quite a movement the previous night 10 11 12 which was in between the two Freezes.they must be very hardy as some of the moths were on the ice !! and were perfectly ok when placed on trees ! regards Bri.

2010...A quick look back on a great year

January and February

A quick look back at the year in photos,many thanks to all who have posted and those who have just had a look ..Merry Holidays

March

April

May

June

Awesome July

August

Undoubtedly the highlight of the year this Devon Carpet found at Hardcastle craggs..also Small wainscot,Gray Moutain Carpet and Lime Speck Pug.

September

A realy excellent month with record numbers of Red Underwing,Angle striped Sallow and Flounced chestnut .

October

Merville du Jour at Broadhead Clough was an excellent find along with small autumnal moth

November

Good Numbers of Winter Moths recorded

December Highlights

Mottled Umber female emerges from larvae found at Knott wood in May

Ogden winter visitor

Found this moth (above) on the notice board at Ogden on Monday 13th Dec.... is it a winter moth?

Chris

MERRY X-MAS......

Bingo,,,this emerged last night from one of the cats found in a folded birch leaf  at Knott wood on the 20th May this year with Bri and Martyn .When I looked in the tub the whole thing was frozen solid (it was -9 in the garage) I thought it must have been frozen to death )I saw the slighteast movment and within 30 seconds of it been blown on it was up and moving around.....Fantastic Female Mottled Umber..

Request for speakers from Hx. Scientific. Soc.

If there are any entomologists who might enjoy giving a short talk to the Society we have recently lost our ex-member Roy Crossley, who has finally decided the journeys from York are getting too much. It's fair comment. I wouldn't fancy travelling to York just for the evening. He has been very gracious to us over the years and taught us a lot, starting many on a lifelong interest in insects, if not the dedicated specialism to one group that he has (flies).

Any talk does not have to be a full-scale university level lecture. An hour or less, even half an hour, would be very acceptable. A set of or just a few slides or digital images are usually shown, though not always. We have both kinds of projector. Subjects that can broaden our outlook on rambles are popular with members.

Some of us tend call at Wetherspoons after the talk, which take place in the downstairs room of the library, at 7.15, on the second Tuesday of each month.

We can pay a fee. Anybody interested can email me on steve.blacksmith@btinternet.com or my tel. 01422 348222. (I need speakers for 2011 booked within the month really, to get the programme printed.)

Moorwatch website

The following website may be of interest, it has been set up by Pennine Prospects as a means for the public to report damaging activities on our moorlands (eg illegal off roading etc)

http://www.moorwatch.com/

Bransdale, North Yorkshire

Spent a weekend in the remote valley of Bransdale (VC62) in the middle of the North Yorkshire Moors. On Friday there were plenty of moths on the wing soon after dark 20+ epirrita sp and the next night this very nice male 1933 Scarce Umber. Also found a peacock hibernating in outbuildings. I have also spent some time this last week or so looking for the females of flightless winter species but no luck here. Sorry to go off the Calderdale subject, Winston

Knottwood18 11 10

Got about 3/4 of an hour in then heavens opened ! did find 5 Winter Moths and possibly 2 Northern Winter Moths which were larger with whitish hindwings pic included,as well as this either worn Scarce Umber or unseasonal Dotted Border ?although very worn the dots on fore and hindwing are prominent ! regards Bri.ps no females found but definately going to keep trying,tried from dusk,all were on birch trunks on the 1st couple of feet.

2010....Records

Well what a fantastic year it was after the very cold start..Some realy great local records and well done to all those who have been out collecting records from all parts of calderdale. Must apologise for lack of posts recently but been unendated with the horrible four letter word...WORK...yuck.Also many thanks to all who have posted throughout the year on the blogg all post are important to keep us all up to date  .If any one has any records for this year I would very much appreciate them..Cheers all....

Late sighting of Peacock

A lone Peacock butterfly was seen flying and basking in warm sunshine in fields near Miry Lane, Sowerby today.
Philip