June 2008 Moths (1 Viewer)

[luke]

once they start feeding on it, it might let me go on the tree where i got their food. theres about 50+ caterpillers so i might keep a few to rear to adults.

 

[SveinB]

Yesturday evening I found 8-10 males of Ghost Moth- Hepialus humuli hovering over the grass in my garden. A stunning sight. I found two females there too, but I did not take any photos of them- the flash seemed to disturb the flight of the males, and I did not want to affect their mating behaviour.

I also found a few new moths feeding on Sticky Catchfly- Lychnis viscaria.
Peach blossom (such a pretty moth!!)
Burnished brass
Grey Arches
Marbled Conoret

Svein B

 

[Surreybirder]

This is an incredibly short thread for June!
I had a few new for year last night, but nothing unusual:
heart & dart
Aleimma loeflingiana
Archips podana

I've had blue-bordered carpet before but for some reason I find them very hard to photograph (jumpy)
Let me know if I've got them wrong!
Ken

 

[black52bird]

News from Budapest

Hello everyone

A few days away working in wet and humid northern Italy last week, now back here in Budapest with a heat wave, which seems to be bringing me masses of Micro moths and not much in the way of Macros, for some reason. Except my star catch of the year last night: The Passenger. very smart moth, sadly its left wings had been nibbled at by a bat or bird...!! Also got the first Dewick's Plusia of the year, rather later than usual. And 2 nights ago, I got the interesting Continental Noctuid Aedia funesta for the second time ever.

But, here are five micros I'd like some help with. The first 3 are ones I caught just before I went away, and still can't find despite much trawling, and especially given the attractive nature of the tiny golden one. The other two are Tortixes from Saturday.

1) Micro 01 02: 7mm wing-length
2) Micro 02 02: 6mm wing-length
3) Micro 03 02: Is this a Pyralid? I've now caught several of them!!
4) Tortrix 01 04: 9mm wing-length
5) Tortrix 02 03: 6 mm wing-length

Specific suggestions would be great, but pointers about where to look would be gratefully received, too.

Thanks in advance.

David

 

[robhope]

Butterflies & Moth on Harting Down

As for many others my moth trap yields have continued to be poor both in terms of number of species and number of individuals. However, a lovely walk for a couple of hours in the sunshine around Harting Down gave a selection of butterflies and a burnet moth:-

Common Blue
Small White
Red Admiral
Silver-washed Fritillary
Small Heath
Meadow Brown
Ringlet
Speckled Wood
Marbled White

I thought I had taken a good picture of the Burnet moth that would confirm the species, but after checking with Waring & Townsend I am not sure at all. Is it a Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet (more widespread and common) or a Five-spot Burnet (thicker black border on hindwing and found on the Downs)?

Any takers?

robhope

Egrets, I've had a few

 

[luke]

I have been trapless over the past 6 days, and thankfully my traps decided to work again! water got into the waterproof electrics box, even though i keep it inside a thick plastic bag. From what a few local moth-ers have been saying, i've missed out on quite a bit!

 

[Surreybirder]

1) Micro 01 02: 7mm wing-length


David

Hi, david, I had a quick trawl through http://kimmos.freeshell.org/micro/index.htm without finding the first one... it's so distinctive that you'd think it would be a doddle. Perhaps you've discovered a species new to science
Rhyacionia pinicolana looked vaguely similar but without the metallic bits.
good luck (or more likely, where's Harri!)
Ken

 

[luke]

last nights efforts produced a Poplar Hawkmoth ( i seem to catch these quite regularly), also 5 heart & darts, 1 large yellow underwing, 1 shuttle shaped dart ( which was almost black), 1 spruce carpet, 1 garden carpet and a Broom Moth.

 

[Surreybirder]

Never seen broom moth!
One silver-Y in a field when I was walking the d this a.m.
Ken

 

[luke]

i've caught a few brooms over the past few weeks. heres a pic, but its one of those moths i need a better pic of.

 

[black52bird]

Hi, david, I had a quick trawl through http://kimmos.freeshell.org/micro/index.htm without finding the first one... it's so distinctive that you'd think it would be a doddle. Perhaps you've discovered a species new to science
Rhyacionia pinicolana looked vaguely similar but without the metallic bits.
good luck (or more likely, where's Harri!)
Ken

Thanks, Ken

yes, that's what I thought about that brilliant and beautiful little micro, too - but, as so often happens when something seems really obvious, it doesn't seem to be there, at least on any of the sites I've tried so far...... Thanks for your suggestion. I'll take a look.

Doing moderately well of late.....last night I caught my 3rd ever Dark Sword Grass and 2 Least Carpets, which are frequent at this time of year.

However, I'm off to Norwich tomorrow, as usual, for 2 weeks of work on the lovely UEA campus, so I'm hoping for a few good nights of warm weather there to add some species to the year's list....... plus a few new ones with any luck.

Very best

David

 

[luke]

caught my first Buff tip this morning, what a superb moth!

 

[MikeWall]

Thanks, Ken

yes, that's what I thought about that brilliant and beautiful little micro, too - but, as so often happens when something seems really obvious, it doesn't seem to be there, at least on any of the sites I've tried so far...... Thanks for your suggestion. I'll take a look.

It's Aethes tesserana http://www2.nrm.se/en/svenska_fjarilar/a/aethes_tesserana.html or http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk/moths/moth_0939.htm

Don't want to commit on the others although the fourth looks like a Pandemis, cerasana if it was in the UK but I don't know what other options there are in Hungary.

Mike

 

[Nerine]

Brittany moths

Not that many moths around during this past week in Brittany but I did find some that aren't often seen over here in Guernsey.

Here are some that flew to the light which I haven't seen before:

Four dotted footman
Treble Brown spot
Small Emerald (very pretty colour - bluey green)
Gold Triangle (it did sit in a triangle shape as well, also very pretty)

and one that isn't new but I can't resist putting in its pic!

Nerine

 

[Surreybirder]

V nice, Nerine. More than I've had for a while (I've got the trap on tonight although the conditions aren't ideal, too windy).
Ken

 

[Surreybirder]

Unusually for me I had almost as many micros as macros last night:
brimstone
green pug
flame shoulder
tawny-barred angle (nfy)
burnished brass (nfy)
Archips xylosteana
Hedya sp. 3
Agapeta hamana (nfy)
marbled white-spot (nfy)
un-ided pyralid (see ID threads)

 

[Nerine]

Lovely Burnished Brass! It was windy and raining last night so I resisted running the trap but now the weather is pleasant and warm so I'm hoping for tonight!

Nerine

 

[Nerine]

I thought I had taken a good picture of the Burnet moth that would confirm the species, but after checking with Waring & Townsend I am not sure at all. Is it a Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet (more widespread and common) or a Five-spot Burnet (thicker black border on hindwing and found on the Downs)?

Hi Rob, yes it's an excellent photo. I saw them this past week in Brittany and although one finally rested on some grass it wouldn't focus properly. Most frustrating! Yours seems to have a slightly thicker black border on the hindwing than Waring's Narrow-bordered but I'm no expert. Let's hope someone here may be able to say for sure.

As for the miserable photo I took I don't think anyone could tell which it is. Here it is:

Nerine
ps Watching them, (there were several) it seemed the black borders on the hind wings matched the "Five-spot Burnet" rather than narrow bordered.

 

[Nerine]

Last night was quite mild, around 15 degrees, nice and dark and not too much wind blowing into the garden. I had the best catch of the year so far. Things are looking up! :t:

Swallow-tailed Moth (nfy)
Dark Arches (2) (nfy)
Common Emerald (new in my garden)
Ingrailed Clay (new in my garden)
Willow Beauty (5)
Clouded Silver
Pale Mottled Willow (2)
Galium Carpet (nfy)
Large Yellow Underwing (3) (nfy)
Lesser Yellow Underwing (nfy)
Yellow-barred Brindle
Double-striped pug (2)
Green pug
2 pugs so worn I don’t know
Knot Grass
Bright-line Brown-eye (2)
Buff Ermine
Marbled Minor agg
Poplar Hawk-Moth
Pale Oak Beauty ( rather worn - new in my garden)
Heart & Dart (2)
Garden Pebble (nfy)

A micro going in the id section

Nerine

 

[Surreybirder]

Nice selection, Nerine. I also had a good session (till midnight) including one that was a first for my garden....

flame shoulder
Hedya sp 3
flame
barred straw (nfy)
buff arches 4 (nfy)
snout 2
brimstone 1
large yellow underwing
riband wave 3 (nfy)
straw dot
A hamana
common emerald 2
maiden's blush (nfy)
bramble-shoot moth Epiblema uddmanniana 2 (nfy)
common white wave
brown scallop (new for me) (tbc)
Pyrausta aurata
Ken