Surreybirder's lep blog (1 Viewer)

[Oenanthe]

Hi Ken
I would say that was Common Wave too

Damian

no trapping recently but I found a wave outside last night (wingspan about 1 inch). I'm afraid the photo is poor but does anyone recognise it? I suspect it's just a common wave.
Ken

 

[NeilJones]

We have a field near here which is full of ragwort (in which they sometimes keep horses!) so I thought I'd check it out now that the sun has returned. There were quite a few blues, which I took to be common. Also saw a couple of small coppers but couldn't get a photo. I was hoping to find some moths but apart form straw dots and loads of micros didn't.

Ragwort is quite fond of overgrazed pastures. There has been a hysterical campaign against it but in reality the scientific evidence says that it is not really a big problem. There has been a claim that it kills thousands of animals a year but this was a publicity stunt using faked up statisitics.

For more information see http://www.ragwortfacts.com/

 

[mothman]

Ragwort is quite fond of overgrazed pastures. There has been a hysterical campaign against it but in reality the scientific evidence says that it is not really a big problem. There has been a claim that it kills thousands of animals a year but this was a publicity stunt using faked up statisitics.

For more information see http://www.ragwortfacts.com/

Apparently Ragwort is only a real problem in hay where the drying process concentrates the toxin.

EDIT:just read the above link and it seems that it is not even a problem in hay so there you go!

 

[Surreybirder]

Thanks for the info, Colin and Neil. Personally I'm happy to have loads of ragwort in the neighbourhood as it supports various insects such as cinnabar moth. (Though these seem to have been scarce this year. I only found one caterpillar.)
Ken

 

[Brian Stone]

Interesting. The larva was massively abundant a couple of weeks ago near where I live.

 

[Surreybirder]

Perhaps while I was in Switzerland?? I've not seen a single adult this year, either.

 

[Surreybirder]

Pretty quiet last night, probably not helped by the large bat which was hunting around my garden :egghead:
New species for garden was Evergestis pallidata
Also another of what I take to be red twin-spot carpet.
Otherwise the usual mob:
rustic/uncertain
iron prominent
flame shoulder
LBBYU (sev)
large YU
straw dot
willow beauty
common wave
yellow shell
six-striped rustic
Ken

 

[Surreybirder]

Another tick tonight. Meal moth.
And first straw underwings of the year.
I spent several minutes watching two bats in action. Every time a sizeable moth appeared, spiralling in towards the trap, these two bats would go for it, sometimes passing within a few feet of my head. I could hear what I took to be the sonar 'clicks' as they seemed to be too slow to be the wingbeats which I thought they were at first. What surprised me was that the bats seemed to be flying as a twosome with one consistently following the other until they homed in on their prey. Could it have been an adult and an 'apprentice' juvenile? Amazing to watch but probably explains why I didn't catch many moths!
Ken

 

[Surreybirder]

18Aug

Quiet again last night. I used my actinic trap and caught a few common sp. But my best moth was another suspected hoary footman caught at the security light at the front of our house.
I tried to photo the palps of a copper underwing agg - always a challenge with an autofocus camera. I don't know what this is but every one I've had checked has been Svensson's.
Ken

 

[black52bird]

Quiet again last night. I used my actinic trap and caught a few common sp. But my best moth was another suspected hoary footman caught at the security light at the front of our house.
I tried to photo the palps of a copper underwing agg - always a challenge with an autofocus camera. I don't know what this is but every one I've had checked has been Svensson's.
Ken

I think you're right here, Ken...it is Svensson's. They have the palps with the pale tips and darker bottom half. Most of mine turn out to be Svensson's, too, but I did have Copper, too, earlier and the palps were all pale. I use my autofocus, too, and by lying the camera on the table in front of the moth it seems to work very well (I'm using a Fuji Finepix S-7000 which I bought because of the recommendations for it's close-up ability within that price-range).

Best

David

 

[Surreybirder]

I think you're right here, Ken...it is Svensson's. They have the palps with the pale tips and darker bottom half. Most of mine turn out to be Svensson's, too, but I did have Copper, too, earlier and the palps were all pale. I use my autofocus, too, and by lying the camera on the table in front of the moth it seems to work very well (I'm using a Fuji Finepix S-7000 which I bought because of the recommendations for it's close-up ability within that price-range).

Best

David

Interesting, Dave. I use a Fuji Finepix 2400, which is probably an older model. I have developed various tricks for focusing the camera - e.g. by laying a metal strip next to the object I want in focus on at the same distance from the camera. It's not infallible but it sometimes works.
Ken

 

[Surreybirder]

20 Aug

A few moths about last night (those that escaped the bats).
My neighbour says he's had a hummingbird hawkmoth in his garden so I'll keep my eyes open - not ideal weather today though as it's bucketing down.
Among the usual suspects (spectacle, flame shoulder, lbbyu, willow beauty, brimstone etc) I had a couple of new ones for the year:
Agapeta zoegana
least yellow underwing

plus a couple more poss. hoary footmen (which potentially brings my count for the year to 5 if confirmed - considering the species doesn't even get a mention in "The larger moths of Surrey", it's amazing how its status has changed. It was first recorded in 2004; and it must have bred to be producing the nos. it now is.)
Ken

 

[Surreybirder]

22Aug

Quite a good haul last night, with numbers rather than variety.
Two new for year were:
lesser swallow prominent
sallow kitten (2)
Another poss. hoary footman!
One or two worn moths were a bit challenging.
Others on list:
maiden's blush
blood-vein
common wainscot
scarce footman
Large yellow underwing
LBBYU
snout
canary-shouldered thorn
dusky thorn
Set. Heb. character
square spot rustic
double square spot
rosy rustic
flame shoulder
mother-of-pearl
rush veneer (sev)
scalloped oak
green carpet
brimstone
flame carpet
grey pine carpet (prob. - very worn)
Angle shades

Ken
(plus one hornet and one wasp :eek!: )
Ken

 

[Brian Stone]

Well the CU has pale scales all up the front of the palps so should be pyramidae.

 

[Surreybirder]

Well the CU has pale scales all up the front of the palps so should be pyramidae.

Hi, Brian,
I hope you are right as that's the one I've never had.
I decided to rummage around the flowerbed next to my trap (before the rain set in) and found this one. I think it must be the clay but would be grateful for confirmation.
Any thoughts on the tatty yellow underwing species? Probably lesser bb?
Ken

 

[Brian Stone]

I thought the tatty was LBBYU. Not sure about the Mythimna but probably The Clay.

 

[Surreybirder]

I've finally had two of my hoary footmen confirmed. Also Cryptoblabes bistriga, new for garden.
Ken

 

[black52bird]

I've finally had two of my hoary footmen confirmed. Also Cryptoblabes bistriga, new for garden.
Ken

Ken

It sounds seriously like your gloating!!!

But seriously, well done!! I'm jealous!! I'd love either/both of them..and oh for a County Recorder here...or the equivalent!!

I'd happily go with Clay for that last photo - looks 'plumb' to me!! I get quite a few of them.

Tonight looks promising here in BP - after a couple of chilly evenings it's currently 18C, and I've got a few in already - Gold Triangle, for one.

Best

david

Best

David

 

[Surreybirder]

Ken

It sounds seriously like your gloating!!!

But seriously, well done!! I'm jealous!! I'd love either/both of them..and oh for a County Recorder here...or the equivalent!!

I'd happily go with Clay for that last photo - looks 'plumb' to me!! I get quite a few of them.

Tonight looks promising here in BP - after a couple of chilly evenings it's currently 18C, and I've got a few in already - Gold Triangle, for one.

Perhaps you should appoint yourself 'county recorder'!
Sorry if I was gloating - must admit I'd never heard of C bistriga before I caught one! I wish there was a micro equivalent of W & T!
My CR wanted to dissect the hoary's in order to eliminate Eilema palliatella - I guess that almost anything might have arrived during our tropical spell!
Very poor here last night, cool night after a so-so day.
Ken

 

[black52bird]

Quiet again last night. I used my actinic trap and caught a few common sp. But my best moth was another suspected hoary footman caught at the security light at the front of our house.
I tried to photo the palps of a copper underwing agg - always a challenge with an autofocus camera. I don't know what this is but every one I've had checked has been Svensson's.
Ken

Ken
Following the chat we had about Svensson's/CU and photographing the palps, I promised you a picture. Last night I caught a CU, and am enclosing three photos:

1) Dorsal view, wings closed
2) palps - clearly pale. As I said, photographed face-on, with the camera barrel on the desk, and flash
3) Dorsal view, wing open: very obligingly it landed like this on the balcony wall when I let it go, showing some 'copper'. Stayed for a few minutes like this.

I'm also adding a Scarce Bordered Straw I caught last night, coz they're uncommon in the UK and you may not have seen one. I also got my first ever Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing last night, too. Pretty moth!!

I'm off to the Norwich again tomorrow for another 2 weeks on the UEA campus, so I hope I might get another haul of new species like I did in early July!!

Tonight's poor - I've only managed a Flame Shoulder and a Rustic so far. It was changeable all day - suuy, rainy, windy...and is only 16C now!!

very best

David