The Natural History Of Staffordshire: Fauna and Flora (1 Viewer)

[laesevets]

I knew i could rely on you Steve. Cheers!

B B B

 

[Adam M]

Some exuvae on the bullrushes in my garden pond suggest it has produced some damselflies. Would these be things I brought in with a bucket full of pond water to give it a kick start last year? Or do some species only spend a year as a nymph?

Butterfly Orchids now over 300 in number at Coombes. Not sure how good of a count that is compared to other sites but it is double the number I counted there last year.

Adam

 

[Adam M]

Moth trap from Tuesday night. My first catch of over 200 moths (only just) but that didn't include micros and pugs, both of which are a pain to ID, so I left them well alone.

Garden Carpet 3
Marbled Minor 14
Beautiful Golden Y 4
Bright-line Brown-eye 11
Dot Moth 4
Rustic Shoulder Knot 2
Clouded Bordered Brindle 6
Heart and Dart 42
Burnish Brass 1 (NFM)
Dark Arches 32
Silver Y 1
Buff Tip 6
Flame Shoulder 14
Dusky Brocade 1
Fan Foot 11
Small Square Spot 1
Brimstone 2
Buff Ermine 5
Buff Arches 2 (what a beautiful thing they are and NFM)
Riband Wave 9
Pale-shoulder Brocade 5
Setaceous Hebrew 1
Spectacle 1
Swallowtail Moth 2 (NFM)
Cabbage 1
Tawny Marbled Minor 1
Large Yellow Underwing 1
Ingrailed Clay 1
Elephant Hawk Moth 3
Clouded Border 1 (NFM)
Mottled Beauty 2 (NFM)
Grey Dagger 1 (NFM)
Snout 1
Common Emerald 1 (escaped before I got a photo, but NFM)

Also a couple of species I need to put in the ID forum and a Ghost moth which I found by the trap a little later in the day. Those in bold are the photos below, hopefully I have put them on in the right order.

I also had a quick early morning visit to the uni reserve today. No sign of any nocturnal mammals which is what I was hoping for (Mink or Otter). There was a Weasel and a couple of dragonflies about, which I think we Common Darters but the light level was still too low to see anything too clearly. Rosebay Willowherb now in flower, it's the one about 4-5ft tall with the spike of purple flowers. Almost forgot, I saw a fox down Reg Mitch Way on my way to uni as well.

I think I have got some Ladybird young on the Ox-eye Daisies in the garden, but I can't be sure. I will have to keep an eye on them to see what they turn out to be. Ladybirds are something of a rarity in the garden, so I'll be quite happy if they turn out to be hundreds of young un's.

Adam

 

[Neil-T]

Some exuvae on the bullrushes in my garden pond suggest it has produced some damselflies. Would these be things I brought in with a bucket full of pond water to give it a kick start last year? Or do some species only spend a year as a nymph?

Butterfly Orchids now over 300 in number at Coombes. Not sure how good of a count that is compared to other sites but it is double the number I counted there last year.

Adam

Most damselflies spend 1 year as a nymph, but depending on the weather can spend 2 years as a nymph. Have a look and see if you can see the adults flying around and maybe get a picture. Well done mate.

 

[dwe]

Moth data

Nice to see some moth records appearing. I hope you will be able to send me your records some time. As county moth recorder I'm always keen to receive records! You can send them to me at [email protected]

If you want to email separately about how best to do this then that's fine.

Am also seeing a lot of dragonfly records on the forum too. These records can be sent to Craig Slawson at Staffordshire Ecological Record. He holds the official county database of flora and fauna.

Keep up the good work!

Dave Emley
Staffs Moth recorder

Moth trap got a run out last night. Wasn't expecting a great deal with a clear sky meaning lower temp. But I got 122 moths from 41 species. Below is a list of macro moths (still waiting for two IDs though) and I am waiting for ID on 5 micro moth species (9 individuals) as well.

Brimstone 2
Heart and Dart 36
Clouded-bordered Brindle 10
Bright-line Brown-eye 8
Dark Arches 13
Garden Carpet 1
Buff Tip 3
Flame Shoulder 7
Marbled Minor 8
Setacious Hebrew 1
Cabbage 1
Middle-barred Minor 2
Rustic SHoulder Knot 1
Tawny-marbled Minor 1
Shoulder-striped Wainscot 1
Pale-Shoulder Brocade 1
Buff Ermine 2
Large Yellow Underwing 1
Elephant Hawk Moth 2 (one now contained with foodplant)
Small Magpie 1
Beautiful Golden Y 1
Riband Wave 1
Dot Moth 2
Dusky Brocade 3
Snout 1
Ingrailed Clay 1

Took me a while to sort them, photograph the ones I wasn't sure on, look them up etc, but worth it in the end. I have now put an Elephant Hawk Moth in a container along with its food plant (Willowherb oddly enough). Hoping to get some caterpillars to look after and raise. Plus it gives me somewhere to put all the Willowherb that is taking over parts of the garden.

I will look into taking some photos of the more appealing moths to add to my posts on here. At the moment it tends to be the grey/brown mottled ones that I can't ID that get photo'd/

Adam

 

[Nick Smith]

Some sort of insect i think?

I opened my wallet earlier on today and this fell out. Any ideas please moth men?

 

[chris23565]

I opened my wallet earlier on today and this fell out. Any ideas please moth men?

Wallet! there's no money in there for a moth to survive! Looks like a White butterfly but what would I know!

 

[Nick Smith]

Exactly! What would you know. You thought caterpillars were worms! Its got a fluffy head so its a moth. I think

 

[chris23565]

Exactly! What would you know. You thought caterpillars were worms! Its got a fluffy head so its a moth. I think

That's it!! you've hurt my feelings and I'm never coming on here again:C||

Like you could get that lucky, you don't get rid of me that easily, but going back to your BUTTERFLY, remember that blue from the other week that I thought was a moth because of its large fluffy head and body, so you never know, guess someone like the county moth recorder will point us in the right direction!

 

[Nick Smith]

I think its a rare one cos even Steve Seal is struggling with this MOTH

 

[laesevets]

I opened my wallet earlier on today and this fell out. Any ideas please moth men?

Come on guys its a Butterfly, one of the Whites...:eek!::eek!::eek!:
Depends how often you open your wallet, could be very rear.:-O:-O:-O:-O

 

[Neil-T]

Small white for me. Butterfly that is.

 

[Nick Smith]

Come on guys its a Butterfly, one of the Whites...:eek!::eek!::eek!:
Depends how often you open your wallet, could be very rear.:-O:-O:-O:-O

See i told you Chris.

 

[chris23565]

See i told you Chris.

:-O:-O:-O

Go Chris go Chris:-O:-O:-O

 

[chris23565]

Come on guys its a Butterfly, one of the Whites...:eek!::eek!::eek!:
Depends how often you open your wallet, could be very rear.:-O:-O:-O:-O

Thanks guys for confirming MY butterfly theory against someone elses MOTH theory:t::-O

Oh your getting some stick for this one Mr Smith, and no you can't blame the wife!

 

[Nick Smith]

Thanks guys for confirming MY butterfly theory against someone elses MOTH theory:t::-O

Oh your getting some stick for this one Mr Smith, and no you can't blame the wife!

She found it walking on the path and i never saw it in flight. Thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it. That makes it 1-1 in the moth/butterfly misidentification stakes

 

[chris23565]

We have quite a few of these sprouting up at Westport at the moment, but this is the first I've seen with flowers on it, which the Bee's seem to like, can anyone please tell me what it's called.

Thanks in advance.

 

[carlj]

Goldfinch's best friend the Teasle

 

[chris23565]

Goldfinch's best friend the Teasle

Thats the one, could'nt remember the name, 1st time I've seen one flower though.

Thanks Carl

 

[chris23565]

We found this near to were I recently had a dead Wood Mouse, not sure if someone close by is using poison, can someone please confirm that this is a Stoat and not a Weasel.

(Boot for size comparison)

Thanks in advance.