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Moths seen in the garden to date A-C, D-F, G-M, N-Si, Sh-the end
July 2006
July - a new month and a new moth. With temperatures well up in the 20 degrees C, or the 80s for those of us who haven't converted the moth count was the best yet this year. In addition to which there was this delightful new addition - a buff arches, Habrosyne pyritoides. Now that I have finished college for a couple of months perhaps I'll have time to catch up with things. But for now here are 2 pictures of the beauty.
One day later and there is another new species and this time it is resident/scarce in Essex, so a real bonus. This is the beautiful hook-tip, Laspeyria flexula.
4th July and yet
another new species to record, this one is acleris ferrugana and is one of the
tortrix family.
24th July and the gap in the diary is because we have been on our annual visit to the Scillies. We had the most superb weather, sunny and hot but with a sea breeze so it was not oppresive. We were in slightly different accomodation to that which we usually have and I thought at first I may not be able to capture any moths but then came up with the idea of making a moth trap. I did this using an old carrier bag and some egg boxes and attached this below the outside light. It was succesful on the first night that I tried it but only in capturing 2 cockchafers. However in subsequent nights it had moths inside so I was kept happy. When I have a little more time I will write up the wildlife that we saw.
Meanwhile
there have been several new creatures to record that have come to the trap in
the garden, the most exciting of which was a Garden Tiger moth, arctia caja,
appearing today. It was a rather battered specimen, but it is
resident scarce in this part of the world so a delightful addition to the
records.
This was not the only resident scarce moth
that has appeared in the garden as another one which I had to have confirmed
was the little Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana that appeared on 2nd July.
In addition to these other new species are the Agonopterix angelicella, Conobathra repandana and Phycitodes binaevella.
agonopterix
angelicella,
conobathra
repandana
phycitodes binaevella
Finally there also appeared the most bizarre looking insect that I have ever seen. This is a tree hopper of which I gather there are only 2 species in Britain. I believe this to be the larger of the two.
26th July and new
species keep arriving. Within the last couple of days there have been the
scarce green silver lines and the diamond backed moth pictured below.
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scarce green silver-lines, bena bicolorana |
diamond-backed moth, Plutella xylostella |
July has ended on an excellent note with the moth species recorded in the garden being the highest since I began recording seriously with a moth trap in 2004. My favourite photo of the month is of a crambus pascuella caught in an unusual pose but displaying one of it's wings to the best advantage. For such an insignificant moth it is beautiful. Please click on the picture to see the detail.
And a final highlight was successfully capturing this dragonfly an Orthetrum cancellatum - Black-tailed Skimmer as it basked in the sun by one of the smaller lakes in Hatfield Forest. It took a great deal of patience as every time I approached it it would take flight and then return but eventually patience was rewarded.
And so we move into August
June / August / Home/ equipment / The garden / email
Moths seen in the garden to date A-C, D-F, G-M, N-Si, Sh-the end