February / May / Home/ The garden / email
Moths seen in the garden to date A-F, G-M, N-Si, Sh-the end
March and April 2005
Once
again the weeks slip by and we are already at the 8th March before I update my
diary. Forgive me it is because I have been distracted with the forthcoming
birth of a new grandchild - any day now, and with the studies that I am
currently involved in. There have been very few moths around because of a very
cold snap last week with snow on a daily basis but never lingering long enough
for me to become inspired to take photos. However this morning outside by the
light there were 3 dotted border moths, Agriopis marginaria. When I look back over last years records
I find that they are a little late compared to last year when they appeared
mid-February. Perhaps if the weather remains reasonable for a couple of days I
will venture to put the moth trap out.
I note that being late with updating my diary has become a habit, same excuses as before I'm afraid. However I have decided that I ought to at least show willing and add the new moths that I have seen.
The first new moth that I saw in March was
the magnificent Oak Beauty, biston strataria, pictured here Also
in March there was what someone in our moth group called an
"orthosia explosion". This meant that when I put my trap out I saw 7
new moths all belonging to this family. These I have pictured below. They also
appeared well into April.
|
|
|
|
|
|
clouded drab, orthosia incerta |
common quaker, Orthosia cerasi |
lead-coloured drab, Orthosia populeti |
Hebrew character, orthosia gothica |
|
|
|
|
|
|
northern drab, orthosia opima |
small quaker, Orthosia cruda |
twin-spotted quaker, Orthosia munda |
|
In addition to these I also saw
the moths pictured below in March.
|
|
|
|
|
early grey, Xylocampa areola |
the satellite, eupsilia transversa |
marbled pug, eupithecia inturbala |
These
are the 2 new moths that I saw in our garden in April, the one on the left is
the pine beauty, Panolis flammea, and the one to the right an early
thorn, selenia dentaria. I also saw a purple thorn, selenia
tetralunaria, but unfortunately it flew before I could take it's picture.
Just to show that my interest is not solely moths and also that the moth trap does not only capture them this is a picture of a beetle found one morning. In fact the picture is of two creatures in that the beetle which is one of the burying beetles Nicrophorus humator has a small mite in its back.
click on any photo to enlarge.
February / May / Home/ The garden / email
Moths seen in the garden to date A-F, G-M, N-Si, Sh-the end