Garden Moths - An Update

I first blogged about my garden moths a few weeks ago (see here). Since then, I've had the trap out  another 5 times, and have increased the garden list for 2020 to 23 species. Nothing rare yet (as expected), but the following species have been recorded (alphabetical order): Bee Moth, Brindled Pug, Brown House-moth, Common Marbled Carpet, Common Plume, Common Pug, Common Quaker, Double Striped Pug, Early Grey, Flame Shoulder, Garden Carpet, Grey Pine Carpet, Heart and Dart, Light Brown Apple Moth, Pale Tussock, Pine Beauty, Purple Thorn, Scalloped Hazel, Small Quaker, Streamer, Tachystola acroxantha, Waved Umber and White-shouldered House-moth! In addition to these species, I also identified a moth that I photographed in Warkworth, Northumberland, last May, as a Common Swift.

Here are a few photos of the more photogenic species!!

Early Grey

Pale Tussock

Streamer

The weather is set to be warmer over the weekend again, so I'll have the trap out, and hopefully add a few more species to the "garden list". Hawkmoth species perhaps??

Garden Moths 2020 - First Results

It's been nearly a month since I last posted anything here, so apologies for that. As you can imagine, I haven't been down to Linacre since the "lockdown" began, but that doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying everything nature has on offer from my house, garden and surrounding area.

One thing I have been doing, is getting my moth trap out, and seeing what's around in the garden. So far the answer is.... not much!! I have, however, had 3 sessions with the trap and have recorded 7 species of moth. The most numerous so far is Common Quaker, with 7 individuals caught, followed by Small Quaker (5) and 5 other species; 20-Plume Moth, Purple Thorn, White-shouldered House Moth, Double-striped Pug and Pine Beauty ( all with just 1 individual each).

Common Quaker

Small Quaker

Pine Beauty

I'll keep going with the trap over the next few months, and hopefully, the number of species will begin to pick up! In the mean time, If you click of the label Garden Moths, you'll be able to see some pictures from a few years back.

Garden Moths- Hawk-moths are comimg!

Its been quite a while since I last blogged about  my moth trapping activities in my garden (click on the label Garden Moths for details of previous blogs).

Throughout June I put the trap out 6 times, and began to catch a much wider range of species. I won't list all the names, but instead here are a few photos of one particular family - the hawk moths.

The first moth to show is a Hummingbird Hawk-moth (link here). This species is a regular, but uncommon, annual immigrant to the UK, from southern Europe, and this was my first record in the garden. They aren't easy to photograph, but I managed to grab this shot.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

 

Another hawkmoth that appeared in the garden was the Poplar Hawkmoth (link here). I've had 2 so far this year, including this one that posed beautifully for some shots.

 

Poplar Hawk-moth

 

The third species of hawk-moth seen so far is the Lime Hawk-moth (link here). Just 1 record of this species so far, but a real beauty.

 

Lime Hawk-moth

 

The final species recorded so far is one that may people may have heard of, or perhaps, even seen- the Elephant Hawk-moth ( link here). This species first turned up at the weekend (along with a Poplar Hawk-moth), and I'm hoping to see a few more over the next couple of months.

Elephant Hawk-moth

Garden Moths - an update

I had the moth trap out again on Saturday night. When I checked it this morning (Sunday) I had 1 moth and a caddisfly!!

The only moth, however, was a new one for me and for the garden, a Brindled Pug (see here).Thanks Ispot!

Brindled Pug

Caddisfly sp

 

Other moths that have been in the trap since my last posting are: Early Thorn (4th April), Beautiful Plume (5th April) and Early Grey (18th April).

Early Thorn

Plume moth (Beautiful)

Early Grey

Moth List update:

7 - Early Thorn
8 - Beautiful Plume
9 - Early Grey
10 - Brindled Pug

Two new moths

I had the moth trap out again at the weekend, and managed to catch and identify 2 new species.

The first new moth was a lovely one appropriately named a Pine Beauty (see here for details).

Pine Beauty

 

As you can see from the above photo, it really is a good looking moth! According to the books, this species is usually found in coniferous woodlands, with the young feeding of Scots Pine. As far as I know there aren't any pines around here, but there could possibly be some on the nearby golf course. Who knows??

 

The second new species of the night, a Small Quaker, was not quite so attractive, but nevertheless, another nice addition to the "Garden List".

Small Quaker.

 

Again, according to the literature, this moth is a common species, which is readily attracted to light, so I think I can expect quite a few over the next few months. See here for more pictures and details.

Moth List update:

5 - Pine Beauty
6 - Small Quaker

Another new moth

I had the moth trap on last night (all night), and caught an amazing 2 moths of the same species! Thankfully it was a new species for me and for the garden -  Common Quaker.

In the egg boxes

Actual size

These two photos show the same individual. The first was taken whilst the moth was still in the egg box which is placed in the moth trap. The second was taken on the kitchen table. Amazing how the colour changes. As the name suggests, this species is common across the country, so I should get used to seeing them over the next couple of months.

Thanks to the users of Ispot for help with the id again. (www.ispot.org.uk ) . More information about this species can be found here.

The moth List goes up to 4 species:

4- Common Quaker

New garden moth, first butterflies of 2014 and Year List update

With temperatures rising (19 degrees today!) I decided to put my moth trap out last night, for the first time in 2014. It was on all night (7pm to 5am), and only caught 2 moths of the same species, but, at least it was a new species- Hebrew Character.

Hebrew Character

 

2 Hebrew Characters

 

This species is a common moth, which flies between March and April, so hopefully I should see a few more over the coming months. More details here. Many thanks to the people on Ispot, who identified it for me.

 

When the sun came out today I managed to see my first butterflies of the year as well. First up was a Small Tortoiseshell basking on the side of the house. The next two species; Peacock and Comma, were both seen as I walked around Yorkshire Sculpture Park this afternoon. Click here to find out more information about these species.  Last up, 1 new bird for the year was a singing Chiffchaff in the afternoon sunshine.

Year List update:

113 - Chiffchaff

Moth List update:
3 - Hebrew Character

 

First moths of 2014

I haven't put the moth trap out this year yet, as the weather just hasn't been dry and warm enough, so I was really pleased to spot a moth on the outside of kitchen window on Monday 16th. I took it into the house, and, after a few "tweets", I managed to identify it as an Early Moth - my first record of this species.

Early Moth

As the name suggests, this moth is found in January and February, and is, according to the UK Moths website, a relatively common species across England. Apparently the spots on the wings (seen faintly in this photo) are diagnostic for this species.

Hot on the heels of my first moth came another one today, that I could identify myself. This one was the Twenty-plume Moth, a species I first identified last November (see here). This species is also common, and feeds on Honeysuckle, a plant we have in the back garden, so I'm expecting to see quite a few this year!

Moth List 2014:
1) Early Moth
2) Twenty Plume Moth

Garden Moths and Spider Update

I had the moth trap out in the garden for a few hours on Saturday night. I only caught 4 moths, but 2 of them were new to me. The first had the amazing name of Little Brown Apple  and the second one was a very worn individual and the people on Ispot couldn't identify it with 100% certainty, but they felt it was either a Brick or a Yellow-line Quaker. Here's some photos.

Little Brown Apple

Brick or Yellow-line Quaker

 

The other two moths were a Silver Y and a Twenty-plume Moth. The new additions take my Garden Moth List to an amazing 11 species (8 macro moths and 3 micro moths)!!

 

On Sunday I noticed a spider in my bath. I managed to get it out and took this photo.

 

 

Again, the people at Ispot identified it for me as Textrix denticulata, which is a common spider often found in houses. This one is a male. More details here.

Moths and a Sparrowhawk

Sorry, but it had to happen. Linacre blogger has started to look at moths. My darling wife agreed to get me a moth trap for Christmas. It arrived last week, and, after a few days of rain and wind, I managed to get it out in the garden at the weekend. I only had it out for an hour, but I managed to catch 2 species of moth, both of which were new for the garden (obviously!).

The first species was a Common Marbled Carpet. Here's a link to the UKMoths website. I know "my" moth doesn't look anything like the examples in the link, but they are apparently very variable!!

Common Marble Carpet

 

The second moth was another carpet species, this time a Red-green Carpet. Link here.

Red-green Carpet

 

Both species are classed as common in my moth book, so it'll be interesting to see how often they turn up in the trap.

These two species take my "garden list" (sorry, you knew it had to happen, another list!!) to 4 species when added to the Large Yellow Underwing and Silver Y that I saw during the summer. Two links again; LWU and Silver Y.

Large Yellow Underwing

Silver Y on the Buddleia

Finally, before everyone nods off, here's a picture of a Sparrowhawk that's taken to eating the Goldfinch in the garden.