Monday 29 March 2010

Herps

Adder:Common Toad:
things are warming up...

2 barred X-BILL



Ed and I were just about to pack it in for the day when a call from Mark Thomas (thanks!!) lead to an excited steam north to the RSPB Lodge.

on arrival we learnt that the bird was seen 15mins ago...we waiting 2 hours to no avail then drove back home... an early start was is order as we weren't going to miss this!!

as the first people the Loge in the moring we got back our front seats in the hide and waited patiently untill a massive flock (c30) of common crossbill flew into view and sat right at the top of an oak tree....there it was!! A stunning female two-barred crossbill!!

I got a rubbish photo compared to some but a return visit may be order and I'll be hoping that she feels thirsty...

Thursday 25 March 2010

mothsss

I have started making a mains powered MV moth tra and tested out the electrics for the first time last night - WOW!! I have forgotten how bright MVs are. Just need to get the box fuly made and then tst it out in some nice muggy conditions!

still using my 15w portable actinic heath trap:

last night's catch was better still with 7 individuals:

1 - Hebrew Character
1 - Emmelina monodctyla
1 - Dotted Boarder
2 - Common Quaker
2 - Clouded Drab

here a few pics from the lodge and my catchings;

Common Quaker:Yellow Horned Moth (it looks like a sleeping cat in the last one):Un-IDed catterpiller:Early Grey:Frog (not caught in the trap!!):Arty Zebra Spider:
Cheers,

Dan

Saturday 20 March 2010

A slow start to the mothing season!..

Having read about the numbers and variety others have been catching I've been a little disapointed about my recent hawls.

One hawl in particular stands out - I lugged my actinic with the stupidly large car battery down into Arlesey nature reserve only to find 2 smaller than average mosquitos in it the following morning!

Anyway things have been picking up in recent nights and I now have the grand total of 5 moths to my name for 2010 - with 4 different species..

Clouded Drab (caught in Henlow):and one caught in my garden;and in my Arlesey garden...

Clouded Drab:Hebrew charater:Dotted border: Emmelina monodactyla: Thanks to Matt, David and Andy who all informed that the plume above is a Emmelina monodactyla,

Cheers,

Dan