Saturday, 15 August 2009

Arlesey Nature Reserve

First trapping away from the garden since getting back off hols and a few nice mothts were caught.

Some are probably common but having not caught them before it's always exciting:

Large yellow underwing:Old lady (we caught 7):Poplar hawkmoth (seem to be fairly common here):Pebble hooktip:Green Carpet:
Setaceous Hebrew Character:Willow Beauty:Beautiful China mark:I think this is a caddis fly of some sort but it was most interesting and we caught loads of them:
Also in the trap there was a rosel's bush cricket.

And finally proof that persistence is paying off as Lauren is starting to take an interest in wildlife: That's a common wainscot on her nose by the way!

All the best,

Dan

Saturday, 1 August 2009

new moths for me..

I have been trapping pretty much non-stop with only one nights break and have encountered a fair few new species :)

Trapping in Ed's garden and surroundng fields/woods in Stotfold:

Agapeta hamana:Common Carpet:Double Square Dot:Flame Shoulder:Willow Beauty:Lime speck pug:Mouse moth:Pandemis heparana:Riband wave:The Dun-Bar:The Spectacle:Yellow Shell:
Arlesey Old Moat NR:

Poplar Hawkmoth (we caught 3 in one night!!)Swallow Prominent:Rosey Rustic:
Also a few from the garden. I didn't get pics becasue they flew away but last night I caught 2 diamond back moths and a rush veneer which I believe are migrants.
Scarce footman:Garden carpet:common carpet:Some type of plume moth:RUBY TIGER (catch of the night!!):a tatty Double striped pug:Woodworm pug:
please let me know if I have any of the IDs wrong or if you can be more specific with some of my vague IDs as I am still learning :)

Dan

Sunday, 26 July 2009

moth pics from last few nights trapping

Hi all,

I decided to lug the car battery and moth trap into the depths of Arlesey nature reserve late on Friday which was hard work and I wondered if it would pay off. After getting up at 7am on the Sat to go and check it (hoping it had not been damaged by someone!!) I realised all the hard work had payed off!! Again I'm not sure on some of the IDs but here goes:

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow underwing:Early Thorn:Boardered Beauty:Clouded Boarder:Chocolate tip:Scalloped Oak:Common Wainscot:Shaded Broad-bar:and the star of the show, a stunning poplar hawkmoth:The ones I couldn't ID (names will be inserted as I find out!):

1: Dark Arches:2: Single-dotted Wave3: Straw Underwing.4: Pale Prominant:On the walk back there were butterflies all over the place, the freshly emerged painted ladies were lovely:Comma:Hoverfly shadow on a large white:A tatty 5 spot burnet:And these Roesel's Bush-crickets, although my book states they are confined to the south east so I may be wrong..?:I also set the trap in my girlfriends garden in henlow and caught many rustic agg. as well as the following:

Scarce Footman:Star of the show here was a lovely Canary-shouldered thorn:
Really catching the mothing bug - it's great fun and I'm learning a lot!

Dan