Tag Archives: British moths

198/365 Little and larger

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

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It’s time to check your local patch of Ragwort for these little critters, the caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As adult moths, they’re bright red and black but as caterpillars they’re a striking combination of orange-and-black stripes, the patterns more visible the more they munch and grow.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

For some reason there’s quite a size difference in this little bunch – perhaps a combination of broods hatched at different times that just happen to have chosen the same Ragwort plant to chew on.

190717 cinnabar caterpillars (4)

191/365 Six-belted clearwing

10 Wednesday Jul 2019

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Believe it or not, this amazing creature is a moth, an aptly named clearwing moth – you can see parts of her wings are not covered by scales so are transparent. She is a Six-belted clearwing (Bembecia ichneumoniformis) and I know it’s a female because she only has five belts, i.e. five yellow stripes on her abdomen – the males have six.

190710 six-belted clearwing (3)

I discovered her completely by chance – I was scanning the ground at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park for butterflies and happened to notice her stripes. Cosmeston actually has the perfect habitat for these moths as they like chalk and coastal grasslands and quarries, and their caterpillars like to munch on Common Bird’s-foot trefoil, which grows locally in abundance. I’m amazed, then, that there have been very few locally recorded sightings – maybe everyone who spots them thinks they’re wasps or bees.

190710 six-belted clearwing (1)

These are day-flying moths and the adults are on the wing between June and August, so I’ll be on the look out for more of them over the coming weeks.

190710 six-belted clearwing (2)

186/365 Humming-bird Hawk-moth

05 Friday Jul 2019

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I’ve had the most wonderful day out butterflying but it’s already 5:30, I have a lot of photos to go through, I’m hungry, and I desperately need a shower to wash off the heat and insect repellent – okay, probably too much information, but you get the picture. The butterfly blogs will have to wait till tomorrow and Sunday. So, here’s another gorgeous creature from today’s outing, a Humming-bird Hawk-moth.

190705 Hummingbird Hawkmoth

169/365 Emergence

18 Tuesday Jun 2019

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Remember I said on Friday that they’d be ‘coming soon‘, well here they are. The Six-spot burnet moths have begun to emerge, buzzing around the wildflowers like little red-and-black bumblebees. Delightful!

190618 six-spot burnet (1)190618 six-spot burnet (2)190618 six-spot burnet (3)190618 six-spot burnet (4)190618 six-spot burnet (5)190618 six-spot burnet (6)

165/365 Coming soon …

14 Friday Jun 2019

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First, the caterpillar. Now I know this is a bit like the chicken and egg debate – which came first? – but my sequence is chronological for 2019. This is the caterpillar / larva of a Burnet moth, most likely a Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena filipendulae), as they’re the species I’ve seen at this site in previous years. I only found out this week that they over-winter as caterpillars, and they’re now enjoying a final munch before beginning their transformation.

Second, the pupa. Some of the munchers have already begun their metamorphosis into moths. This week I’ve spotted quite a number of the papery cocoons they spin to house their pupae while they go through this process.

190614 Burnet moth cocoon

Third, the moth. In previous years, the Six-spots have begun to appear around the beginning of July but the weather conditions can have an effect on their emergence. So, eyes peeled for the appearance of these gorgeous creatures in a meadow near you very soon!

190614 Six-spot Burnet moth

p.s. And if, by some chance, it’s actually a Five spot Burnet (Zygaena lonicerae), then it will look like this – you just have to count the dots!

190614 Five-spot Burnet moth

158/365 Latticed heath

07 Friday Jun 2019

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This is one of my favourite moths, a Latticed heath (Chiasmia clathrata, from the Greek chiasma, meaning formed like a cross, and clathrum, meaning lattice or grate, a reference to the lovely interlaced and criss-crossing patterns on its wings).

190607 lattice heath (1)

As well as flying in the night time, the Latticed heath also flies by day, which is how I’m able to see them, though they’re very good at hiding in amongst the long grass and wildflowers. I saw my first for 2019 on 23 May at Cosmeston, and I’ve since seen them at most of my regular haunts, Grangemoor and Hamadryad Parks in Cardiff, and Lavernock Nature Reserve.

It’s a smallish moth, with a wingspan between 20 and 25mm, and can be found around clovers and trefoils and lucerne, which are the plants its caterpillars feed on. The first adults can be seen in May and June, and then there’s a second generation that flies in August and September.

190607 lattice heath (4)

151/365 Leptastic

31 Friday May 2019

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I’ve had a lucky week with my Lepidoptera sightings – that’s moths and butterflies, for those who didn’t know – and the week’s not over yet. As well as the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth on Monday and the Burnet Companions on Tuesday, yesterday I found my first (three) Large Skipper butterflies for the year at Cosmeston.

190531 large skipper (1)190531 large skipper (2)

And, today, my wander around Grangemoor Park was something of a Lep-fest, with the first (five) Mother Shipton moths I’ve seen in 2019.

190531 mother shipton (1)190531 mother shipton (2)

And I spotted a nice Latticed Heath moth trying to hide in the grass.

190531 latticed heath

And, then, just as I was about to head for home, I noticed something small flitting about along a side path, went to investigate and found two Brown Argus butterflies, which I have seen already this year but not in Wales. You can see why I named this blog ‘leptastic’!

190531 brown argus (1)190531 brown argus (2)

148/365 The one that got away

28 Tuesday May 2019

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I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the amazing Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth that I had actually been trying to re-find a Burnet Companion moth when I spotted the Hawk-moth. Well, today I got the one that got away yesterday – not the actual moth, as today I was at Cosmeston not Lavernock, and not just one but three Burnet Companions appeared for my camera today.

190528 burnet companion (1)

I felt a bit sad for the first one I saw (below left). Either it hadn’t developed properly in its pupa or something had happened to it since hatching, as its wings appeared damaged and it didn’t seem able to fly.

But the other two were flitting merrily from flower to flower, drinking in as much Bird’s-foot trefoil nectar as their tiny tongues could manage. And not only do they have lovely markings on the top side of their wings but they’re a wonderful buttery yellow underneath as well (above right).

190528 burnet companion (4)

147/365 Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth

27 Monday May 2019

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I had a heart-stopping few moments at Lavernock Nature Reserve this afternoon. I’d just taken a rubbish photo of my first Burnet Companion moth of the year but it had flitted off and I was trying to re-find it when I spotted this beauty … and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It’s a Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth (Hemaris tityus) and it’s something of a rarity here in south Wales.

190527 narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth (1)

According to Aderyn, Wales’s Biodiversity and Information Reporting Database, this species has not been recorded anywhere near my area for more than 50 years, yet they seem to be having a good year in 2019: George, from our local Butterfly Conservation branch, tells me this special moth has been seen in three new sites in south Wales so far this year. Long may this trend continue!

190527 narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth (2)

61/365 From food to frass

02 Saturday Mar 2019

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First I noticed the frass (that’s pooh, to most of us). Then I thought ‘Something fairly big must be in these Alexanders’ flower heads somewhere’. And, sure enough, with a little gentle pulling aside of leaves and flowers, I found the frass creator, very well camouflaged by its light green colouring. And then I thought, ‘There might be more’. And, sure enough, I found three caterpillars on three different plants, and frass on several more plants. These are the larvae of the Angle Shades moth (Phlogophora meticulosa). I thought it seemed rather early for them but my local Butterfly Conservation expert George tells me you can find them pretty much any time of year.