Tag Archives: British moths

217/366 Lep larvae

04 Tuesday Aug 2020

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Last week we had a closer look at a couple of butterfly eggs; today we have some Lepidoptera larvae. First up, the caterpillars of the beautiful Small tortoiseshell butterfly, which has two generations of eggs and larvae each year – these will be second generation. The eggs are laid in batches and, when they hatch, the caterpillars stay together to create a communal web where they shelter when they’re not out basking in the sun or munching on nettles. The caterpillars go through five stages (instars) before pupating – these look to be 3rd instars.

200804 small tortoiseshell (1)

In total contrast to the Small tortoiseshell larvae, which are subtle and subdued in their colour and patterns, the larvae of the Cinnabar moth are vibrant, even flamboyant. Their bright orange and black stripes are designed to be seen, warning predators not to eat them as they are poisonous.

200804 cinnabar moth (1)200804 cinnabar moth (2)

193/366 Moth macro

11 Saturday Jul 2020

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We’ve had cooler, greyer, wetter weather in recent days, which isn’t so good for seeing hosts of butterflies and other insects flying around the wildflowers but, if you can find them, it does slow those insects down a bit making macro photography a little easier … sometimes. A slow, quiet, stealthy approach is still required as, to take macro photos with my Olympus camera, I need to get as close as an inch to my subject. Mostly, the insects fly or scuttle off, but this stunning Silver Y moth was a rather lovely exception to my usual failures.

200711 Silver Y moth

183/366 It’s a Burnet’s life

01 Wednesday Jul 2020

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My new favourite field has a healthy population of Burnet moths, some of which are 6-spot Burnets (Zygaena filipendulae) and the others could either be 5-spot Burnets (Zygaena trifolii) or Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnets (Zygaena lonicerae) – it’s almost impossible to tell these latter two species apart. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to see almost every part of their life cycle – only the eggs have eluded me.

200701 1 5spot and 6spot

A 5-spot above, a 6-spot below

200701 2 6spot burnets

6-spot Burnets mating

Today I spotted this larva, looking very close to pupating, and, nearby, a very fresh-looking cocoon.

200701 5 6spot burnet

A freshly emerged 6-spot Burnet moth

200701 6 5spot burnet

A pristine 5-spot Burnet moth

200701 7 5spot burnet dead n ants

Death is always sad to see but, in this case, the moth will support the life cycle of other creatures.

 

157/366 Tufty

05 Friday Jun 2020

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This tiny tufty character was a surprise find during yesterday’s walk.

200605 knot grass moth larva (1)

I guessed it was a moth caterpillar but had no idea which, so posted some photos on Twitter. It only took a few minutes for my moth-er contacts to give it a name – this is the larva of the Knot grass moth (Acronicta rumicis).

I’ve never seen the adult moth but it looks to be a beauty – you can see photos, and read more about both moth and larva, on the UK Moths website.

200605 knot grass moth larva (4)

 

142/366 Moths made my day

21 Thursday May 2020

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I’d hoped the sunny skies and warmth would bring out more butterflies during yesterday’s exercise walk but they were few and far between at Grangemoor Park, and I think that’s weather related.

200521 latticed heath (1)

Earlier this year, we had almost constant, often heavy rain that saturated the ground and turned everywhere to mud, and now the ground is being baked dry and hard by a subsequent lack of rain. This cycle seems to be having a marked effect on plant growth and insect emergence – at least that’s what I’m seeing, or, rather, not seeing.

200521 latticed heath (2)

The good news at Grangemoor, though, was the abundance of Latticed heath moths, more than I’ve spotted in one day before. Though they do have a habit of flitting very quickly away just as I get ready to take their photo, they are lovely creatures, and seeing so many certainly made my day.

200521 latticed heath (3)

114/366 Little and large

23 Thursday Apr 2020

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During yesterday’s exercise meander around Penarth, I found two lovely Lepidoptera in one of the few local parks that’s still open.

200423 green long-horn moth

The first was this amazing day-flying moth, the Green long-horn (Adela reaumurella). It may have a wingspan of only 14-18mm, but just look at those antennae (hence, the name ‘long-horn’). This is a male; the females have shorter antennae, which are half black, half white.

200423 large white butterfly

Then, to my delight, soon after seeing that stunning little moth, I spotted my first Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) for 2020. And, compared to the moth, it really is large, with a wingspan between 63 and 70mm. This is also a male; the females have two grey-black spots on their upper wings.

101/366 Little wrigglers

10 Friday Apr 2020

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I took my exercise walk early this morning, hoping to avoid any Easter crowds along the coastal path and my strategy worked a treat. Well, mostly – I’d just spotted a locally rare bird and was taking some photos when a jogger came along and scared it off. That was the bad news (though I did still get the photos – and see the bird – for the curious, a Crossbill). The good news is that during my second encounter, with some dog walkers, when I snuggled off the path between some bushes, I spotted these little wrigglers.

200410 lackey moth larvae (1)

They’re Lackey moth larvae, quite recently hatched judging by their small size, and now safely cocooned in their self-woven web. They were warming up under the sun’s rays before crawling off for their daily munching of the surrounding leaves of Blackthorn and Hawthorn. At night they return to snuggle together in silken comfort. I’ve seen these larvae several times before but today was the first time I’d noticed their egg cases.

200410 lackey moth larvae (2)

53/366 A new leafmine

22 Saturday Feb 2020

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I was a woman on a mission today, and these are what I was looking for. They are the leafmines of the larvae of the moth Ectoedemia heringella, found on Evergreen Oak.

200222 ectoedemia heringella leafmines (1)

You’ve probably never heard of this moth and neither had I, until yesterday, when I read a tweet by George Tordoff, Senior Moth Ecologist with Butterfly Conservation here in Wales, that he had found its leafmines on an oak at Barry Island. His find was only the third record for the county of Glamorgan – the first two were found by County Moth Recorder Dave Slade, in Cardiff’s Bute Park. It made sense that the mines might also be found in locations between Cardiff and Barry, so today I went looking and found them on every Evergreen oak in Penarth’s Windsor Gardens. And my fellow Penarthian, Gareth, also went looking today and found several mines on the trees at nearby St Mary’s Well Bay. Success!

According to the UK Moths website, Ectoedemia heringella only arrived in Britain (in Greater London) from Europe in 1996 and has slowly been spreading out from there. The adult moths don’t appear until mid summer, and I may never see one, but at least now our records can help track their spread across the country.

200222 ectoedemia heringella leafmines (4)

327/365 Stigmella leaf mines

23 Saturday Nov 2019

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Before the heavy rain came in yesterday I managed a quick local walk, part of which was to look at maple trees for the leaf mines of a tiny moth called Stigmella aceris, which has slowly been expanding its range in south Wales. I didn’t find any on the few trees I looked at, though I will continue to look and will report back here if I do manage to find any.

I decided to switch my focus on to another of the Stigmella moth species, Stigmella aurella, the Golden pigmy moth, which lives its larval life in mines burrowed in bramble leaves. Though you might never see the adult moth, you will undoubtedly be able to find its leaf mines as they are common and widespread throughout most of Britain, and I easily found several examples during my local meander. Now to find the maple-leaf-burrowing variety!

228/365 Nom, nom, nom

16 Friday Aug 2019

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190816 emperor

Another male Emperor dragonfly eating his lunch photo – the only time I manage to catch them is when they’re eating! This time, thanks to a couple of my talented moth-er friends, I can confirm that the Emperor is munching on a male Oak eggar moth.