03 Saturday Sep 2022
Posted in insects
Tags
British moth caterpillars, British moths, Calliteara pudibunda, moth larva, Pale tussock moth caterpillar
Is this outrageous, or what? This is the larva of a Pale tussock (Calliteara pudibunda), a moth that is a beautiful creature in itself (you can see the adult on the Butterfly Conservation website) but nothing at all like its incredible caterpillar.
19 Friday Aug 2022
Posted in insects
Apart from Five- and Six-spotted burnets and the various grass moths that flit up as I walk along pathways through meadows, I’ve not seen many day-flying moths recently so these Shaded broad-bars (Scotopteryx chenopodiata) were a nice surprise. They fly during July and August, and can be found throughout Britain, particularly in areas where vetches and clovers – their larval food plants – grow. As you can see, the colours of these moths can be quite variable (the Butterfly Conservation website has more examples).
06 Wednesday Jul 2022
Posted in insects
Though I know death is inevitable for all living creatures, I’m always sad when I find something dead. On a practical level, of course, it’s often an opportunity to look more closely at that creature, which is what happened with this Scarlet tiger moth (Callimorpha dominula) I found on a pavement last week. That scarlet colour is just glorious!
25 Saturday Jun 2022
Posted in insects
Showcasing this Brimstone moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) I found on Thursday seems entirely appropriate today as I was caught out during this morning’s walk by a sudden thunderstorm. One of the lightning strikes was very close by, almost overhead, and there was a very strong smell of brimstone, the archaic name for sulphur.
The moth was resting, perched upside down under a blade of grass. Amazingly, it stayed completely still as I got very close and twisted the grass to get better photos. Very obliging and very beautiful!
17 Friday Jun 2022
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At the risk of stating the obvious, moths are amazing! And I’ve been lucky to find some gorgeous examples in recent weeks. As I’m running out of image storage space on this blog, the easiest way to share my photos is via a slideshow video. Here, then, is a short tribute to moths, a celebration of their incredible diversity of shapes and sizes, patterns and colours.
06 Monday Jun 2022
Tags
British moths, Coleophora anatipennella, larval cases of moths, leaf-mining moths, moth larval cases, Pistol case-bearer
The UK Moth website explains the name of this rather bland-looking moth: ‘The “Pistol Case-bearers” are so named from the resemblance of their larval cases to an old flintlock pistol in shape.’ And I think you can see that likeness in my photos.
I’d not seen anything like these before so turned to some Twitter experts for help with their identification. Fortunately, Rob Edmunds, of British Leafminers website fame, was able to confirm that these are indeed the larval cases of the Pistol case-bearer moth (Coleophora anatipennella). Their feeding makes tiny holes in the leaves, which you can see in the photos above and below, and these particular ‘pistols’ contain larvae that have over-wintered in their cases, which Rob thinks are now ‘in position pupating on the upper leaf surface’. Nature never ceases to amaze me!
04 Saturday Jun 2022
Tags
British moths, moth larvae, Spindle ermine, Spindle ermine larvae, Spindle ermine moth, Spindle ermine webs, Spindle tree, Yponomeuta cagnagella
Back in June 2021, I blogged about the webs I was finding on Spindle trees in a local woodland, the silken creations of the larvae of the Spindle ermine moth (Yponomeuta cagnagella), and I’ve been seeing a multitude of these webs and larvae again in recent weeks. They don’t do a lot of damage to the larger Spindle trees but, as you can see below right, the larvae’s voracious appetites can strip the smaller saplings.
I’d heard that when the larvae are fully grown, they drop to the ground to pupate, often dangling in writhing groups from a silken thread. This was the first time I’d seen the larvae doing just that.
During my most recent visit to this woodland where Spindle trees – and the Spindle ermine larvae that munch on them – are most plentiful, I finally saw some of the adult moths**, and what beautiful little creatures they are. There were four, all sitting on thistles within a few feet of each other, so I assume they had recently emerged from pupation. And so the life cycle begins again.
** A correction: Well, wouldn’t you know it? My Spindle ermine moths turned out to be Thistle ermine (Myelois circumvoluta). Serves me right for assuming they must be Spindle ermine just because of all the larvae in the area.
09 Monday May 2022
Posted in insects
Tags
British moths, caterpillars in a web, Lackey, Lackey caterpillars, Lackey larvae, Malacosoma neustria, moth caterpillars, moth larvae
In Saturday’s post we had the small and scary (if you don’t like spiders – personally, I thought they were adorable); today we have the small and hairy, a web of Lackey moth caterpillars (Malacosoma neustria), which can often be found at this time of year, their web wrapped around the twigs of various broadleaved trees and shrubs.
The early instar (youngest) larvae don’t show the blue side stripe or ghoulish face, which make these larvae so distinctive as they grow.
18 Monday Apr 2022
Posted in insects
Apart from Colin, the Angle shades moth I reared from a caterpillar, this tiny beauty was my first moth of the year. This is Pyrausta purpuralis, also known as Common purple & gold, one of two quite similar Purple & gold species, though P. purpuralis can be identified by the extra yellow spot on its hindwings. I was surprised to read that the larval plants for these wee moths are Corn mint and Thyme, neither of which plant I recall having seen at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park though the moths are quite common there. I’ll need to investigate further.
26 Saturday Mar 2022
I am delighted to announce that, 32 days after he pupated, Colin the Angle shades moth has hatched (I keep calling him Colin for convenience but he could in fact be a she, a Colleen).
Isn’t he gorgeous? Beautifully mottled in shades of brown, beige, peach and green, for camouflage. I offered him the outside this morning, put him on the window ledge, but there’s a cool wind blowing and he made no move. So, he’s back in his jar until the air warms up and he has the strength to make his way in the world.
earthstar 
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