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Saturday 9 January 2016

Moths from back in November, and one I would rather not have seen

I suddenly had a thought the other day that there must have been many times during December when I could have put my moth trap out. Indeed, there were overnight lows in December that were warmer than some nights in October or November! But in my low mood I never even thought about it.  It has however reminded me that I still had these moths from mid November to post.

Then there was a funny which I had meant to add to my last post but didn't get round to it, but it's far more suited to this post, so if moths bore you then scroll down to the last two pics! 

This time I thought to bring in some Liquidambar leaves so I could shoot them on a colourful background, but many moths refused to play ball and either flew off or stayed put in their egg cartons. Never mind.

This was my favourite, The Sprawler (Asteroscopus sphinx).

And again, The Sprawler (Asteroscopus sphinx).

This is a Yellow-line Quaker (Agrochola macilenta).

Some were sleepy in the egg cartons and took a lot of encouragement to come out for a photo. I'm out of touch with the IDing so I am not sure I've got the right ID for this; all the others I identified at the time and keyworded the names into my database (thank goodness for that!).

Not wanting to come out of the the egg carton - I think this may be a Lunar Underwing?

The same moth encouraged to come out onto a leaf - possibly a Lunar Underwing?

Scarce Umber (Agriopis aurantiaria).

This one falls into the the category 'I don't have a clue'.

A pale or worn out version of a Feathered Thorn (Colotois pennaria).

A fresh, darker specimen of Feathered Thorn (Colotois pennaria).

Both Feathered Thorn and The Sprawler doing what moths do best. Sleeping. :-)

As for the next one... well I haven't been using my breadmaker very much (or even doing much cooking) over the last year, so my seeds and grains haven't been used much. I was a bit surprised then to see this little chap or chapess in the airtight container where I keep my sesame seeds.... of course it was dead, due to the container. I was going to be brave and just carry on using the sesame seeds until I looked a bit closer and saw a lot of webby stuff and some lumps in amongst the grains - ugh, no thanks! Chucked the lot and then when I got my new unopened pack of sesame seeds out they were marked best before 2013!! So I dread to think how old the ones I chucked were. No wonder things were hatching out. :-) But the new packet was fine so got used.

Let's called this one the Sesame Moth, although I am sure
it was saying "Open Sesame" before it expired, poor thing. ;-)

It wasn't very big, which is a good thing as I didn't want to see any grubs in the seeds!!

It could very well be Indian Mealmoth which get inside all sorts of seeds and grains, although my specimen looks like a very worn out version. Perhaps it's been dead for a long time! 

As usual, if you spot any errors in my IDing then please do let me know.

14 comments:

  1. Wow! Love seeing and reading all about your moths. The IDing is amazing. I do generally look them up as well as learning new things is exciting for me. THANK YOU SO MUCH for the blogging, the writing and photos ♥

    Love you bunches

    April

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    1. Hi April,glad you enjoy seeing the moths! Takes me ages sometimes with the IDing but it's worth it to get comments like this. xx

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  2. I will never get tired of your moth photos. I may be useless at ID but the detail and movement you get in your photos makes you feel you can reach out and touch them! Beautiful

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    1. Awww, that's a really sweet comment - thanks so much Debrazzawoman! xx

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  3. It's nice to see some moths, the pale one without no ID. I am sure I have had similar, had a quick look but no joy,even close up there are no faded lines or dots to be seen which just makes it harder to find.
    On twitter people are finding a few moths through December and January, we had one evening this week were it was not raining so I just put the light out for a little. No moths but the odd 'nat' !
    I have had dryed food in the house which has been known to be a few years out of date...
    Amanda xx

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    1. Hi Amanda, thanks for commenting. :-) It's too wet now for the trap but if we do get a dry spell I'll think about putting it out, well you never know!
      I've tons of out of date stuff in the cupboards and need to have a sort out. Surprised it's not crawling with nasties! :-) xx

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  4. I've not been trapping here either because too busy but there have been plenty out in this mild weather. I think the pale one is probably a November or winter moth xx

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    1. Thanks for that possible ID, CT. Well I hope to get the trap out as early as poss this year so I can record the early season moths. Will be interesting! xx

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  5. Lovely to see some moths :) Its difficult to tell as it may be the way the light is falling on it but could your Lunar Underwing be a Chestnut?? I've not been trapping here since October - mainly as its been so wet. Have been busy entering moth records up on Excel though - every year I say I will do it monthly and every year I fail! I love the Sprawler by the way - never seen one here!

    I often find a lot of out of date stuff when I clear out kitchen cupboards much to husband's horror :(

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    1. Thanks RR - I'll have a look at the Chestnuts. I'm not sure if I've seen any of them. I feel like I've forgotten all the moths I learned about apart from the more unusual ones!

      Well done for recording your moths like that, it sounds very organised! I keep meaning to do a butterfly count page like I have for birds on my blog. Maybe that will be my next post, if I can organise myself! :-) xx

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  6. I don't know much about moths so I can't really say much in my comment, but I do always find your 'moth' posts interesting Mandy.xx

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    1. Thanks Deb, that's very nice to hear. I feel like I've forgotten all I learned last year so I know I'll be struggling with ID again this year! :-) xx

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  7. I love the moths feelers (is that the right word?). They look so beautiful especially the Sprawler xx

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    1. Hi Sara - it's antennae actually but feelers is fine. There are not many except bug geeks who know all the correct terminology (and I don't know it all either). :-) I bought a moth trap last year by the way, it attracts the moths to light - you get to see what you have trapped and photograph/document them, then let them go the following evening, It's great fun if you like moths! (This follows on from my butterfly addiction, lol)

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