I put the trap out twice in May - not many dry nights that month where I dared leave the trap out all night. These moths are from the nights of the 4th and 5th May. I was pleased with the interesting selection, but that was surpassed a thousand times by discovering the amazing Emperor Moth in the trap on the morning of the second day! What a find. We knew they existed around here since K found one of their caterpillars crossing the road last year, but as the male is supposed to fly during the day and I have never seen one (you'd notice, wouldn't you?!), I didn't think it was really likely to find one flying about in my garden.
This is the female which is less colourful than the male, but it's the female who flies at night and is the one attracted to light and can be caught in moth traps.
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| Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia). |
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| Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia). |
In the sun it closed up its wings.
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| Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia). |
I set it free on a tree trunk in a shady place and it stayed there all day.
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| Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia). |
Excitement over, here are the rest of the moths of note caught during the two nights. I haven't got particularly good photos as I left it until evening until I got round to taking photos, so I was doing it outside in either not very good natural light or with flash. I'm also losing lots of tiny moths when I get them out of the trap; seems like the bigger ones are more sleepy.
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| Bottom, Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula) and top, Coronet (Craniophora ligustri). |
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| The same two again. |
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| An unknown moth. |
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| Chocolate Tip (Clostera curtula). This one is really cool! |
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| Nut Tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli). |
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| Nut Tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli). |
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| Not entirely sure but wondering if this might be a Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)? |
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| Unknown. |
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| Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria). |
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| Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa). |
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| Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria). |
This following one I've tried IDing but can't see it amongst the Hants Moths Flying Tonight list or on UK Moths site, and I haven't the time or inclination to spend hours looking through European lepidoptera sites! I thought IDing would be easy given its markings.
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| Unknown. |
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| Unknown. |
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| White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda). |
All in all a nice selection even without the surprise of the Emperor the second morning! :-)
Wonderful selection of moths Mandy, some have not seen. Do like the chocolate tip moth..
ReplyDeleteAmanda xx
Thanks very much Amanda! Just read your reply to my comment on your latest moth post. I'll try to get up to date over the next month.... :-)
DeleteSo pleased you trapped an Emperor Moth - you must have been over the moon :)
ReplyDeleteA superb collection of moths - quite a few there I haven't seen and your photos are great. The one unknown might be another Brindled Beauty? and I thought at first the other unknown might be a Lunar Marbled Brown - but not so sure now as it isn't a species I get here.
I know the feeling about the smaller moths fleeing - in fact a lot of my geometrids do too :(
Thanks very much Caroline! I think you are right about the IDs - the first unknown may well be another Brindled Beauty! I've been looking at pics of Lunar Marbled Brown and mine does have faint lunar marks so may well be a slightly paler version. So many moths have varied colouring it makes IDing so hard, doesn't it?!
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ReplyDelete