July Moths

 

We are still in the doldrums as far as birding goes but the compensation is that this is the best time of year for the insects and for me, this year, the moths are the real interest. I have had brief flirtations with bees, hard to photograph, and flies, hard to identify. I even had a year chasing Orchids but I soon got over that one. Moths though will stick. It's butterflies on a much grander scale. There is so much to learn and to discover and you don't have to put up with the dreaded twitch that seems to blight birding.

The rest of the blog is just a selection of some of the moths seen during July. There is nothing special here, just some memories of the joy that nature can bring.

Where better to start than with the Hawkmoths.

Lime Hawkmoth - Mimas tiliae

Privet Hawkmoth - Sphinx ligustri

Small Elephant Hawkmoth - Deilephila porcellus

Elephant Hawk Moth - Deilephila elpenor

A couple of the rarer ones.

Plumed  Fan-foot - Pechipogo plumigeralis

Scarce Purple & Gold - Pyrausta ostrinalis

A few I hadn't seen before

Clay - Mythimna ferrago

White Satin - Leucorna salicis

Pale Pinion - Lithophane hepatica

Dusky Sallow - Eremobia ochroleuca

New for the garden

Swallow-tailed - Ourapteryx sambucaria

Vapourer - Orgyia antiqua

Scalloped Oak - Crocallis elinguaria

Common Footman - Eileme lurideola

Diamond-back Marble - Eudemis profundana

Common Emerald - Hemithea aestivaria

Orange Pine Twist - Lozotaeniodes formosana

Bramble Shoot Moth - Notocelia uddmanniana

Downland Bell - Rhopobota stagnana

Italian Tubic - Metalampra italica

Rosy Tabby - Endotricha flammealis

I have only included one Pug. I think it is a Wormwood but I have real difficulty identifying these moths. Most of the ones I see are badly worn or are the melanistic form and are beyond my skill level.

With a bit more experience I would now label this moth as a Currant Pug Eupithecia assimilata

Wormwood Pug - Euphithecia absinthiata

And a few I have seen before but which I was happy to have back in the trap again. Not every moth is so welcome. Opening the trap to find that it is full of Heart and Darts or worst still Box Tree Moths is disheartening. There can't be much of the Box Tree moths larval food plant left in the area given the numbers I am seeing.

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing - Noctua fimbriata

L-album Wainscot - Mythimna l-album

Chinese Character - Cilix glaucata

Blair's Mocha - Cyclophora puppillaria

I am coming to the end of my first full year of mothing. The number of species seen has far exceeded my expectations, by how many, I am not sure but the final result will be in a future blog. I still have a few I am hoping to be able to identify before I close the count.