Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Moths that burn, blush and... look like twigs

Getting out of bed not long after dawn is tiring. But I'm really enjoying going through the contents of the moth trap (I leave the bulb on overnight and get up early before the moths start flying away). I never quite know what's going to be in there...

Chocolate-tip
My first-ever Chocolate-tip
The Herald
The Herald
Eyed Hawkmoth
Eyed Hawkmoth
Burnished Brass
Burnished Brass
Maiden's Blush
Maiden's Blush
Scorched Wing
Scorched Wing
Buff-tip
Buff-tip


Treble Lines is making a bid for top spot, with 26 trapped overnight.

also

  • Angle Shades
  • Buff-tip
  • Burnished Brass
  • Chocolate-tip
  • Cinnabar
  • Common Carpet
  • Common Swift, 6
  • Cream-bordered Green Pea (no photo, sorry)
  • Eyed Hawkmoth, 2
  • Figure of 80
  • Flame Shoulder
  • Green Carpet
  • Heart & Dart
  • Herald
  • Large Nutmeg
  • Lesser Swallow Prominent
  • Light Brocade, 11
  • Light Emerald
  • Maiden's Blush
  • Oak Hook-tip
  • Orange Footman, 6
  • Pale Oak Beauty
  • Pale Prominent
  • Pale Tussock
  • Pebble Hook-tip
  • Poplar Hawkmoth, 7
  • Scorched Wing
  • Setaceous Hebrew Character
  • Shuttle-shaped Dart
  • Silver Y, 5
  • Spectacle
  • White Ermine
  • Willow Beauty

Thursday, May 24, 2012

The charge of the Light Brocade

Pale Tussock
Meet the Pale Tussock
Pale Tussock
Check out the amazing furry legs!
Hawkmoths
Lime and Poplar Hawkmoths
White Ermine
White Ermine
Brimstone Moth
Brimstone Moth
Coxcomb Prominent
Coxcomb Prominent
Pale Prominent
Pale Prominent
Pebble Prominent
Pebble Prominent
The Lychnis
The Lychnis
The Miller
The Miller
Orange Footman
Orange Footman
Pebble Hook-tip
Pebble Hook-tip
Treble Lines
Treble Lines
Rustic Shoulder-knot
Rustic Shoulder-knot


Look... I know it's a shocking post title, but I could not resist.

No large numbers of anything (not even Light Brocades), but nice diversity.
  • Brimstone
  • Cinnabar, 4
  • Common Carpet
  • Coxcomb Prominent
  • Flame Shoulder, 4
  • Green Carpet
  • Light Brocade, 3
  • Lime Hawkmoth
  • Lime-speck Pug
  • Lychnis
  • Miller
  • Muslin Moth
  • Orange Footman, 2
  • Pale Prominent, 3
  • Pale Tussock 
  • Pebble Hook-tip, 2
  • Pebble Prominent, 2
  • Peppered Moth
  • Poplar Hawkmoth, 4
  • Red/Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet
  • Shuttle-shaped Dart, 2
  • Spectacle
  • White Ermine, 2

Friday, May 18, 2012

The hawk has landed

Poplar Hawkmoth
Poplar Hawkmoth
Angle Shades
Angle Shades
Muslin Moth
Muslin Moth
Light Brocade
Light Brocade
Flame Shoulder
Flame Shoulder

Things are picking up slowly...

  • Poplar Hawkmoth, 2
  • Muslin Moth, 2
  • Flame Shoulder, 3
  • Shuttle-shaped Dart, 1
  • The Spectacle, 1
  • Angle Shades, 1
  • Hebrew Character, 1
  • Green Carpet, 1

Monday, May 14, 2012

May moths and May bug

The Spectacle
The Spectacle... you can guess where its name comes from
The Spectacle
Side-on view of the Biggles moth
Swallow Prominent
Swallow Prominent
Lesser Swallow Prominent
Lesser Swallow Prominent
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Cockchafer
Cockchafer (or May Bug)
A slow start to moth trapping in May, with six moths caught:
  • Cinnabar, 2
  • Swallow Prominent, 1
  • Lesser Swallow Prominent, 1
  • Spectacle, 1
  • Shuttle-shaped Dart, 1

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Who's been making a mess?

Who's been making a mess?
What's going on here? Looks like someone's been busy with a chainsaw
Green Woodpecker nest hole
Ah! A freshly-excavated Green Woodpecker nest hole
photos taken with iPhone

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Constant Effort baking and ringing

Nightingale!

This morning saw the year's first Constant Effort Site ringing visit to Paxton Pits. And it was a good one - 65 birds of 18 species caught in total, including 13 retraps (birds we'd ringed earlier).

The first bird out of the first net we put up was this Nightingale (probably a female), and we had another later (a male which sang as he flew off when we released him). We also caught Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler - but no Chiffchaff. We'll get them later in the season.

It's nice to have a sit down and something to eat during CES ringing (we start pre-dawn and finish around lunchtime). Last year I made a lot of flapjack but this year I'm going to try to produce 12 different baked delicacies.

Today's recipe was pineapple and carrot muffins. They went down well.

photos taken with iPhone