Mostly Moths 2019

My latest incumbent brought to me on Saturday by neighbour who found it in the roadway ... looks like Privet Hawk Moth, right size & has that hook, will overwinter in shed & see what emerges ...

I do like getting these surprise presents! Lol

You never know for sure either what will come out, that may be a suprise too. It's certainly big, I wonder if someone was carting away garden waste & it fell off the trailer. It's odd to be in the road otherwise.

Noisette said:

carting away garden waste & it fell off the trailer. It's odd to be in the road otherwise.

Because the quarry is a mobile home site we all have combined path/roadway outside front gardens ... I know that some privet hedge trimming has recently been carried out towards the top so HM's leaf litter could well have been disturbed!  The neighbour who found it is the same guy who brought me the Elephant HM caterpillar a couple of years ago which successfully pupated & overwintered in shed til it emerged following April/May!

I can remember in our first house over here, over 25 years ago, that we witnessed the Privet Hawk Moths emerging out of the lawn, (which had been a field til we mowed it). I've looked it up & the book says they pupate deep in the soil, so it must have been some kind of deep diggings or groundworks going on. Some dead bushes being dug up? From the photo it certainly looks right for PHM.

Noisette said:

Some dead bushes being dug up?

I shall have to make some enquiries H!

5 species this morning in & around the moth trap, nothing amazing but a new pale Brindled Beauty

a probable Acleris schalleriana

& a probable Depressaria daucella

finally Eudonia angustea

It's been a slow start to the year & it was only 8°C last night, so I was pleased to get something anyway!

Quite a few moths since I last posted, but this turned up in the veggie plot a day or so ago. It's a Convolvulus Hawk Moth Pupa. Took some photos & popped it back somewhere it won't be dug up again (Sorry Wendy)

& a few photos from recent traps, a lovely Oak Beauty

a March Moth

a flightless female of the Dotted Border

That's all for now!

The Oak Beauty lives up to its name.
Don't tell me the flightless one walked into the trap!! I assumed they would wait wherever they were and not be attracted by lights.

I think it either parachuted down from the branches above (it was in the woods) or walked from a nearby tree. Perhaps she was enterprising & thought she would have a better chance of attracting a male if she was in the UV light. It's interesting though, that I also get caterpillars attracted by the lights sometimes.

Hazel C said:

(Sorry Wendy)

Sobs quietly into pillow!