Well here goes, for better or worse, another year of moths. The old thread is here https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/196070/mostly-moths-2018/1221500#1221500
To start us off a couple of silly ones that came to greet the first trap of the year on the night of the 1st to 2nd january. It was around 6-7°C all night & frosts ever since so I gave it a go.
A Double-striped Pug
& same one closed
& White Speck
Nothing earth-shattering, but a start!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Made me laugh too H ... Flasher!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Just had to throw some fresh food on top of Garden Tigers this afternoon as there are some serious changes taking place & must not disturb ...
Dug them out today H & split into two pots with fresh food (keeps drying out so quickly in this heat) , came across loads of shed skins & several quite advanced caterpillars ... have a couple of hurried pics to post but couldn't do a head count as was called away on urgent mission!
My trusty paintbrush measures 10x10mm
The next two are not dead caterpillars! Lol
Still came across a little straggler when I went through the dead leaves again!!
Day 24 for the Garden Tiger larvae ... left them for a couple of days to shed skins but time for a clean out ... Had to cut this footage short to round up the escapees! Lol
Safely back with fresh food to keep them occupied
Now for the smaller ones ... I counted 21
Safe in their box
An assortment of shed skins for H
Might have to turn the bigger ones loose in garden as they are eating so much, they can forage for themselves whilst I rear on the smaller ones!
Left the Oak Eggars as they are busy shedding skins but still quite small & skinny!
Hoping for exciting news soon ... as it's three weeks since the last Death's Head HM caterpillar disappeared to pupate I needed to check their box to see if all was well & to transfer it to a secure environment in which they can eclose plus sticks to climb up to dry off properly ... I uncovered one which looked very healthy if a little disgruntled at being disturbed ... covered it over & left the rest in peace!
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Nige Flickr