Stuart's Wildlife Diary: Moths galore ! 10th and 11th April

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Moths galore ! 10th and 11th April

I had the moth box out again overnight on the 10th/11th April and had 7 moths by morning! A bright Brimstone moth, 2 double-striped pugs (1 well marked and 1 faded, different to the faded individual caught yesterday), a micro moth of some species, and new for me, a lovely male Muslin moth and 2 Early Grey, 1 of which had a lovely pinky flush especially on the underside.

Double striped Pug

Brimstone Moth

Early Grey

Muslin Moth

I don't usually like to have the mothbox out 2 nights in a row in the backyard as it is not fair on the moths but sometimes I have to due to work shifts and weather conditions. I was quite pleased that on this occassion I didn't catch any moths on the second night that I caught on the first night.

The weather was cooler today (11th) but the sun was still shining so we had a quick walk along the coast at Wembury. Feeling better today and the pasty I had for lunch tasted fantastic, unlike the one I had on Saturday with my cold thing in full swing. A male orange tip and a holly blue flew by while we were eating our pasties on the bench overlooking the packed main beach. A male wheatear and a swallow were seen along the walk and chiffchaffs and blackcaps were heard singing. Two oil beetles were seen, unfortunately one was squashed flat on the path. A very punky looking orange caterpillar was seen, don't know what it is, and a ruby tiger moth caterpillar was also seen.

A quick visit to the toilet block was very productive with 2 new moth species, a shoulderstripe and a streamer! Both very pretty moths but it was difficult to get a good snap of them as they were on the ceiling and it is difficult to take photos discreetly in a public toilet! Also seen were a plume moth species, 2 micro moth species and a dead Hebrew character caught in a spiders web and quite dessicated. I have never seen any moths in the toilet block before so it was quite nice to see all of the above.