Purple Rain

The highlight from this morning was a member of the lepidoptera family, but it was not a moth. In fact I was so pleased that I dragged a passing dog walker into the garden to see it (I did know the dog walker in question!). The insect was this Purple Hairstreak, resting on the wall and by far the best views I have ever had of this species.

Purple Haristreak

This was not the only purple insect either, running it a close second was this beautiful Purple Thorn. A garden first and something that could easily be overlooked as a dead leaf! The diagnostic diffuse dark spot on the upperwing can just be seen here.

Purple Thorn

There was another thorn species in the trap, and one which is a little but more colourful. The Canary-shouldered Thorn is a quite a common moth, and a sure sign that autumn is on the way. The fluffy yellow thorax, shown well in this photograph, is what gives this moth its name.

Canary-shouldered Thorn

As an alternative to purple as the theme for the blog, I could have chosen something related to birds. In addition to our canary there were a couple more bird related moths. With the black and white patterning, it is no surprise that this is called The Magpie. A species that I get a few of each year, it is a much declined moth that used to be thought of as a pest due to the caterpillars fondness for berry bushes.

The Magpie

The other bird-related moth was one with a mythical edge. The Small Phoenix, photographed here in typical posture raising the tip of its abdomen.

Small Phoenix

The final moth for this blog was one that came to the living room window, rather than the trap. It was quickly potted and photographed, though attempts to get a picture in a more natural setting were a failure. This is a Blood-vein, a reasonably common and widespread moth, but also a very attractive one.

Blood-vein

Where do cinnas drink?

No, that is not a spelling mistake and it it not a reference to our evening in the Bucks Head! Answer is of course in a Cinnabar, and I was pleased to get one in my trap last night. There has been a lot of activity and my trap on Sunday night and last night has produced some quite pretty and very different moths, as hopefully you will see from the photos below. It is interesting that with only a couple of miles between our traps and the fact that we are in similar environments, we are often getting a different selection of moths, though there are those in common too. So, I will not mention the two Small Elephant Hawk-moths I got last night.

Sunday night produced the following new moths for me here: White-pinion Spotted, Scorched Wing and Small Phoenix (all geometrids).

White-pinion Spotted

Scorched Wing

Small Phoenix

                                                                   

There were a couple of micros on the front lawn and they were Diamond-back Moths and they are "important" because they are immigrants, sometimes arriving in the UK in large numbers and can breed here - and from reports from Yorkshire, this seems to be a bumper year. (Not a good photo I'm afraid).

Diamond-back Moth

This morning, as on Monday morning, the most numerous "thing" in the trap was Cockchafer beetles! However, there were some more pleasant surprises.

First was a different Nematopogon (longhorn) moth N. schwartziella (cf. my previous post) this one being a bit smaller and slightly darker.

Nematopogon schwartziella

Star of the show for me was the above mentioned Cinnabar. You will have seen its caterpillars, with black and yellow bands, feeding on ragwort. There was also a Buff Ermine as well as a White Ermine.

Cinnabar

Buff Ermine

There was an Orange Footman too, not really a surprise, but 10 years ago it would have been "a suspected immigrant", but now seems to live throughout the UK.

Orange Footman

Then there was a Pug - a species of moth which are considered very difficult to identify easily. Fortunately there are a few which are easy, and this included the Foxglove Pug - you may look back and find a photo of its caterpillar.

Foxglove Pug

Swallow Prominent, Muslin Moth, White Ermine and Spectacle and last but not least was a Common Swift, reminding me that I have lived here more than 9 months now and that most of the moths in the future may be repeats - though there are still several hundreds to find!

Swallow Prominent

Muslin Moth

Spectacle

Common Swift