Lovely moths

Small Emeralds

Early Thorn, with Fan-foot

Three Dot Moths...

Privet Hawkmoth

Pebble Prominent

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

The Snout

Brown-line Bright-eye

Sycamore

Small Ranunculus
Of some 60-odd species of moth trapped last night, 6 macros were new for the garden: Small Emerald (a local species), Early Thorn, Privet Hawkmoth (probably the largest moth I will ever get), Brown-line Bright-eye, Dot Moth and The Snout.

Bling!

Eddie displays Brown Hawker, Privet Hawkmoth and Poplar Hawkmoth!

Large Twin-spot Carpet

Despite the cool weather with some rain, I ran both moth traps last night. The highlight sof the 30-odd species were a Pebbel prominent and this new macro for the garden. It is reagrded nationally as 'Local', but in these parts is fairly common, apparently.

Some more new moths

Poplar Hawk-moth, one of the great moths

Cabbage Moth

Peppered Moth

Dusky Sallow

Common White Wave

The Miller

Light Arches


Common Emerald

Grey/Dark Dagger (only distinguishable by close examination)

Dwarf Cream Wave

Two Waves: Riband and Dwarf Cream

The Clay

Dark form of Dark Arches
I had my first run out with my new 125W MV Skinner trap two nights ago, and ran it in parallel with my stalwart 40W actinic Skinner. The results were dramatic, with ten new macros for my garden list, out of 60 species and a few hundred specimens (eg 79 Uncertains and 40 odd Dark Arches, including the dark form above).
I'm going to go for it again tonight, despite the threat of a light showers, so have built a rudimentary rain guard for the MV bulb. Watch this space for the results...

Snake in the Grass...

Some recent garden moths

Here are are some of the micro moths I have added to the Weedonian garden list, in the last few days. The total list has now grown by 100 species in 2011, but I'd like another 100 or so by the end of summer, please. Perhaps my newly arrived trap with 125W MV bulb may help...

Orthopygia glaucinalis

Batia lunaris

Ypsolopha scabrella


Possibly Recurvaria nanella, which may be only the second record for VC32 after one in 1944 (watch this space for confirmation). STOP PRESS: confirmed as the second record for VC32 by recorder David Manning.

Udea prunalis


Honeysuckle Moth, a lovely micro, with split wing-tips like a whale's tail; the hammertail moth as Eddie calls it

Tyrannosaurus Chorus

My father, Barry Weedon, writted the following poem, called

Tyrannosaurus Chorus

The good old Stone Age cave-man
Was undoubtedly a brave man,
With a life-style that would make us nervous wrecks:
Armed only with a spear,
He showed Smilodon no fear –
But he never faced Tyrannosaurus Rex.

From Triassic to Cretaceous
Smaller reptiles ate herbaceous
Plants, but tall trees suited those with longer necks –
Like the giant Diplodocus –
But Cretaceous beasts were focus
For the hunger of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The huge Quet-zal-co-at-lus
Was pretty good in battle, as
His toothless beak could give some nasty pecks.
Though he didn’t have a feather,
On his mighty wings of leather,
He could soar above Tyrannosaurus Rex.

But, analyse the classic
Dinosaurs of the Jurassic,
And Cretaceous, broken down by age and sex,
And – however classified –
You’ll find that most who died
Could be dinner for Tyrannosaurus Rex.

So, though none can safely say
Why those giants passed away
(For the causes of extinction still perplex),
There’s very little doubt
That we’re better off without
The horrible Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Red in tooth and claw

Small Skipper

White-letter Hairstreak

Red Kite blue/white E2

Brown Hawker

Garden carnage

After dealing with my moth trap this morning, I went to have a look at the pond to see if any dragonflies had emerged. By the edge of the pond were the shiny wings of at least four hawker dragonflies (there were 15 ripped wings), plus part of the exuvia of one.
These were almost certainly Southern Hawkers which had emerged in the night and been scoffed by what I assume was a Blackbird or perhaps a Song Thrush. It is the first time I have seen evidence of predation of newly-emerged dragons and I must say it made me a tad sad.
The slight happy ending came when I saw a single teneral Southern Hawker flying off from the surrounding vegetation. At least one may survive to breed and produce the next generation of nymphs for the pond.

Small Ranunculus

This little pRDB beauty was in my garden trap, this morning.

Swallowtail Moth

I've seen a few of these large geometrid beauties in the last week or so, incuding this one, one of two in my moth trap last night.

Aberrant Silver-washed Fritillary

The Weedon family took a trip to Bedford Purlieus yesterday, for insects and reptiles. We saw a few Slow Worms and the odd White-letter Hairstreak, but easily the most prominent insects were Silver-washed Fritillaries. Not so many years ago, these were very scarce around Peterborough. Yesterday, there were dozens of them on the wing.
These included this aberrant form.Anyone seen anything similar?

Mousey

The Shark

Buff-tip

The marvellous crowd-pleasing birch-twig-alike moth

Burnet

Probably Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet at Ferry Meadows CP, Peterborough.

Night Heron, PBC list no. 235

Yesterday, Will B and I went to check out a report of a young Night Heron, found by Bob Titman during his WeBs count. He found the bird on a private pit at Bainton Pits, and it sounded like a nightmare to connect with, as it had disappeared into some bushes and reeds and these birds can spend the whole day stock still, without showing. I called Brian Stone to fill him in on the situation and hit the road.
As I approached Bainton pits, I got a call from Will saying that Bob had called to say he had relocated the bird briefly on the Maxey Cut. We met up with Bob and he showed us where it had been so we set about waiting and searching.
Luckily, about three-quarters of an hour later, we saw it land briefly on a little island and got a few brief views over the next couple of hours. It was a first-summer, resembling a spotty juvenile, but with a grey tail, for instance, to show its maturation.
Night Heron is my 235th bird species for the Peterborough area.
The above photo was not it. However, Will got a few shots, you can see here. Later, the weather set in, we left the area, and to date, no one has reconencted with the bird...

From the Archive... No. 20

Weedon, in a Tilley hat, with added Gray Jay, Algonquin, Canada, May 2004

Garden Elephant

Big bears, Kuhmo, Finland

Freaky Large Yellow Underwing

I found this adult Large Yellow Underwing walking across the pavement near my home this morning. I screeched to a halt on my bike to look, thinking it may be a large beetle. The wings have formed completely and with the correct pattern, but on a minute scale, while the body seems perfectly normal. Odd isn't it?