This is the eighth female I've recorded in the garden, all singles in each year expect for the first record when I had two in the same trap on 16/07/2000. I also managed to assemble a male here in 2003, but have had no success on that front since. With my records from Enderby Quarry in 2006 and Huncote Embankment in 2010, I seem to have a bit of a monopoly on records for this species in VC55 (43% of the records for adults since 2000 are mine).
It is by no means common here, with a very clear southerly bias and most records coming from garden traps. There are no post-1999 records in any 10km squares north of mine in Leicestershire, and notably at least four of the most active moth-recorders in VC55 over the last decade or so are yet to record it.
The quirky fade in-out-in on this clip is as per the original album ......
4 comments:
STOP PRESS!
Literally just caught another in the garden (23:50 12/07/2014).
Not 100% sure but it looks like the one that came into the kitchen at work (Stoney Cove) last night, Saturday, knew it was a hawk moth but not sure which one! Are there any similar coloured ones?
Brian
Crazy - I took a female at Sapcote last night (13th July). My first since 2011 and only my second ever.
Graham
Brian - the related Drinker moths are quite big and the females are a similar yellowy-brown colour with a white spot. A lot commoner than Oak Eggar, but certainly not impossible that it was one.
see http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4624
they're not hawkmoths by the way)
Graham - when you see the distribution it would be odd if you didn't get one!
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