Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Monday 31 March 2014

Pine Beauty

Another good night in the garden traps, although the best moth of the night almost eluded me - I'd already emptied both the 125W MV and the 22W/18W Synergetic/CFL combo trap before I noticed this hanging of the underside of the handle on the MV trap ....

Pine Beauty

This is by no means annual in my garden, and this is the first since 2011 so pleased to see it. Otherwise fairly regular stuff with the total catch 81 of 16sp.

0283  Caloptilia betulicola  1
0663  Diurnea fagella  2
0688  Agonopterix heracliana  2
1288  Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla)  1 (NFY)
1497  Amblyptilia acanthadactyla  1
1524  Emmelina monodactyla  5
1746  Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata)  3
1862  Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata)  11
1917  Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria)  2
2179  Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea)  1 (NFY)
2182  Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda)  2 (NFY)
2187  Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)  20
2188  Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)  8
2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  17
2243  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  3
2258  Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii)  2

9 comments:

Broom Birder said...

Nice catch and photo Mark. What camera/lens are you using lately? Very defined image, plenty of colour too.

Skev said...

Thanks Matt - still using the Lumix FZ45 bridge camera with a clip-on Raynox macro converter. This one was a slightly lazy shot outside early morning with flash.

Stewart said...

It might be a while before I get that variety Mark, maybe another 3 weeks? Do you still use the ring flash?

Skev said...

Yes Stewart, still trying out the LED ring light attachement that I got at the back-end of last year. All recent moths shots with this apart from the Epermenia (natural light in garden) and this Pine Beauty with flash (in early morning dull light).

grahamc said...

Where are you finding all of the Shoulder Stripes Mark? I'm only 5 miles away and haven't seen one yet.

Graham

Skev said...

I reckon 80% of mine are on the fence behind the trap rather than in it (assuming you literally did mean where am I finding them Graham!)

Bomber said...

Hi Mark, like you I have the FZ45 and the Raynox. Never get such stunning shots as this and wondered how you did it. Would be interested in details of the ring flash you mention here. Does it go on the end of the Raynox I assume? Cheers Paul

Skev said...

Thanks Paul - the ring light I've started using for indoor shots is in this post:
http://skevsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/led-light.html

Still trying it out really, but happy with some recent indoor shots that wouldn't have been possible with normal lighting and I'm trying to avoid flash where possible for moth shots. The Double-striped Pug shot in lastest post is a good example - it was gone 6pm and decent natural light into mt kitchen was gone but the LED ring-light has worked okay.

Having I'm trying to avoid flash for moths, this Pine Beauty shot was with the built-in flash as it was outdoors in very early morning gloom so works okay.

Bomber said...

Many thanks Mark, will investigate. Have tried the built-in flash, sometimes get good results, often rather overexposed. Cheers for info.