Lucky Sweep

Last week, after my disappointing visit to Countesthorpe Meadows, I also nipped to Croft Hill to grab some foodplant provisions for boxed larvae I'm trying to rear. Whilst there I swished my sweep net for a couple of minutes, and one thing that ended up in the net was a clearly live and very black moth pupa. It looked likely to be a tortrix based on size but obviously it was always going to be a mystery until it emerged. Well on Monday it did .....

Ptycholoma lecheana

I don't know what it is with this species, but the scales seem to fall off if you just look at them. The markings seem entirely pointless given that they are often bald after a very short time. This was clearly fresh and had never flown before I had to pot it and keep it fridged overnight, and it's not like the pot was big enough for it to have a good fly around!

Here's one from the last time I ran the garden trap on Sunday night.

Blastobasis lacticolella

The trap has been off since then, partly due to less than ideal weather but mainly due to me needing to focus on getting to work in the mornings this week! Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow night, as we're away on Friday when the conditions may well be perfect .....

In the meantime I've got plenty to do. First and foremost I need to get my section for the Leics. & Rutland Ornithological Society Report fnished, and secondly I'm now helping out with verification on Naturespot which links directly into iRecord. I'm expecting to get back into a few afterwork hours in the field etc from next week.

A few bits

No trapping to report, and whilst VC55 has had a bit of a purple patch on the bird front (2 White-winged Black Terns, Blue-winged Teal, several singing Firecrests, Temminck's Stint) I've seen them all before in the County and haven't had a chance/bothered to go and see these ones.

In lieu of anything doing, here's a few bits that got missed from recent posts for one reason or another plus a couple of updates.

First up, back on 11/05/2010 I searched for larvae and collected sprigs of hawthorn. A couple of days ago I had a first success when this emerged:

Ptycholoma lecheana

Even on freshly emerged individuals, the yellow-brown scales seem patchy and prone to falling off leaving black patches.

Next up, a micro I've been taking in the garden recently:

Coleophora albicosta

This breeds on the gorse bushes that are on the embankment adjacent to the garden. Back in 2002 I had the first for VC55 confirmed from my garden (and it was present the year before but not gen detted)

Here's a few that are from the Narborough Bog catch on Sunday night:

Platyptilia gonodactyla

Nutmeg

Gold Swift - refused to sit still, constantly revving

Buff-tip - wouldn't sit the right way up (upside down) on the birch sapling

Also from Narborough Bog is this:

Cream-spot Ladybird

Ladybirds quite often turn up in the moth traps and I like to see them - they are mothing mates in my book. Obviously I would be concerned if I started getting ladyboys in the moth trap, that would just be wrong.

Finally, last week I was lucky enough to be presented with a box of Emperor Moth caterpillars courtesy of Keith 'Mothshots' Tailby. He'd reared some last year, and managed to assemble a male to his garden this year resulting in more eggs than he could possibly cope with. I've tried assembling this species before without success, so was more than happy to blag a few to rear for next spring. They were already just under 20mm when I got them on the Wednesday evening, now they are just over 30mm and growing fast - eating loads of sallow and shedding skin. They change dramatically through the instars, going from mainly black with a bit of orange, to orange and black, to green and black, and finally to huge and green. Superb caterpillars. I'll get more images as they grow.