The Many Faces of Bookham Common

The Many Faces of Bookham Common

Just in case you were starting to worry, the authorities didn't arrest me in the end for putting that Oak Processionary moth in the fridge. Thankfully, this meant I could get down to Bookham Common the other morning for the monthly field survey that takes place at this very well documented SSSI.

This month, the focus for the survey was on Grasshoppers and Bush Crickets, a group of insects that I've trodden on plenty of times whilst sweeping through fields in search of moths, but apart from that, haven't really ever given much attention to. By the end of the day, we had managed to biologically blitz our way through a healthy variety of hoppers, including these (although I take no credit for identifying them)...

Roesel's Bush-cricket...

Rufous Grasshopper, identified by the white tipped antennae, apparently...

Dark Bush-cricket...

Speckled Bush-cricket...

The main highlight of the day came when a member of the team started to lift up a large boulder along the side of the footpath (as you do) to reveal a neat female Great-crested Newt hiding under it. I've never seen one before, so it was nice to finally put a face to the animal that seems to have most conservation bodies worried out of their skin at just the mention of this little amphibians name...

We got back to the hut for lunch just in time to help Paul Wheeler (only one of the top moth recorders in Surrey) go through one of the moth traps he had set up in the woodland the previous night. The catch wasn't brilliant, but if its of any interest to anyone, the highlights did include the scarce and elusive Square-spotted Clay, a migrant White-point and some very nice Sharp-angled Carpet.

Square-spotted Clay...

White-point...

Out in the tall grasses, micro moths were easy enough to flush out. The pick of the bunch had to be this Agriphila sellasella, sporting a small ice-cream cone for a nose...

Breaking the Law

Breaking the Law

Who would have thought that such a harmless hobby could get so out of hand? When I first started, I knew I was getting myself into a commitment that may ruin my life (and my sleep pattern) for ever, but I never thought it would tip me over the edge so soon. At first I managed to keep it to a minimum, but it wasn't long before I became hooked on it all. Night after night, I'd be out there, lurking in the shadows with them until the early hours, but it seems that last night everything just went too far. They made me do it, they did. Those damned moths made me do it! An Oak Processionary moth to be precise, and last night I broke the law by putting it in fridge.

Due to the caterpillar's tendency to demolish any oak tree it can get its mouth around, and its ability to release extremely skin irritating microscopic hairs from its back, this species is very high on the list of species that many of the top environmental agencies in Britain want dead. Its not native, and although the adults do occasionally accidently come over from mainland Europe, the caterpillars of the species are thought to have arrived with a delivery of foreign oak trees into Kew Gardens. The moths are feared so much by the government, that there is even a law which makes it illegal to knowingly keep or store the moth.

I realised this a little too late after I carried out normal practise by putting the moth in the fridge (to calm it down ready for photography later of course- who do you think I am, a moth torturer?) and thus I have become a criminal.

All because of this ugly (but flippin' rare) little bugger...

I can only assume its a matter of time before the authorities will be onto me, and I wouldn't be suprised if MI5 don't already have their top covert Human Intelligence Agents watching me as I type this. I guess the best thing to do will be to go into hiding... preferably somewhere with a really good list of moths to boot. How about Portland? Or maybe Dungeness?

Hopefully I can keep you updated on my progress using these new internet connections they have on mobile cell phones nowadays, but I wouldn't hold out any hopes.

May my last words to you be this: don't start moth trapping.

An Assortment of Butter

An Assortment of Butter

Let's end July with some butterflies, eh? Overall, the weather hasn't been great for them, but on the odd occasion I've found a few have been kicking about here and there.

I was particularly pleased to find this Pained Lady a few weeks back down the local Stoke's Field. Its a migrant species, and after it has a very good influx year in 2009, 2010 was arguably one of the worst years for the species, with very few people lucky enough to see one. Perhaps we can hope for a few more in August.

These little butterflies have been arriving en masse to the garden, Gatekeeper...

I photographed this one back in June, but haven't found the right time to post it, so here it is in all its glory. A Purple Hairstreak...

And finishing off with something that I don't really take any notice of when I'm out and about... a plant. This one is a Pyramidal Orchid, but I take no credit for identifying it, looks like a pink Dandelion to me. Unfortunatly, this wasn't in the garden, but at the chalk downland site Norbury Park.

It also happens to be the Big Butterfly Count at the moment, in which you simply note down any butterfly you see at a particular place, and send in your findings to this website. If you haven't already done it, have a go... or I'll get Big Daddy Attenborough on you, and he won't be happy.

Cheers Italy

Cheers Italy

Whilst I re-consider the title of this blog to 'Bill's Mothing'- judging by the fact that I haven't done a bird post in two months- here is a rare moth which I caught at Norbury Park the other week. Its so rare that it was once considered endemic to Italy, but a few have started to turn up on the south coast of Britain in the past 10 years, confirming a tiny breeding population. Its called Metalampra italica...

Now if only we had Italy's weather at the moment, instead of their bloody moths.

The Only Way is Essex

The Only Way is Essex...

One of the two butterflies below is an Essex Skipper, and the other is a Small Skipper, but can you tell which is which?

Very similar aren't they? And from most angles, it is very hard to seperate these two species.

I photographed both of them at the beginning of last week, at a newly discovered hot spot for these small butterflies on my local urban fringe site, Stoke's Field. Grasses, wildflowers, south facing slope- all the main ingredients for perfect Skippers habitat. If there was such thing as a heaven for Skippers, this is probably what it would look like...

Essex Skippers are the more localised version of the Small Skipper, the latter of which can be found just about anywhere, but how do you know when your Skipper is from Essex? Apart from the estury accent and the 'simple' fashion sense, the best way is to look head on at the tips of the antennae. From this view, there is no mistaking the two, with Essex Skipper having all black antennae tips...

And the Small Skipper with its orangey, browny, not-black antennae tips (don't mind the poor focusing, was taken in gale force winds on top of a hill, whilst lying down in mud)...

All Black antennae tips- Essex...

Orange antennae tips- Small...

Another 'orange' Skipper, the Large Skipper, is also flying about at this time of the year in large numbers, but can fairly easily be told apart from the above two by the slight chequered markings on the wings, and, of course, the larger size...

Well now I've got that sorted out, there should be no excuses for anyone to mix up these two species ever again.

The author of this blog takes no responsibility for any mis-identifications of Essex or Small Skipper caused by reading this highly erroneous post.

Getting Horny with Clearwings

Getting Horny With Clearwings...

Back in January, I decided to buy some moth pheromones. These are naturally emitted from wild female moths to attract a mate, and can be bought from various weird entomological websites on the internet as an alternative way to attract those species which don't readily come to moth traps.

Clearwings are one such group of moths which have pheromone lures tailor-made for them. These moths are unique amongst British moths in that they don't look like moths at all, with wings that look completely clear.

Each species of this spectacular family is nationally rare, day-flying, secretive and specific to a unique habitat, making them a nightmare to record. Since they were invented some 10 years ago, pheromones have become the main method of recording the presence of the males, which are attracted to the scent, believing a virgin female is nearby.

The lure- consisting of a tube impregnated with pheromones, and a small cotton bag...

Each species (there are 15 in Britain) has its own lure specifically made for them, and based on local habitat, I decided to go for a lure that attracts Yellow-legged Clearwing and Orange-tailed Clearwing- the former being found around old oak trees, and the latter on chalk downland. I had it all planned out. Once the time was right, in mid-June, I would take the lure down to Richmond Park, which is full of old Oak trees, to see if I could find a Yellow-legged Clearwing. I would then take the lure to Denbies Hillside, a chalk downland site, with plenty of chalk, to quickly scoop up Orange-tailed Clearwing, before coming home and writing about my findings to you on this blog. In reality, neither species was seen at either site, and hopes of finding these mysterious moths were low.

A few weeks back, on a sunny afternoon with a light breeze (perfect conditions for Clearwings), I optimistically took the lure out into the garden for a laugh (yes, I am easily amused), on the off chance that either species might have been hiding right in front of me all along. I wasn't expecting anything much, but almost as soon as I hung the lure up in the flower border, an Orange-tailed Clearwing appeared, followed 5 minutes later by a Yellow-legged Clearwing. Within 15 minutes, it had turned into a full on social gathering for the moths, which was a bit of a suprise considering the garden's lack of suitable habitat for both species; especially the Orange-tailed Clearwing, which very rarely strays from chalk soils.

Orange-tailed Clearwing...

An idea of size...

Yellow-legged Clearwing- a wasp mimic...

That distinctive clear-wing...

The lure in action...

With load of pumped up, hormonal male Clearwings about, I figured it was best to break things up before it all got out of control, so in the lures came, and as quickly as they appeared, the secretive little moths disappeared off into the undergrowth, to carry on their secretive lives.

Beware: Post Contains Very Cute Birds

Beware: Post Contains Very Cute Birds 

Surely it can't be three weeks since I last did a post? Blogger must be wrong? And surely we can't already be coming to the last week of June? I guess time flies when your not doing anything, and not doing anything is what I've been doing a lot of, so I haven't really had anything much to post on.

Over the last few weeks, there have been a few more fledgelings hanging around the garden, and the local Robins, who fledged this lot back in mid-May, have now managed to fledge another lot, meaning twice the amount of Robins kicking about in the garden, and twice the opportunity to get some photographs of them. I'd be lying if I said photographing garden Robins was even a little bit hard, and as long as you have some kind of incentive (such as delicious mealworms), they will not hesitate to come within a few metres, and I think I'm starting to earn this guy/gal's trust...

Wherever mum was, you could be sure that kids weren't far away...

It appeared that the Blue tits hadn't had the best year when only one fledgling visiting the garden with the adults back at the end of May.

It must have only flown the nest that morning, or the previous day, as it could barely fly, and I only noticed it had landed on the paving in front of the french windows after opening the door to let the cat in, and catching the slightest movement to the left of her as she pranced up to the door to say hello. There was a heart in mouth moment as she literally stepped over the bird, and I think its safe to say that at 17 years old, senior moments are getting the better of her!

Safely hidden in the Pyracantha bush...

And finally, a youngster from Bushy Park back on the 27th May, in the form of an Egyptian gosling that couldn't have chosen a more classic cuteness pose...

Everybody say ahhhhhhhhh... shoot the invasive species!

(only joking about that last bit)

Garden Mothing- What I've been catching

Garden Mothing- What I've been catching...

Three days later, and without further ado, here are the results from three nights worth of garden moth trapping. Before I start, I must warn you, this is a seriously mothy post with lots of Latin, and lots of statistics; so don't be surprised if by the end of the post you can confidently identify a Striped Lynchis from a Water Betony, based exclusively on the external positing of the hindwing discal spot.

First off, the trapping location...

A pretty average suburban garden, with a large Pyracantha, Hawthorn tree (insect magnet), Buddhlia and Hazel tree providing the main moth attractions. In the borders, there are quite a few flowering plants, which prove popular with the Silver Y's, and have even attracted a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in the past, and there are two maturing apple trees, as well as a Crab Apple and two Silver birch hidden from view. The position where the trap is in the photo seems to be the most effective positioning. After two full years of trapping, the garden list currently stands at around 300 species, with around twice as many macro moths caught than micro moths.

Now for the technical stuff- a long light tube, a box of wood and two ladders holding up an old bed sheet...

The weather really helps when moth trapping. Generally, cloudy skies and high temperatures encourage more moths out on the wing than windy, clear and cold nights.

The night of the 27th was one of those windy, clear and cold nights, and as a result only 12 species were recorded. Here's the list:

10 Heart and Dart

3 Pale Mottled Willow

1 Angle Shades

1 Garden Carpet

2 Willow Beauty

1 Marbled Minor agg. (there are 3 species of Minor that can't be visually IDed, so need to be labelled together 'agg.')

1 Green Pug

1 Double-striped Pug

5 Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple Moth)

2 Argyresthia trifasciata

Angle Shades...

Heart and Dart- the most common moth in the garden at present...

The 28th was a much better night, and after strategically reconsidering a new position for the trap at the opposite end of the garden, I caught a total of 62 moths of 29 species:

1 Beautiful Hook-tip
1 Small Blood-vein
2 Maiden's Blush
1 Garden Carpet
1 Green Pug
1 Double-striped Pug
2 Freyer's Pug
1 Common Pug
11 Heart and Dart
3 Pale Mottled Willow
1 Light Brocade
1 Dark Arches
1 Large Yellow Underwing
1 Marbled Brown
1 White Ermine
3 Marbled Minor agg.
4 Willow Beauty
1 Treble-lines
1 Shuttle-shaped Dart
1 Pandemis cerasana
1 Tortrix viridana (Green Oak Tortrix)
1 Dipleurina lacustrata
1 Eudonia mercurella
1 Epiblema rosaecolana
1 Agapeta hamana
1 Zeiraphera isertana
15 Epiphyas postvittana (Light Brown Apple Moth)
1 Parornix anglicella
8 Aphomia sociella (Bee Moth)
1 Argyresthia spinosella
 
Beautiful Hook-tip...
 

Marbled Brown...

Light Brocade...

Agapeta hamana- reminds me of a banana for some reason...

Last night was another productive night of trapping, again with 29 species caught:

1 Blotched Emerald

2 Treble Brown Spot

1 Small Blood-vein

2 Common Marbled Carpet

1 Garden Carpet

1 Straw Dot

2 Freyer's Pug

3 Double-striped Pug

2 Green Pug

1 Common Pug

1 Maiden's Blush

4 Pale Mottled Willow

1 Knot Grass

13 Heart and Dart

6 Willow Beauty

5 Treble Lines

1 Marbled Minor agg.

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 Brimstone

1 Marbled Brown

1 Aphelia paleana (Timothy Tortrix)

1 Ditula angustiorana (Red-barred Tortrix)

1 Aleimma loeflingiana

2 Archips podana (Large Fruit-tree Tortrix)

1 Tortrix viridana (Green Oak Tortrix)

1 Udea olivalis

13 Epiphyas postvittana

7 Aphomia sociella (Bee Moth)

1 Caloptilia alchimiella

Blotched Emerald- a personal favourite...

Freyer's Pug

Aleimma loeflingiana...

Green Oak Tortrix...

Udea olivalis...