Bug Pics & ID forum: Ginks: Just moths...
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| I'm not very good at IDing moths, but love to photograph them, especially since our esteemed leader, Janet, gave me some tips on how to take better photos at night... My first offering is a Buff Ermine Moth, Spilosoma luteum, found on the back window early this morning, 2nd July.     I photographed the same species at the same window last year on 28th June.  |
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| Just beautiful! I love the contrasting black legs, and the V-shaped row of spots which is well marked on yours this year. I had one recently with little spots all over. Glad to see you are having fun now getting moths.  |
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| Oh boy, am I having fun?! More to come!!! |
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Next moth... I found this one in the kitchen on 1st July 2012. I'm pretty sure it's a Carpet Moth, but which one, Janet?   The chooks in the wall decoration are made of papier mache. My friend Teeny Weeny Jeany and I made them at an art group we went to some years ago. She still goes to that one, I wish I could, we did all sorts of fun things! |
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| Un-IDed Moth #1 This gorgeous creature was on the kitchen ceiling, right in front of the window where I couldn't get at it! Taken with the zoom... The colours are pretty accurate. When I saw it first thing in the morning, all bleary-eyed, I thought it was a Meadow Brown butterfly, or a Gatekeeper, but it ain't...  Un-IDed Moth #2 I was SO pleased when this lovely deep pink moth settled on the inside of the open fanlight near my bed. I'd seen it fluttering past the windows a couple of times and never thought I'd get a shot of it... Taken with the zoom, not as pink as it should be.  |
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The Carpet is a Garden Carpet, Xanthorhoe fluctuata. Nice job you did on the papier mache chooks, fun things of the past are good to remember and you were lucky to have fun things in your life, now you have other fun things to do like taking photos of insects and identifying them.  I haven't had the next moth, nor do I remember seeing it on my moth searches, and I have been through some sites and not found it! I'll have to look deeper.. I'm wondering if it's an occasional migrant! It looks like a Geometridae but I can't be sure. Last moth is a Small Blood-vein, Scopula imitaria. Nice shots too! |
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| I found the other moth, it's a form of Orange Moth Angerona prunaria.. f. corylaria. http://www.leps.it/ http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=650 I went to the family Geometridae thumbnails on the Italian site, found it there! |
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| Good-o! I thought it was a Garden Carpet, just wasn't brave enough to say so. Thanks for confirming... WELL DONE on finding the other one!  I know I've seen a picture of it somewhere, but it may have been on a mug or a teatowel...  It was the edges of the wings that seemed so familiar... It's a goodish pic of it on the Italian site, isn't it? I have a lot of the food plants that it prefers in my garden or in Ricky's old garden.Small Blood Vein... another one to add to the list. Well, I know what my homework is going to be tonight, Miss. Tagging, and more tagging! Yer not kiddin' abaht the new 'obby, Mate! Tis fun and an arf... Had a good bug hunt today, on and off. Lots of flies, no moths! A new snail species too! Just off to bed to recover... PS: Foxy came for a visit this morning... wonderful.  I WISH I could get good pics of her! Why does she always come when it's dark and wet?!!!  |
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| You might have come across The Herald, it has some bright orangey colour on the wings. Foxy is clever enough to know that when the weather is not good, people won't be out and about so she will out-fox you. You might get your day yet, the journey to that day might be ineresting.I saw a very small moth flitting about, it landed on a Geranium but I didn't get a shot. I don't think it was one I had seen before, a pale thing with a 'normal' moth shape only a few mm long. |
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| This morning, when Foxy had gone, I had a practice run with using the flash on the ground under the window where she feeds. If I can get her used to the flash, I should get some good shots. The flash is useless for further away, and I have to lean quite a long way out of the window so that it hits the right spot under the window. She doesn't seem to be scared of me at all, provided I don't startle her. This morning I opened the window very slowly when I saw her, she stopped to look at me, then came straight towards me to look for food! It was MAGIC! If the light had been better I'd have got some good full-face shots of her. She was bothered by somehing that was going on next door (not in Ricky's old garden, but the other side) and kept looking up, but stayed right by me. I think she and I are going to have fun and games! Late this afternoon a big fat pigeon (a cross between a woodie and a feral, strange-looking thing... do you get them out your way?) flew into my kitchen window and fell like a stone into the shrubbery beneath. I didn't see it fly up, so Foxy may have a nice juicy bird for brekkers and not want my offerings, but I'll put them out anyway! I'll have to look up the Herald, can't think what it looks like off-hand. Pity you didn't get that tiny moth. Do you think it was a day-time flyer, or a night-time flyer a bit confused? Maybe you'll see it again amongst the geraniums. Speaking of confusion, I'd better get sone soup inside me, then get to bed in a while, otherwise my days and nights will be completely muddled up... a bit like yours! |
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| Oh no Ginks, I have been good lately and got to be not long after midnight! The small moth was probably one which flew in the day, I have noticed the same moths most years in the daytime but I also see some of those at night attracted to light. Moths are a bit scarce just now! Could you put the food a little further away from your window? Or maybe she likes to be near the wall so she's not seen so easily, it must have been magic to see her getting used to you! Soon she will be like a cat and demanding her food on time. I didn't know Woodies crossed with other pigeons, I found it could be a melanistic one.. http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/902/p/81844/5436... |
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| This is interesting! It seems they may cross with the domestic pigeon, not sure how true that is .. http://darwinspigeons.com/#/colour-example/4537602144 |
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| Very interesting links, Janet. Thank you! The strange woodie looked like a youngster before first moult, ie, no collar, but it had a CHESTNUT coloured breast... I've seen other odd woodies in previous years. We've had people over the back keeping racing pigeons, as well as lots of multi-coloured feral ones in the town centre, which is only about a mile from me, if that. Not far to fly for a bit of extra-curricular... Foxy came this morning at sevenish. I startled her... she startled me. I wasn't on the ball, really poorly... a bit better now. See the nurse on Wednesday, Doc on Friday. Er, fox food. She likes to rootle under the geraniums and periwinkle for her food, she finds slugs and snails there as well as the treats I put out for her. If I put her food further away the flash wouldn't reach her, so no pics. It's the blimmin' wevver! It's SO DARK in the mornings when it's raining... If the weather is good, this is the only time of year that I can take pics out the back window as the rest of the year it's in deep shade. Ho hum... I MUST start a thread for Foxy so that you can SEE what I'm wittering on about... How the heck did we get to talking about woodies and foxes on my "Just Moths" thread?! Answer... we're such interesting people... |
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| Sounds like you could have some cross breeds! Yes do start a thread for Foxy, it would be a good account of her activities! I would agree that our interests make us interesting people, at least to us! |
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| Janet Dear, you left out the "charming, witty, intelligent, and, of course, MODEST" bit... I didn't see Foxy this morning, but did have some fun with other beasties... Peter said there were three very fat slow worms in the compost when he went down there yesterday. I must investigate when legs allow... |
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| Hi! I've been pegging away at my moth pics and getting along v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-ly... I found this oldie from 9th August 2010, not very good... Is it a Garden Carpet Moth... or a Scorched Carpet Moth? Or is the pic too poor to tell? Help, please, O Valiant Leader...  |
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| I understand the getting along v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-ly.., moths can be a nightmare until you get to know them better! Scorched Carpet is correct, I've only seen one once in July 2010. I don't know if anyone around has Euonymus europaeus but I have other Euonymous so they probably feed on different species. The patterns are similar although there are small differences, they hold their wings differently and the pattern is lower on the Scorched. http://cubits.org/buglife/thread/view_post/327618/ |
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| Oh WOW! I IDed it in 2010, when I took the pic, going for that species simply 'cos it didn't quite look right for the other Carpet Moths. Yesterday I put the pic through Gimp 'cos I suddenly realised that it was over-exposed and that might make a difference to the colouring, but... Is it particularly fond of Euonymus, then? I found the moth on the concrete apron in front of the sheds, then on my shed door a couple of days later. I have quite a lot of Euonymus growing along the wall of the flat, which is at right angles to the sheds. I haven't seen any more of the species since then, but that doesn't mean that they're not about, does it? Have you only seen it once, as in ever, is that what you meant? Odd that, spooky even. Ooh, that's bucked me up no end! Thanks Janet! Now I have some poor pics of a very pretty moth, a really SPOTTY moth. I first saw it in the kitchen 1st July 2012, then again in the bathroom 25th July 2012. Blasted moth wouldn't shift... couldn't get close to it, all shots taken with the zoom. It was SO pretty!    No hurry for an ID... Night night! |
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| Yes, I have only seen the Scorched Carpet once since I started looking which was around 2005, although I didn't look so seriously until after I got a DSLR in late 2007. Must have been a good year for them! The UK Moths site only mentions Euonymus europaeus but that might be the favourite food, often moths will utilise other plants if they have to. Hants Moths mentions Evergreen Spindle too. http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1888&map=true http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk/species/1888.php Now, wait for it, I have only seen the next moth you have posted once too, that was on 25th July 2010! Phlyctaenia coronata .. http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=84 http://cubits.org/buglife/thread/view_post/333616/ It could be mistaken for Brown China-mark which I also have .. http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=6245 |
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| Ooooh, this is getting spookier and spookier... and it's GREAT 'cos I've just had a really shitty morning with the dippiest D/N the Good Lord ever invented. I've known her for years and she's a NICE person, but she always makes me cry. I spent most of this morning crying... Now, however, I'm rubbing my hands with glee! I'll finish this post, get stoned, and get back to that blasted bed. I ripped a muscle in my back yesterday, so sitting is extra painful again... but these moths of ours are jolly exciting, so the blasted back will have to wait... OK... I'm going to look for pics of my evergreen Euonymus 'cos I know hoverflies love the blossom and I think I have a shot or two in that department. I've checked your links and I think the cultivated species are so close re blossom and berries to the original "spindle tree" that I'm sure Scorched Carpet moth larvae won't mind whatever bits they eat. Personally I think the original is much prettier and would LOVE to have one, but where to put it??? Now the spotty moth... I remember seeing the Brown China Mark in my field guide and wondering whether "spotty" could be it, but the way that moth held its wings just didn't seem right. That species has loads of variations, doesn't it? I can see why people would get it muddled. I have lots of Elderfower in the garden, two ordinary ones and a beautiful black cut-leaved one with lemon-scented pink flowers. So Phylctaenia coronata is spoilt for choice in my garden, huh? Thanks for the ID, Janet. I'll be back later tonight, all things being equal... Still plenty of snow here, nice bright light. Pity I have to go to bed! If ever I get to the stage when I can go outside again unescorted, I'll check out these food plants |
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