Some moths I record in my garden

Mothman · 26-04-2008 10:50pm #1

The plan is to show a few of the moths I record in or about my garden.
I trap regularly. UV light with funnel and holding box aka moth trap. Moths rest in it during day and go on their merry way the next night.

If reaction is favourable, I'll make regular updates.
Last 2 nights, about 20 species each night across 4 traps. Weather not great, either cool or windy.
Some nice moths though.

English names used, scientific for species without english name.

Small Phoenix, rests with bum up.
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Coleophora albicosta about 9mm long excluding antennae
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Powdered Quaker
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Flame Carpet
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Hebrew Charater, a fresh and a worn one. This gives a good idea of what 2 to 3 weeks of life does. The colour on moths is made up by little scales. These can be rubbed off leaving the moth almost opaque!
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I finally got a good photo of Eriocrania subpurpurella. About 5mm long. Abundant on oak trees on which the larvae mine the leaves
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Eriocrania subpurpurella with 1 cent coin to try give some perspective.
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Kess73 · 27-04-2008 1:06am

I like those photos. What got you interested in moths in the first place? Are there many different species/ subspecies in Ireland?

Mothman · 27-04-2008 10:28am

Always had an interest in nature, but it was specifically a Feathered Thorn at window on a cold Nov night. A common species, but like most moths, I'd never seen it, and the desire to see more grew.

About 1470 species recorded in Ireland, some of them immigrants, but certainly well above 1000 species resident. I don't have an exact count for my garden, but its not far off 600 species. Of course they're not all resident in my garden, but I've got a diverse habitat within a couple km, from coastal margins, to mature woodland and plenty in between.

Compare this to butterflies with about 30 resident and 3-4 regular immigrant species and a few others seen occassionally.

Some Irish websites
www.mothsireland.com
Website by myself. Planned update this year with plenty photos.
www.moths.ie Great photos of most of the larger species. cropping the photos is ongoing so that the moths are bigger on computer screen.
http://www.skylark.ie/donegalmoths/default.asp Website dedicated to larger moths of Donegal.

boneless · 27-04-2008 11:21am

What wonderful photos!! Thanks for sharing them. I know very little about moths and butterflys, apart from being able to identify the common ones. I spent good money once on a guide to them but it has been, to my great shame, gathering dust on the shelf for years...:o

artieanna · 30-04-2008 10:43pm

I don't know much about moths or butterflies either, but I do love to look closely at them. The patterns on their backs are amazing.

Saw a beautiful peacock butterfly last week in an old turf shed.

Thats a smashing macro pic of 'Eriocrania subpurpurella' he small but handsome:D

Mothman · 01-05-2008 5:17pm

Head up for moth feature on Living the Wildlife on RTE 7pm next tuesday 6th May.
http://www.rte.ie/tv/livingthewildlife/
Link to read more on page.

Boneless, time to get the duster out!

There is a guide for field use published recently.
Concise Guide to the Moths of Great Britian and Ireland.
Townsend, Waring & Lewington.
Guide to all Macro (generally larger) species, covering about 570 out of the 1380 species recorded here in Ireland.

Note the 1470 species mentioned earlier was wrong.

Mothman · 04-05-2008 11:48pm

A few more from today. Much better weather and the numbers of species is increasing.

Yellow-barred Brindle. Fresh because it is still green. Green fades very quickly. You can see where some scales have been rubbed off on the right wing.

V-pug, small being about 10mm long.

Pale Tussock and a nice view of head. 30mm long

Herald, closeup and next one giving example of camouflage. This moth has been hibernating since last summer.

Least Black Arches, a small moth, about 10mm long and resembles bird poop, so doesn't get gobbled up!

MooseJam · 05-05-2008 11:53am

brilliant pics dude, keep it up

Mothman · 05-05-2008 12:41pm

With the warmer weather, plenty of new species for year.
The first 2 are immigrants, possibly from Africa.

Rush Veneer, note the anntennae rested down over top of body. A characteristic of this family (Pyralidae)
This one about 25mm long.

Diamond-back, probably an immigrant as quite a few have suddenly appeared. A small moth 7-8mm long. They are a pest on brassicas (larvae eating cabbages etc) and commercial crops are often chemically controlled

Early Tooth-striped

Lesser Swallow Prominent

I reckon the last one is probably the only wow moth of this lot, but I think it should be interesting to show the variation, but I will concentrate on uploading the more colourful species.

Mods, stick a 56k warning in thread title if you think appropiate, though I do keep pictures fairly small but there will be a lot of them!

MooseJam · 05-05-2008 4:40pm

what camera do you use and how do you know the names of all of these ? do you have a reference book or is there a website that lists them all

Alun · 05-05-2008 5:03pm

Here's one of mine (well, the only one actually!). I believe it's an Oak Eggar moth, possibly a female?

Mothman · 05-05-2008 9:41pm

MooseJam wrote: »

what camera do you use and how do you know the names of all of these ? do you have a reference book or is there a website that lists them all

Nikon Coolpix 4500. 6yo technology, but I don't think any point and shoot camera since has a better macro facility. I do use a LED light ring to illuminate the moths. Problem is being as close as 2cm puts shadow over the subject.
While the CP 4500 delivers good macro pictures, it has awful focus speed, is poor in low light and I find it quite poor as a general point and shoot.

I've been recording moths nearly 6 years. Steep learning curve first year, but one gets to know the regulars quickly enough.

Moths in Britain and Ireland have generally been divided in Macro (larger moths c575 species in Ireland)) and micro species(c800 species). A single guide book covers the macro species, but a multitude of references are needed for the micros. Most moth recorders overlook most of the micro species.

Plenty of internet sites. The 3 listed in my 3rd post, then there are quite a few others based in Britain. Probably easiest to visit links page on Mothsireland website

I should have mentioned the Butterflies and Moths of Northern Ireland website earlier

Mothman · 05-05-2008 9:43pm

Alun wrote: »

Here's one of mine (well, the only one actually!). I believe it's an Oak Eggar moth, possibly a female?

It certainly is.
I would like to enter this record in the national database. If willing PM me details. Site, date etc.

MM

Alun · 06-05-2008 10:47am

Mothman wrote: »

It certainly is.
I would like to enter this record in the national database. If willing PM me details. Site, date etc.

PM sent.

Mothman · 06-05-2008 9:24pm

Last night was a much improved night with 48 species logged. Below are some of them.

Spectacle, with the second one showing why it is named such.

Ruddy Highflyer

Esperia sulphurella, I like this one though picture is a little dark. Small, about 7mm long excluding antennae. Note the white on the antennae. Quite often the yellow streak from head towards back is missing. They have yellow hindwings as well. Larva feed on dry dead wood.

Nut-Tree Tussock

Water Carpet

Bright-line Brown-eye

artieanna · 07-05-2008 11:01pm

Are all the pictured moths common all over Ireland or specific to particular parts of ireland?

I suppose they prefer various different types of plants for feeding too, like you said before brassicae (cabbage family) as one example.

Mothman · 07-05-2008 11:15pm

artieanna wrote: »

Are all the pictured moths common all over Ireland or specific to particular parts of ireland?

Apart from Pale Tussock yes they are widespread. Pale Tussock generally south of a line from Dublin to Galway

artieanna wrote: »

I suppose they prefer various different types of plants for feeding too, like you said before brassicae (cabbage family) as one example.

Indeed many species are, but they are quite mobile and plenty turn up out of habitat. There are plenty of species that are not restricted to particular habitats.

With regular trapping there are very few gardens that wouldn't record 150+species annually

Mothman · 11-05-2008 11:43am

A few from past few nights.

Pebble Hook-tip

Dark-barred Twin-spot Dark form above, red form below

Streamer, The violet tinge fades away after couple days.

Muslin Moth, male. Males in Britain sre dark. See examples

Orange Footman, I'm not aware of previous Irish records. Larvae feed on lichens on mature Oak and Beech trees, both of which are around or near my garden.

MooseJam · 11-05-2008 11:47am

that muslin moth is cool, where did you get a uv light ?, can you pick one up in any hardware store ? could you post a pic of the trap I'm curious as to what it looks like

Mothman · 15-05-2008 10:33pm

MooseJam wrote: »

where did you get a uv light ?, can you pick one up in any hardware store ? could you post a pic of the trap I'm curious as to what it looks like

Busy at moment but will do pictures of trap soon.

A number of different options for lights. One I use is a 15w flourescent tube.
Its a Blacklight UVA tube. The electrics I use came out of a 2 ft fishtank setup.
This needed protecting from the weather. Electris, particularly mains electrics doesn't mix too well with rain.

Electrical supply store probably better than hardware store for sourcing these things.

Moth traps can be bought ready made
Here and another are 2 options.

Kess73 · 15-05-2008 10:57pm

Quite a cool thread, am glad you kept it going. I had always thought that there were about the same amount of moths as butterflies, species wise, in this country, but this thread and your info has taught me otherwise.

Love the pics.

artieanna · 16-05-2008 9:33pm

I can't believe there are soo many different moths in Ireland.

Thanks for the info!:)

MooseJam · 16-05-2008 10:33pm

man those traps are pretty expensive and did I say that muslin moth is cool

Mothman · 20-05-2008 9:10am

MooseJam wrote: »

and did I say that muslin moth is cool

Yes I believe you did :pac:

MooseJam wrote: »

man those traps are pretty expensive

Yes some certainly are, then there are the books, digital camera...

There are 2 parts to a trap, the light source and the holding container. Obviously DIY can do a good job on the holding container, the electrics need to be water proof, the portable traps have light switches amd need battery, the bulbs are usually €10-15 each. So I think even a DIY effort with electrics will cost near €50.

I haven't done recording past few nights, its been cold and a bright moon. The moon impacts strongly on the amount of moths coming to light.

Mothman · 22-05-2008 10:51am

Plenty new species for year last night.
50 species in all.
I took couple quick snaps

Elephant Hawk-moth, first of year. 5cm across. I've had more than 30 in a single trap.

Green carpet

artieanna · 27-05-2008 10:02pm

They are great...

Leaving the bog the other evening I just by chance saw a really big moth. I mean way bigger than usual and he was clinging to a bit of heather.

He looked like a lots I have seen before white very hairy with small brown marks on the outer edges of his wings. Why so big???

Yesterday near a small river I saw a small pure yellow moth, never seen one of these before!

MooseJam · 27-05-2008 10:23pm

wow those are pretty impressive, how come none of those ever fly into my house, I just get the standard beige fellow with a fluffy head.

artieanna · 10-06-2008 9:36pm

hello mothman are you around

Mothman · 10-06-2008 10:43pm

artieanna wrote: »

hello mothman are you around

Sorry, really busy at moment, and this thread is just too much to keep going for the time being, but I will get back to it.

Mothman · 18-06-2008 10:28am

Got round to doing another update. All these in traps on morning of 17th June. Because so long since last update, I've uploaded plenty of pictures. I haven't forgotten about the request to show pictures of traps. I just need to get round to sorting them.

Enjoy!

Foxglove Pug, about 20mm across.

Small Magpie.

Garden Tiger. The orange with blue spots hindwings are flashed to scare off would be preadators

Iron Prominent, the pale patches are where the coloured scales have worn off

Cinnabar Moth. Often see by day, Black and orange striped caterpillars eat ragwort.

Male Ghost Moth. Can often be seen "dancing" (in flight) above grass at dusk.

Poplar Hawk-moth, common and widespread. About 6cm across

Pebble Prominent

Dark Arches

Buff Ermine

Brussels Lace, couldn't get it to settle on a leaf so a camouflage view on tree trunk.

Purple Clay

Shark

Common Marbled Carpet, a very variable species

Ingrailed Clay, like Common Marbled carpet, very variable

Tzetze · 20-06-2008 9:41pm

Amazing pictures. Some of these moths look so much like bats it's unreal. The Pale Tussock is my favourite pic.

Some moths I record in my garden

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