More moths

The rain continues, but there is an occasional gap when it's safe for insects to fly. If it's dry at night, then we have a chance that a few moths will come to light, and I keep my porch lights (which can be seen for at least 5 miles) on just in case. My house sits on a south-facing slope over a river valley, and there's a bit of rough bog about a mile away, so I can attract moths from quite a range of different habitats when timing and conditions are right.

There are perhaps half a dozen different species of moth flying at the moment, with many more to be expected when the Willow catkins open, which should be about 2 weeks away.

This is the Chestnut:

Chestnut moth - Conistra vaccinii

The Chestnut overwinters as an adult, emerging from its hiding place to feed when conditions are favourable. I have seen and photographed this species a number of times, but this specimen is very much paler than I would expect, although it's obviously quite worn. The larvae feed on a wide range of broadleaf trees and also Docks.

Much easier to identify is the Dotted Border, which gets its name from the row of dots on the trailing edge of the wings:

Dotted Border - Agriopis marginaria

The Dotted Border overwinters underground as a pupa, emerging in February, and the larvae feed on a very wide range of trees and shrubs, and also heather. This is another moth where the female is flightless.

The weather has been much warmer than we had in the last two winters, with just a few nights of frost, so the spring is quite early, with a few flowers just beginning to show. The Willow catkins are on the verge of opening, so that will bring out the early bees, hoverflies and Willow-dependent moths including the various Quakers.

Willow catkins about to open

New directions

We've had some warm and sunny days recently, although the temperature has dropped at night. This Dotted Border moth - Agriopis marginaria - came to light:

Male Dotted Border

The Dotted Border is another of our moths with flightless females, and the larvae feed on many broadleaf trees and shrubs.

One thing that I have been promising myself (or threatening myself) for quite some time now is to develop some skill in wildlife painting. My chosen medium is watercolour with ink, because I like the intensity and accuracy that indian ink adds to watercolour. For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on a portrait of the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (which incidentally can be seen flying at the moment), and I now feel brave enough to reveal my efforts to the internet audience:

I suppose the actual painting/inking time was perhaps 3 hours, but with large gaps between sessions to layer the colours and let things dry.

The original is about 15 cm. x 10 cm.

A few sunny days....

the first hoverfly of the year appears:

I would have expected Eristalis pertinax, since I usually find these are the first large hoverflies to appear, but this turned out to be Eristalis tenax, the Drone Fly (so called because it resembles the male honey bee). The front face shows a very wide black stripe which is virtually diagnostic at this time of year:

And the moth season continues with the Dotted Border - Agriopis marginaria (guess where its name comes from):

First Moth of 2009

My first moth of 2009 is a Dotted Border - Agriopis marginaria - right on season. It's amazing that any flying insect should choose to brave these frozen days and nights, but I suppose there are fewer parasites around.

Guess where it got its common name from.