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

Slight heat

Last night was slightly warmer than it had been recently, so I had a quick check at the porch lights just in case moths were active. 

This male Pale Brindled Beauty had tried to get as close to the *light as it possibly could:

Male Pale Brindled Beauty - Phigalia pilosaria

Again, these have flightless females, and they appear in two main colour forms: in rural areas they tend to be as shown above, and in industrial areas or cities, they are often much darker.

The Chestnut is a bit atypical of the winter moths, since it is patterned and coloured like many of the moths from much later in the season (it also belongs to a different family - the Noctuids):

Chestnut moth - Conistra vaccinii

Both of these moths can be found during the coldest months, so they aren't really a sign of the forthcoming spring, but they do bring a smile nevertheless.

* this is a very interesting lightbulb, as it attracts many night-flying moths; it's one of the newer energy-saving bulbs that's shaped to look very much like the old incandescent bulbs.