I didn't realise moths were so pretty.

Can't imaagine stag beetles would look as good close up!

I'll look forward to seeing some pics if anyone posts them.

I've got a bit of a fear of black bugs so I'll keep them at arms length!!

Looks exciting Glyn, but I think the times on your flyer are wrong, as you're asking people to be outside Papas for 8.30 for a 9.30 start. Could you confirm correct times please?

You're a great one for incentives!

Again, no surprise about how this moth gets its name - Burnished Brass! What a beauty!

Hi All. Debs & I went for a walk along the river yesterday and found that our laminated poster for the moth event had neatly been removed from the gate nearest the sailing club (with drawing pins neatly replaced). I'd be interested to hear from anyone as to whether we had broken any protocol or by-law by posting this or by what authority it had been removed, or whether it was just wanton vandalism. Either way, i'd say to the person who removed it to GET A LIFE!

On to more important stories. Yesterday morning, on inspecting the patio area around the trap I discovered a Privet Hawk moth, tragically face down in a bucket of rain water. With no thought of calling for the forensic boys (surely not foul play here as well?!) I pulled the corpse out of the water and rested the sodden insect on the lid of the water butt. A leg moved. Surely not?? It raised intself to be fully supported on its legs... Hurrah! Any form of resuscitation was quickly discounted and it was put in the sunny part of the conservatory to fully dry out. Last night, I took this photo before it flew off.

Some of last night's catch. These guys are fantastic when they are up close!

Hi Angie

It is from 830 in the churchyard, for those who might like to get wonderful fish and chips from Papas, round the corner. And then looking around for stag beetles, bats etc, before moving on around 930 to King Georges Field where (weather permitting! ie assuming it is not raining heavily) the lamps will be set up waiting for the moths to turn up.

Chris

Well, it wasn't ideal conditions for the moth night - rather breezy, with a bit of light rain, before heavy rain just before midnight brought proceedings to an end. And we are in the middle of the worst spring/summer for moths (and many other types of wildlife) for many a year. Notwithstanding, Wivenhoe Watching Wildlife managed a resepctable haul of some 40 species of moth (listed below), running four lamps at various locations around King George's Field, and some 15 folk came along to see what we were up to and to explore the magic of moths. Then this morning we had the haul on display by the station, to coincide with the start of the Colchester Natural History annual Wild Walk. All moths were then released unharmed

In addition to moths though, we also had a female stag beetle (Wivenhoe being one of the best places in the country for this magnificant beast); a number of caddis flies, true flies and ichneumon wasps attracted to the light; a solitary pipstrelle bat hawking round the lights; a heron which flew low overhead calling at night, and a curlew (an early returning migrant?) over the station.

Larger Moths

Angle Shades

Bird's Wing*

Blotched Emerald*

Brimstone Moth

Broken-barred Carpet

Buff Ermine

Common Swift

Common Wainscot

Dark Arches

Elephant Hawk-moth - the largest and most dramatic species recorded, with four of these beautiful animals being seen at three of the lights, and all on display in the morning

Flame

Garden Carpet

Green Carpet

Heart & Club

Heart & Dart - the commonest species recorded

Iron Prominent*

Large Yellow Underwing

Marbled Brown

Marbled Minor

Middle-barred Minor

Mottled Rustic

Riband Wave

Scalloped Hazel

Setaceous Hebrew Character

Shears

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Silver Y - a migrant to Britain from the continent

Snout

Treble Lines

Turnip Moth

Vine's Rustic

Micromoths (some without English names!)

Bee Moth

Celypha lacunana

Celypha striana

Garden Grass-veneer

Green Oak Roller

Light-brown Apple Moth

Lyonetia clerkella

Pammene regiana

Small Magpie

Nothing that would be classed as rare, though several species (marked with *) are ones which turn up in local traps relatively infrequently, or in only very small numbers. But very worrying for our willdife in general was the low numbers recorded (something which has been echoed across the country this year), as moths of course feed a whole host of other creatures, like bats and birds. Take the Green Oak Roller - this should be one of the commonest species at the moment, even though its caterpillars should have been heavily preyed upon by blue and great tits, to feed their newly-hatches broods a month or so ago. Few moths implies few caterpillars, which in turn suggests the likelihood of breeding failures.

Thanks to those who came along and took part. Glyn will shortly be posting some photos of the haul from last night. If you enjoyed it, or missed it and woulkd like another go, there are a couple more opportunites coming up (hopefully in better weather with more moths!). On 10 July there will be a Moth & Bat evening in Cockaynes Wood run by the Essex Wildlife Trust, and some time in August WWW hopes to run a moth evening in Wivenhoe Old Cemetery - keep an eye on the Forum or for posters for details of these. Do come along - a good night by a moth trap will reveal a whole wonderful nocturnal world that few of us realise exists on our doorsteps!

Chris & Judith, Glyn & Debs, Greg, and Richard & Sally

The Wivenhoe Watching Wildife Team

with grateful thanks to those who helped out, including (vitally) those who allowed us to plug our equipment in!

 

 

 

Thanks Glyn - great photos. And they add one species to my list that I missed - Lime-speck Pug. So our haul was 41 species.

Chris

More pics from the last couple of days. hris to help out with ID on the smaller critters... :-)

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I think my favourites here are Buff Arches (look like they are a piece of flint!) and Spectacle.

Debs - yes this is a lesser stag Dorcus parallelipipedus). More widespread than the Full Monty, but with a similar life cycle, the larvae in rotting stumps.
Chris

Glyn

Another great set of photos!

0527 is probably a micromoth called Pammene regiana, though there are a couple of similar, rarer species, which can only really be separated microscopically. A moth which demonstrates the beauty of even our smallest moths

0678 is a small macro moth, Small Dusty Wave, often mistaken for the superfically similat Pugs

And the ? Ingrailed clay is confirmed, albeit a rather odd looking specimen with uncharcteristically pointed forewings. In terms of pattern (though not normally shape), this is one of our most variable species.

Chris

Staggeringly beautiful photos Glyn. Just goes to prove that a moth in the hand...

Hi Rosie

From my posting about the last moth event (so long you probably didn't read right through it!)

If you enjoyed it, or missed it and would like another go, there are a couple more opportunites coming up (hopefully in better weather with more moths!). On 10 July there will be a Moth & Bat evening in Cockaynes Wood run by the Essex Wildlife Trust, and some time in August WWW hopes to run a moth evening in Wivenhoe Old Cemetery - keep an eye on the Forum or for posters for details of these. Do come along - a good night by a moth trap will reveal a whole wonderful nocturnal world that few of us realise exists on our doorsteps!

Maybe see you at one of these? Cockaynes wood is between Wivenhoe and Alresford, so walkable, though there is also ample parking

Chris

What a difference a week makes! It's only a week since we ran our public event, but the traps are filling up fast, including (as you see above) with good numbers of the 'big game' - the hawk moths. Nevertheless, we hope everyone enjoyed the Moth Magic evening in spite of the relatively poor moth showing, and we must acknowledge those who made it possible by allowing us to hook our traps into their electricity supply: Jo Hughes at the Montessori Nursery, and Helen & Dick Pollom.

If your appetite for moths has been whetted, there will be a moth evening at the nearby Cockaynes Wood next Tuesday 10 July. It starts at 1930 with daylight walks, then as dark falls we will be exploring the nocturnal wildlife - the bats, moths and hopefully glow-worms.

And if anyone was out and about at dusk last week almost anywhere in Wivenhoe, you can hardly have failed to see the emergence of Stag Beetles, so vividly described in Puffin's posting on 27 June. This could well continue for several weeks. Best is a warm, humid, still evening. One of those was last Wednesday, when they were everywhere, and I managed to get a series of photos of the flying males, which show just how bizarre they are in flight: wing cases, antlers and legs sticking out at all angles. They really make me wonder how stags manage to fly at all!

Chris and your WWW Team

Stuff from the last few days. Debs had Hummingbird hawk in the front garden today!

For those of you who may be inspired by Glyn's pictures to investigate the wonderful world of moths, don't assume it is open only to those with a moth trap. Any source of light will do, especially on warm, still, humid nights. Like last night - there were moths on the Estate Agent's window near the Bookshop, including Dark Arches and Treble-brown Spot, and there was an impressive Pine Hawk-moth fluttering around one of the lights outside the Congegational Church.

Chris

Aagh! Can't believe I checked this morning and not last night! And hence missed the Cockaynes moths :( Oh dear. Gorgeous photos tho, which I will enjoy instead for now. Thank you Chris for posting the details and those amazing Stag Beetle pictures. Having wielded spade and shovel to help create space for them both in the Wildlife Garden section of the Jubilee Garden (but knowing virtually nothing about either!) I am glad to see that they exist anyway. I am going to try to spot some this evening... 

yes please Puffin! I'll mail you :) 

We might need help with one of these Chris. Heath Rivulet???Whatever it is, its our first, as is the Lackey.

Ooh aren't they beautiful! Why are they attracted to light anyway? Presumably some evolutionary advantage... flying towards the moonlight? Is that where their food / tasty bugs hang out?

Rosie

There are as always several theories! One is around the fact that they use the moon to navigate. If you want to fly in a straight line over a short period of time, you keep the moon in the same position to you relatively. But if the 'moon' is in fact a much closer light source, the effect of keeping it in the same relative position is that you spiral in.

The other main theory relates to the insect's compound eye structure. When the indivdual eye components (ommatidia, more or less equivalent to pixels) are overstimulated by a very bright light, this has the effect of turning off the pixels around the ones looking at the light. So what they perceive is a bright light with a deep dark ring around it. And the dark could equal safety, so that is what they are actually attracted to...

Chris

Love the Rosy Footman :)