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Nice open wing Grayling photo, Pauline.

They open up far more than people think!

Your shots from the coast bring back good memories of when we lived near Emsworth. The Cormorant on the daymark is very evocative. I remember being so pleased when I got my first shot of an open-winged Brimstone but now they seem quite commonplace. I've not managed an open-wing Grayling though

Thank you Neil - I am definitely hooked! It opens up a whole new world but it is very time consuming. Go for it!

Thank you Buggy and Trevor for the compliment and ID. I shall try to remember for the future.

Thank you too David. I am sure you are right but I reckon I just got lucky this time as it was being continually annoyed by a fly.

I'm pleased about that Mike - you must surely have done the walk that I did the other week from Warblington to Emsworth and you probably know a lot more about Thorney Island than I do.

With the weather being as it is I cannot resist posting a few shots from a recent moth trapping session. For the first time I got loads of bugs - I mean loads!!!! There were a lot of different sorts of Ladybirds (I wasn't expecting that!) including this striped Ladybird that I didn't even know existed! I have never seen a Ladybird with white spots before!
.... and this horrible looking creature:
together with many, many more.

I felt a little upset and a bit guilty because at the bottom of the trap there were a few dead creatures - tiny moths I think - and they were the most beautiful things with wings like multi-coloured filigree

I spend any spare time trying to identify these moths but because of the sheer numbers I only manage to photograph a tiny proportion of them - the ones that captivate me most. I had a few that I recognise including a Black Arches that looked huge compared to the previous ones, and as usual, quite a few I can't yet put a name to. Some that I could recognise included a Dusky Thorn, Flame Shoulder and Rosy Footman but I failed to get photos of these. Sometimes, when they fly off, I watch to see where they come to rest and then take my shots. How do they know what they look like? How do they know where to land and what will provide the best camouflage? David commented on this in a previous post but just look at this Brimstone moth:
Don't know
Scalloped Hook-tip
Rhyacionia Pinicolana (Micro)
Broom moth?
Archers dart
Black Arches
Don't know
Wax moth?
Lesser Broad-bordered yellow underwing


... and there was this one - not sure if the wings are deformed or whether it is meant to be that shape but couldn't find an ID

Hi Pauline

Glad to see you are getting hooked on the moth front...

Your moths

Brimstone
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Scalloped Hook-tip
R. pinicolana
Beautiful Yellow Underwing
Archer's Dart
Black Arches
Bordered Straw
Wax Moth
Flame Shoulder
Don't know!!

Cheers

Maurice

I'm catching up Pauline I love your Graylings on the Heather, they do look to be enjoying it, your moths are very good too, you'll soon be known has the Moth lady Goldie

To add to the ID's Pauline your 'horrible looking creature' is a Click Beetle. Place one upside down in the palm of your hand next time you find one and you'll find out how it got it's name

Hi again

Forgot to mention the "click" beetle and the ladybird is a Striped Ladybird

Cheers

Maurice

Great selection of moths Pauline I got beaten to the ID of the click beetle, need to speed up a bit, the Tortoise doesn't always win the race

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I'm amazed at your observation skills, Pauline. Have you just developed an interest in moths or is it just that in the absence of 'new' butterfly species you are paying closer attention to them than normal?

Lovely to hear from you Maurice - hope things are going well. Thank you so much for the ID's - bit like trying to teach an old dog new tricks Thought you were referring to my photography with 'beautiful yellow underwing' - until I looked it up in my book

Thank you too Wurzel and Buggy. I sure wish I knew these things before the event and not after I had released them. I need a mentor

The Graylings were great Goldie - a small compensation for no LTB Moths? - well, I'm just learning thanks to a lot of folk on this site but I'm having a great time doing it

Thank you David - that's a really interesting question. I didn't make the leap from butterflies to moths - in fact, I have been a bit put off by moths as they overwhelm me by the sheer numbers and types. However, whilst rearing those butterfly cats last season I developed an interest in immature stages (especially the transitions) and somehow this was transferred to moth caterpillars which I reared (Emperor, Puss moth). I then became really curious about what was flying at night especially in my patch - just like Neil. A few folk who post on this site recognised my interest and encouraged and nurtured it and the rest is history so they say!

To that end I went on a little foraging trip recently with Andy Brown (who sometimes posts and was kind enough to let me borrow a moth trap) and this was the result - if I have got any ID's incorrect please feel free to shout:
Vapourer moth cat
Buff -tip
Wasp spider -shouldn't forget that now Buggy
Pale Tussock???
Eyed Hawk moth cat
Puss moth eggs - look like little Hazlenuts eaten by Dormice
Nursery spider? I really don't like spiders but there is a sort of morbid fascination about them so I couldn't help taking shots of this but I have no idea what it is:
Don't know
Don't know
Sallow/Poplar kitten?

Apologies for lack of butterflies but it is very, VERY wet out there - more butterflies to come shortly.

Hi! Pauline, fantastic shots of the Moth cat's their just has impressive has the moths they represent, it will be interesting also to see what the cat's are called that you don't know Goldie

Thank you Goldie - I totally agree!

After a wild and windy night the rain is still coming down like stair rods so it is time for an update on some of the cats I have been rearing.

A little while ago I had some Comma cats 'donated' to me as they were destroying a recently purchased potted Blackcurrant bush. The words 'insecticide spray' were muttered (but only in jest ). In the event, there were 11 cats of different sizes on this small plant, and they had already caused considerable damage to the foliage - so the plant came home with me too!. It was obvious that these cats were going to need more food than would be provided by this single small plant but I wasn't too concerned as I had 2 pots full of fresh green nettles. I placed the pots next to each other in the cage and spent some days wondering at how quickly the cats decimated the Blackcurrant, how they grew, shed skins, changed colour. In my opinion they are one of the most attractive butterfly cats and it was a pleasure to see so many at once. However, with the exception of one cat, they steadfastly refused to transfer to the nettles and I was forced to purchase another Blackcurrant plant at great expense Most of these cats have now pupated although I am not sure whether they will emerge this season?
I get Commas in the garden every year so I shall be sure to plant out these Blackcurrants once the cats are finished with them.

Well you've certainly gone Moth Mad recently haven't you Pauline . All geat shots though. That little Micro moth with the slightly deformed wings from an earlier post is (I think) an Apple Leaf Skeletoniser Choreutis pariana. That second spider eating the Soldier Beetle is a male and probably a type of orb spider Araneus sp. I've no idea what the two cats on the Sallow are though

I like all the Comma cats which should all emerge in the next few weeks in time to fatten up and go into hibernation.

It's been a dreadful 3 days in my part of the world as well so it's been a bit quiet on my PD. Still hoping to add a Clouded Yellow to the years tally before the season ends though if this unseasonably aweful weather hasn't sent them all scurrying back to France

Pauline wrote:However, with the exception of one cat, they steadfastly refused to transfer to the nettles and I was forced to purchase another Blackcurrant plant at great expense Most of these cats have now pupated although I am not sure whether they will emerge this season?

I get Commas in the garden every year so I shall be sure to plant out these Blackcurrants once the cats are finished with them.

If you need to swap foodplants for larvae, there are several tricks you can use. Most have an order of favourite foodplants, and you can easily transfer them up to the most favourite foodplant with little trouble, but to get them to eat a less favourite is very difficult.

When in a skin change, they have not eaten for several days, while the new head capsule forms behind the old one, so they can be tricked to eat the new foodplant after the change. They will then eat this for the remaining instars, unless you need to change them again.

another method is you get a few leaves of the old foodplant and liquidize them in water, and spray the other foodplant with the water, the larvae will then get a taste of the old foodplant until they get used to taste of the new one.

I love to see Comma's Pauline, I love their unusual shape their so different to other Butterflies, I'll enjoy seeing yours when they arrive, looks like Mrspock's advice for spraying your plants would be could be helpful as well Goldie

Oh dear! Your hooked on moths now Pauline Welcome to the club.

Your Bordered Straw is a good one. This species has been arriving off the Continent in large numbers this year. Whilst a lot of sightings are near the coast many our now being seen further inland, with many of the current sightings probably being the offspring of the earlier influx. Another migrant species in good numbers this year is the Small Mottled Willow, so keep that trap running.

I never do things by halves Buggy Thank you again for help with ID's. I am probably going to need a lot of that in the future - I do try but there are so many moths that are similar I am sure to make a lot of mistakes. I am looking forward to seeing your (eventual) shots of Clouded Yellow and reading about your adventures - I am confident you will see it as there is still plenty of time

As you know Goldie I am really interested in the transitions from one phase to the next but the torrential rain has hampered me in trying to watch the pupation process of the Commas. When I went to check them yesterday this is what I found
Morning Martin - I agree with Goldie; that is another really useful thing to know and as I am likely to continue rearing (albeit on a very small scale) it will no doubt be put to use at some point. Have you ever thought of compiling all this knowledge and useful tips and hints into a document for publication? Or perhaps you already have? I am sure a lot of folk would benefit.

Good to hear from you Dave and glad the traffic situation has improved. Thank you for the info re the Bordered Straw. At the moment, I only recognise a few moths so it is quite likely that something really special would go unnoticed and unphotographed unless it was something that looked quite stunning. Still, I am enjoying it and hopefully I am learning ..... (PS I have looked up the Small Mottled Willow so that one won't get away! )

One of the little'uns I am rearing this year is a Sallow/Poplar Kitten (I shall be able to tell better as it grows). It is really still quite small at the moment but very cute
At last the rain has stopped (temporarily at least) so hopefully back to butterflies before too long

Pauline wrote:
One of the little'uns I am rearing this year is a Sallow/Poplar Kitten (I shall be able to tell better as it grows). It is really still quite small at the moment but very cute

I like the Puss/Kittens, another tip when they change colour to pupate, use a broken up egg box, 1 cup for it to make its cocoon, moth trappers have a good supply of egg boxes, it far better than a tree trunk or [3.5 inch computer disks] i had an escapee chew these once in my computer disk box Put the egg box cup into a plastic box so it cant wander off.

When ive found Kittens as BIOFs they have always been male so couldnt breed them. We often found more caterpillars than we started out with, when you take 3 or 4 bags of leaves off a local Poplar or Sallow tree you usually get a few BIOFs, Ive never been lucky to get a Purple Emperor cat of the sallow.

BIOF = Brought In On Food

I have done several books in the past, with a few notes.

I shall remember to do that Martin, thank you. I had one last year on bark but I think it was predated I like these too - so charismatic. I am enjoying watching this little one grow - don't you think he looks like a proper little cat now (he has even got the ears and looks like he has green eyes ) I think he has grown a lot in a week:
Now Martin you'll have to give me a few more clues - I've had a little browse around and if it's the same Martin I've found nursery kids with butterflies and orchids and Springwatch and a whole lot more, so you've obviously been busy (unless you have been cloned ) - but no books!

Now, I don't like loose ends and it is getting close to the end of the season for me. I therefore went back to Noar Hill to try to find out what those eggs had turned into - y'know, the ones on the Sorrel. Unfortunately the cows had totally trampled that area including all those Sorrel stems, grinding them into the ground, including the ones where the Small Copper had been ovi-posting I picked out each and every stem I could retrieve and thoroughly checked it, but they had pretty much had it.

I took the opportunity to have a look round but couldn't see any BH so I took a shot of a Small Heath instead - just because he was there and I haven't taken one of them this season:
I also saw what I believe to be a female Scorpion Fly (thank you again Buggy) and a strange caterpiller. Since I found my Alder moth cat I have never looked at bird droppings in the same way - I always give them a second glance - and this definitely wasn't a bird dropping:
It wasn't long before the heavens opened again and having had a much needed breath of fresh air and a bit of exercise after 3 days of rain I made my way back.

Back to the loose ends, albeit briefly. I thought I would return to Thorney Island and Emsworth again to try to nail the ID of those birds. Well, I failed miserably on that count due to the fact that I lingered over a delicious lunch in the Blue Belle after a smashing walk around Thorney Island, causing me to run out of time

Thorney Island didn't disappoint although I was informed by Barry the 'ex-warden' that I had just missed an Osprey - Pity! I haven't seen one before and at least we would have known what the photo was supposed to be Progress was slow because I had to stop and examine all the Ivy (Holly Blue eggs/larva) and of course I had to check out each and every small Blue butterfly - just in case. I looked up just in time to see a Clouded Yellow zooming past, the first of 2 seen on this visit, but with the sun in my eyes I lost sight of it as it flew low over gravel and then water. I spent some time looking but couldn't relocate it. This Painted Lady was some compensation tho'. Can you spot her? Almost as good as a Grayling!
As I continued to check the blues I came across this one. I initially thought a very worn Holly Blue as some of my shots seem to show her upperside as a faded blue, but in others it looks brown. Any ideas? I am not much good with wing shape etc.
I saw the Small Coppers at the same spot as last time along with a Brown Argus. Further along there were several Small White busy egg-laying totally ignoring me as I checked the leaves they had visited. Still plenty of Gatekeepers and Meadow Brown around and the odd Speckled Wood put in an appearance:
Whilst checking the Ivy I spotted this moth which I think is a Yellow-barred Brindle - nice and fresh looking:
Well, after my long walk I was feeling a bit peckish and as I missed out on lunch on my previous visit I decided it was time to put that right