Shandy Hall Moths
28 September 2015
28 September 2015 – Leamington Spa Moths
Nigel Hutchinson with moth trap The weather forecast was not promising, although in early evening the sky was largely clear, a waxing moon rising. The moth trap looking like an alien spacecraft touched down on the lawn. An otherworldly cool glow filling the garden like stagelights for all-night performances. Overnight it rained more heavily than […]
24 September 2015
22 September 2015 – Caterpillar Interlude
White Ermine Moth (larva) A walk in the quarry and Nancy Campbell‘s phone proved to be handy when this black bundle of energy charged across the grass pathway in front of us. First thought was that it was a woolly bear, the larva of the Garden Tiger Moth, but it really wasn’t hairy enough and […]
18 September 2015
18 September 2015 – National Moth Night Pt 3
Martin Huxter with actinic light I peered out of the back bedroom window at the glowing moth trap in the garden and it looked like a carousel with no punters at an out-of-season funfair. It was nearly one in the morning on National Moth Night and the trap had, in theory, been luring the local […]
18 September 2015
18 September 2015 – National Moth Nights 1 & 2
Canary-shouldered Thorn (Ennomos alniaria) National Moth Nights took place last week and a trap was set for each evening. Three different sites were chosen: Shandy Hall, York Museums Gardens and the back garden of artist Martin Huxter. Shandy Hall trap was rewarding in the variety of species that were found and a bright sunny morning […]
13 September 2015
13 September 2015 – Poison Hemlock Moth
(Agonopterix alstroemeriana) The Alstroemerian The blog title ‘Poison Hemlock Moth’ is rather dramatic for such a delicately marked and innocuous creature. This moth appeared as the bead-curtain in front of the door of the second-hand bookshop at Shandy Hall was disturbed. It took flight, landed on the door and then flew to the tree peony […]
9 September 2015
9 September 2015 – Plume, Veneer, Mullein and Farewell
Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella) The Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella) is another of those moths that has been recorded but not photographed. It must have been caught in the early days of trapping at Shandy Hall when the moths were identified by Dave Chesmore (thereby guaranteeing accuracy) but the obsession of recording had only just begun. So […]
3 September 2015
3 September 2015 – From Mouse to Monroe
Mouse Moth (Amphipyra tragoponigis) Moth: An insect with two pairs of broad wings covered in microscopic scales, typically drably coloured and held flat when at rest. Oxford Dictionary. Such a description of Moths, in particular the words ‘drably coloured’, were exactly what I expected to find when the suggestion arose to catch some in a trap, in our […]
28 August 2015
27 August 2015 – Playing Dead
Pale Eggar (Trichiura crataegi) Today we investigated a trap that seemed at first to be overflowing with wasps. At the beginning of the summer, we would trap out on the lawn at the top of the garden, but the wasps set up a nest there; so for the past few weeks we have been trapping […]
25 August 2015
25 August 2015 – Thief in the Garden
Cloaked Minor (Mesoligia furuncula) The last overnight trap in the Yorkshire Museum Gardens produced two species that are both new to me – the Cloaked Minor (Mesoligia furuncula) and Ysolopha sylvella. I am waiting to hear from Stuart Ogilvy to determine if they are new to the gardens as well. The Cloaked Minor identification […]
25 August 2015
25 August 2015 – Underwing Invasion
Yellow Underwings On many occasions this year the trap has been sparsely populated with moths. One night last week was the exception. The forecast was for overcast cloud and warmer temperatures which (the following night) would conspire to bring torrential rain down upon the Hambleton Hills. However it was still dry when I inspected the […]
21 August 2015
21 August 2015 – Pine Hawkmoth
Pine Hawkmoth (Sphinx pinastri) On 17 August we set two traps: one at Barley Studio just outside of York, and the second at Keith Barley’s garden in Warthill. I’ll confess that I didn’t have high hopes for the first one, because it was set at the studio, which is very functional – meaning there aren’t […]
17 August 2015
17 August 2015 – Gold Spot in York
Gold Spot (Plusia festucae) On 12 August we ventured to York to trap for a second time at the Museum Gardens. The night was another cold one, and we got a trap about as full as the last time we worked in York – that is to say, there weren’t many moths. Usually, when I […]
Recent Moths
- Rise of the AI Naturalist
- Best Moths for a Haunted Abbey
- The Real and Fake Deaths of Moths
- The Colonizers of Yorkshire
- Glamour in the Dark: Two Newcomers Arrive at Shandy Hall
- 25 July 2023 – Collective Noun for Hawkmoths
- MOTH LIST to August 2023 with links
- 28 July 2023 – TRIPLE New Species Alert!
- 18 July 2023 – A Golden…Plusia!
- 13 July 2023 – Arts and Sciences
- 10 July 2023 – Rise of the Yellow Underwings
- 4 July 2023 – Cold-weather Catch
