Tag Archives: Moth trapping

Moths, Wales

Imperial Interference!

We were very excited to find this whopping moth sitting on an eggbox in our trap last week. It is an emperor moth Saturniidae pavonia and although not uncommon, it was very large and beautiful and the first we had ever encountered. The previous day had been unusually hot and sunny and must have encouraged her emergence.

Here she is in all her splendor about 7 cm across.

Stretching to reveal her hind wings, the females wings are all the same colour. The male, though smaller, has brighter orangey hind wings. But that was not the reason we knew she was an Empress… Look what she left behind.

A clutch of shiny Empress eggs and a dilemma — do we rush out and buy a large fish tank (that is what the family assumed we would do) or do we compromise with Mother Nature?

Here is what we did.

In a thicket of blackthorn that emperor caterpillars like to eat above a bramble bush where they will also happily roam, we pinned the eggs to a branch where we hope in 6 weeks, maybe later, if it’s cold, they can hatch.

Meanwhile here is an Estonian one by Ivar Leidus CC.BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia

They start off black and eventually are this bright green with bands of spots which become black and hairy (I think)… We will see… Maybe.

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Moths, Natural Beauty, nature, Reptiles

Enchantment! What gets you out of bed?

We are possessed — we tumble out of bed at the first ray of sunlight, Bill to rush out and be electrocuted in the morning dew, forgetting to switch off the mains before moving the sodden leads so that he can see what he has caught in his moth trap!

I follow, not to resuscitate but because the one thing I hate more than early mornings is being left out! And it’s like Christmas — you just don’t know what you will get!

Antler moth artistically posing on my rhubarb.
Buff arches
Black Arches Moth
Brown china mark
Canary shouldered thorn
Feathered gothic
Large emerald
Garden tiger moth
Gypsy moth male — slightly battered — not surprising, possibly blown from Europe.

Just a few of the 100 plus species of moth we have photographed since July — you can’t say they are dull!

But these are what gets me tip-toeing down the dewy track as the sun peeps over the hill!

Baby lizards

There seems to be a family of 7 or 8 babies and at least one adult that bask in the morning sun on the corrugated iron that we have put by the bench where we bask. They are charming and very brave — are they going to become accustomed to us and remain so as adults — I do hope so. We have made them an air-raid shelter but at the moment they seem to prefer to hide in the grass.

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