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On Friday 28th August 2009 I had a day out in the dales.
Sunday 28th June 2009. An adult Endothenia gentianaeana has emerged from my box of teasel heads.
Sunday 21st June 2009. I have found a batch of what I hope are moth eggs on the under-surface of an elm leaf at Hollins Hall, Baildon. Click here to find out what happens next!
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Friday 19th June 2009. I split open the seed heads of Teasels collected from Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits to find larvae and pupae of what I expect to be Endothenia gentianaeana.
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Tuesday May 26th 2009. Below is a photograph of a caterpillar that I have found on my garden elm here in Baildon. The fact that the whitish spiracular line is mostly absent on the third and fourth rings and the tip of the hump on the eleventh segment is yellowish, leads me to think that this is Copper Underwing Amphipyra pyramidea rather than Svensson's Copper Underwing A. berbera. I will rear it through to see which of the two closely related species emerges.
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Friday May 22nd 2009. I inspected the owl box and found a solitary egg. I suspect that the nest has been deserted :-(
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During May, lots of the birches on Otley Chevin have mines of Eriocrania moths.
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Cepaea nemoralis at Denso Wildlife Reserve, Baildon.
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Dandelion clock.
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Cepaea hortensis Baildon
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A Blackbird's eggs at the Otley Garden Centre 1st May 2009.
Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana pupa on honeysuckle.
A Tawny Owl in a Baildon garden on the evening of 18th April 2009.
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Early Thorn Selenia dentaria from Grass Wood, Grassington. Tom Hubball and I ran moth traps there on 16th April 2009 in a vain attempt to see Barred Tooth-striped Trichopteryx polycommata. We were unlucky but Charlie Fletcher was successful four nights later.
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Cepaea hortensis snails from Baildon (left) and Weardley (right). This snail shows much variation as can be seen here. Banded snails are a favourite food of the song thrush and their various shell colours and patterns camouflage them against different backgrounds. They are currently the subject of a survey being carried out by Evolution Megalab. The study aims to find out whether shell colours and bands changed where there are fewer thrushes? The shell colour also affects how sensitive a snail is to temperature and it is possible that shell colours have changed with our warming climate.
Ancylis mitterbacheriana from Esholt oak.
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Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla). I keep finding these in my wheelie bin which is surrounded by Lonicera xylosteum (Fly Honeysuckle).
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Phyllonorycter harrisella from Esholt oak leaf mine.
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Mottled Grey Colostygia multistrigaria from a 15W actinic Heath Trap left overnight at Otley Chevin on 21/3/09.
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The Engrailed Ectropis bistortata at Gill Wood, Esholt on 20th March 2009.
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