30 Days Wild 2022 - Day 3 - In The Night Garden

 

 Yes, it's the third day in a row in the garden but this time it's a bit different. No, it doesn't involve Igglepiggle or the Ninky Nonk but it does involve Bats, Moths and Hedgehogs 😊🦇🦋🦔

 With the weather staying drier and less breezy but still a bit on the chilly side for this time of year, I decided to put out the Moth light in the garden.

 

 Whilst awaiting the arrival of our Lepidoptera I switched on the Bat detector to see if the Moth's nemesis were also out and about.

 Throughout the 90 minutes I had the detector on, it picked up 4 fly-bys of our flying mammals. With the detector set at 45kHz and due to the area our garden is in, the most likely culprit of the clicking signal picked up is the Common Pipistrelle.

I caught some of it on video for you to hear.

 We hardly ever cut our grass at the back and leave it as long as possible to grow with whatever wildflowers arise so if in the garden after dark we have to tread carefully to avoid these 2 which are regulars. They are usually snuffling around in the long grass for the food we have put out and intermittently huffing at each other.

 The main reason to spend the night in the garden is to see what Moths have our garden on their flightpath. With us now at the start of June I did hope to see a few Hawkmoths about but no such luck last night. There were still 64 moths though of 27 species identified. Below are some photos of a few of last night's visitors.

                                             Lesser Swallow Prominent

                                                        Buff Ermine

                                                      Peppered Moth

                                                      Small Magpie

                                                          Brimstone

                                                Common White Wave

                                                         Treble Lines

                                                           Cinnabar

                                                               Snout

                                                    Brown Silver-lines

                                                          Purple Bar

 It's amazing what wildlife frequents our urban gardens throughout the nights. There will probably be more moths in the weeks to come.

Thank you again to all who have taken the time to have a quick browse through my wildlife blog, it is very much appreciated and I hope you all have a great day surrounded by our wonderful Natural world.

Stay safe.

Kindest regards

Stuart

#30dayswild #wildlifetrust #leidoptera #moths #bats #hedgehogs #gardenfornature #britishwildlife  #connectwithnature #lovenature #lovelife  

 

Wild In The Garden - More Moth Arrivals

  I had another couple of nights with the garden Moth trap out so will share what turned up this week.I used to do Moth trapping most nights but have not being able to due to health,weather, but due to getting the trap out more regularly recently, I have once again made new friends(though not the kind you want at 5am when Moth-ing).
  Usually I will get up around half-hour after Dawn(Sunrise not a person) but now my new friends, the resident Blackbirds ensure I have to be up at first light to beat them to the Moths.They hang around the garden shed and fences picking off the Moths that decided to rest outside the trap, so now it's a battle of wits to try to find the Moths first.

  So to the Moths that survived :)
  Cinnabar Moth which is actually a day flying Moth.You may see their striking Black and Yellow caterpillars around on Ragwort.

  Common Footman

  Beautiful Hook-tip

  Gold Triangle, a new species for our garden :)

  Brimstone

  Barred Yellow

  Campion

  Flame Carpet

  Spectacles

  Garden Tiger

  Privet Hawkmoth

  Golden Plusia

  Mother Of Pearl

  Buff Arches

 Barred Red

  Shaded Broad-bar

  Small Blood-vein

  Buff Ermines

  Scalloped Oak

 Anania Coronata

  Early Thorn

  Short Cloaked Moth

  Lozotaeniodes Formosana, a new micro moth for the garden :)

  You can see the wide variety of species that are possible to find in your own garden just by investing a few quid in a Moth Trap.Well worth every penny :)
#StayWild

Staying Wild:Tales From The Garden Moth Trap

  After being pretty "wild-less" for a week I finally managed to get the Moth Trap put back together after its vacation in South Wales and ready for a warm July evening with a nice cloudy forecast.
  So after the disappointment of watching Wales lose to Ronaldo I need a pick me up, so trap out, moth net at the ready for any early arrivals.
  It didn't take long before the first Moths came in.
Marbled Beauty

Small Magpie turned out to be the most numerous moth of the night with 6

  They were shortly followed by an invasion of Arches

  Dark Arches

  Light Arches

  One of the more common Moths of the garden, a Large Yellow Underwing, named after it's stunning orange/yellow hindwings.

  Gothic

  Rustic

A very worn Heart and Club

  Cabbage Moth

  Beautiful Golden Y

  Small Dusty Wave

  Green Pug

  Common Emerald

  The only Hawkmoth of the night, an Elephant Hawkmoth.

  The first Swallowtail Moths of the year :)

  Other Moths from the night were Snout, Riband Wave, Bee Moth, Small Angle Shades, Bright-Line Brown-eye, Marbled Minor, Uncertain, Common Footman and Heart and Darts.

  In total there were 58 moths of 27 species.

  Mothing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get ;)