AUG. 8th: Possibly my best two weeks or so of garden mothing ever. Just wandering around my modest sized, suburban garden with a net, old Coolpix camera and head torch has produced some very interesting and exciting finds.
Clockwise:
Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing nectaring on the Buddleia - nice to see one feeding peacefully in the still of night rather than fighting for space in a moth trap.
Dark Green Fritillary feeding along side six Painted Ladies - rare enough out and about in the Calderdale countryside but this one was underneath my bedroom window.
True Lover's Knot - a real surprise this one, maybe the larva had fed on cultivated Heathers nearby.
Phycitodes saxicola - netted after dark - with it's need for dissection to secure an ID it re-sparked my interest in having a go myself. A very interesting and rewarding field of study in it's own right.
Azalea Leaf Miner - another of those supposedly rare Yorkshire moths which I suspect are either overlooked, misidentified or maybe just not that strongly attracted to light.
Heart and Dart along with a Copper Underwing agg. - both feeding busily with their proboscis poking in to the Buddleia flowers.
And a Cacao Moth along with my annotated attempt at dissecting it - quite successfully I think/ hope?
