30 June - Muston moths

A great week for moths with the warmer weather, although we on the east coast have had mist and fog whilst the rest of the country has cooked.

Minimum temp 13.8 Centigrade
Moth species count 26
Total moth count 62

The end of the month brought an increase in the micromoth species count.

This is the diamond-back moth (Plutella xylostella), which is a migrant from the continent and here shows the huge variation in colouration.









Here is the barred fruit-tree tortrix (Pandemis cerasana).










New for the year was this common wainscot (Mythimna pallens) on lavender.

29 June - Muston moths

New for the year was a broom moth.

27 June - Rudston

The churchyard (More landscapes in the East Yorkshire gallery).

A family camping weekend to Thorpe Park near Rudston in East Yorkshire.

The damp weather brought out lots of snails.

Nettle-tap moth (Anthophila fabriciana)

Moths seen included common carpet, garden carpet, common marbled carpet, silver ground carpet and nettle-tap. The rain kept most out of view.

26 June - Muston moths

Minimum temp 13.9 Centigrade.
Moth species count 24
Total moth count 54

New for the year was a light emerald (Campaea margaritata). This is a beautiful moth, but I failed to photograph it mainly as I hurried this morning.

25 June - Muston moths

Minimum temp 11.4 Centigrade.
Number of moth species 31
Total moth count 68

An excellent catch with several new species for the year, including the spectacular garden tiger, a double square-spot and 3 barred straw.

23 June - Muston moths

Minimum temp 13.5 Centigrade.
Moth species 27
Total moth count 52


New for the garden was a green silver-lines (Pseudoips prasinana).





New for the year were mottled rustic, common wainscot (Mythimna pallens),


drinker (Euthrix potatoria) and the beautiful elephant hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor).

A middle-barred minor (Oligia fasciuncula)

Burnished brass (Diachrysia chrysitis)

Drinker (Euthrix potatoria)

21 June - Muston moths

Minimum temperature 12.8 Centigrade. There were showers throughout the night.
Number of moth species 13.

New species of the garden this year included a clouded border (Lomaspilis marginata) and an eyed hawkmoth (Smerinthus ocellata).



I have just purchased Adobe Photoshop CS4 and the Nik software suite in order to produce more art from my photography. I am therefore hoping to concentrate a little more on landscape photography and I shall continue to make the bulk of the entries in the blog insects and moths, as these can be done at any time or place. I shall continue to run my moth trap four or five times a week, finding it hard to run it on a Monday and Wednesday because of work commitments. In the coming week I'm on call at Scarborough Hospital and therefore it is often difficult to process the images in time to put them on the blog, so I may have to backdate entries towards the end of the week, however I shall endeavour to update the blog as soon as possible.

Straw dot (Rivula sericealis)

20 June - Muston moths

Minimum temp 10.9 Centigrade.

Total moth count 22.

A small angle shades (Euplexia lucipara) was the best and a new one for the year. This flies between June and September and is found in woodland and parkland. Its foodplants are numerous herbaceous plants, including woody ones and ferns.
There was also this light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana):

19 June - Poppies

Several fields around Flixton and Folkton have stunning poppy displays. More photos in the North Yorkhire Coast gallery.

18 June - Filey

A walk along the seafront with the family. Someone had obviously been using a vehicle on the beach.

It was sunny in Filey, but there was rain over Bempton causing a beautiful rainbow.

A coble at Coble Landing

The coble is a boat that has evolved on the east coast to allow navigation in and out through the rocks. It was originally thought to be of Viking origin, but it is more likely that the Viking boat building techniques were adapted to improve an already existing design.

More in the North Yorkshire Coast gallery.

14 June - Muston moths

Minimum temp 11.6 Centigrade.

11 species of moth overnight. Here is a female buff ermine (Spilosoma luteum) - compare this with the males shown on 31 May:
















This is the first pale-shouldered brocade (Lacanobia thalassina) of the year in the garden.

Silver-ground carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata montanata)

The micromoth Clepsis consimilana









Raindrops on a rose