Saturday 21 June 2008

Mothing at Sandwich Bay - Part 2 the Moths

Not a Moth or a Flower but Nigel Jarman, one of the Bockhill gang and provider of the moth photos below. Nigel took these pictures early this morning and released the moths back in their habitat afterwards. He normally looks a bit more awake but he'd had a hard week and it was getting towards his bedtime.

The Oblique Striped is a subtly marked moth that sits like a small butterfly when at rest. It has a wing span of about 22-25mm and occurs locally in coastal areas in the south and in Breckland in East Anglia.

When it opens it wings the "oblique stripe" becomes obvious. the food plant for the larvae is Lady's Bedstraw so it was well catered for here.

The Rest Harrow is another Geometer and is a little larger than the Oblique Striped with a wing span of about 30mm. It is closely related to the "Emeralds" and is the only one in this sub-family not green. It is locally distributed in coastal areas of the south and south-east of England, and occasionally appears elsewhere as a suspected migrant. As the name suggests, the larval food-plant is Restharrow.

another new moth for me was this Water Ermine. A scarce and local species, occurring mainly in the south-east of England and occupying damp localities. rather like a White Ermine but with fewer spots. This was caught near the reeds by the observatory.

3 comments:

Warren Baker said...

That water ermine is a stunning moth. nice pics Nigel

Mosura said...

Some beautiful moths there, particularly the water ermine. Nicely photographed too!

Tony Morris said...

Credit for the moth pictures goes to Nigel, I liked the Water Ermine, it's the first I've seen.