EVERDON MOTHS (JULY 2007)

July update

After all the wet weather, I've managed to start trapping regularly again.
Now we're coming to the end of what I call the 'hawkmoth season' I have
only caught elephant hawk moths, when I was hoping for lime hawk moths
and possibly even eyed hawkmoths. Well I shall just hope for a long summer
and the possibility of a deaths head hawk moth in the autumn.

The brown china-mark caterpillar is interesting in that it is aquatic, feeding
on pondweeds - something to look out for when you next go pond dipping!

The more beautiful moths this month are the burnished brass and the plain
golden y. They are both members of the noctuidae family which can generally
be distinguished by the way they hold their wings like a tent over their body.
The swallowtail on the other hand is a member of the geometridae, the moths
in this family generally hold their wings like a fan over their body.

July has been the busiest month of the year so far with 135 macro moths of
48 species caught in one night on the 14th.