Wednesday 17 July 2013

Carlton Marsh

This mornings butterfly counts;
Ringlet 284, Meadow Brown 309, Gatekeeper 45, Small Skipper 93, Large White 21, Speckled Wood 10. Also Common Darter 2, and a Mink. (Les Corrall & Ralph Hibbert)

This afternoon
Emperor Dragonfly 2 males, Four Spotted Chaser 5 and Ruddy Darter 2 males.

Ruddy Darter

Cudworth (last night's garden moths)
It was another exceptional night the highlights being True Lover's Knot, Scalloped Oak, Elephant Hawk, Small Angle Shades and a green moth that on first glance looked like a Scarce Merveille du Jour, but i think it could be an aberrant Green Carpet. Ideas please.



Another tricky moth, caught by Chris Parkin in his kitchen, looks like a Ranunculus possibly Feathered? What do you think?

4 comments:

oxycera said...

Hi Cliff

Looks like Small Ranunculus, which
is a very rare species.
It would be useful to have it looked at by an expert.

John

oxycera said...

Definitely Small Ranunculus,
per Dave Chesmore.

Cliff Gorman said...

Hi John thanks for taking the trouble. I sent this moth to Frank Botterill so hoping he and Harry will look at it too and come up with the same answer as according to Skinner it went extinct in 1912, but was seen very rarely until 1939. Im not sure what the status of it is now though, but I can only assume it is still very rare. Chris Parkin the finder always thought it was small Ranunculus

oxycera said...

I think it is beginning to spread,
as are so many things.