common_nature | Entries tagged with insect: moth

After the drought broke last winter, we've had a lot of plant growth, and also there are more insects about this summer than there usually are here (Silicon Valley); especially since it's been hot this past week. The other night, when I went to the front door to bring in the cat food from the porch, I found myself face to face with this big guy/gal:

( Back view and another bug behind the cut )

steorra

Yesterday I went for a walk in the woods with a couple friends. We saw a big fat green caterpillar on the path. It was probably about as wide as my finger. It had rows of little orange dots along its sides that looked like they had little hairs projecting from them. We weren't sure if it was alive, but my friend picked it up with a leaf to move it off the path, and it wriggled.

Later we saw a white-and-black moth on the wall of a restaurant where we were waiting for take-out.

That moth and its wing patterns made me think of a moth of a different sort that I saw in August last year. It was on one of the choir music stands at my church. I took it outside on a piece of sheet music and it eventually flew away. It was dark brown with lighter-brown criss-cross-y patterns on its wings.

If anyone has any tips on what any of these are, I'm interested.

( 4 pictures )

nanila

Five spot burnet moth in our Worcestershire, UK garden.

nanila

[Click to embiggen.]

I was pulling out bindweed in the garden when I disturbed this moth. I raced inside to get my camera, hoping it would stay put long enough for me to photograph it, and it did!

Current Mood: excited

nanila

I'm still working on photographing and identifying visitors to our lavender. Contained herein are (I think) a five-spot burnet moth and a drone fly. It's quite easy to mix up the narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths with the five-spots, so if anyone can confirm which is in the photo, I'd appreciate it!

There've been lots of small tortoiseshell butterflies, but I have yet to see more than one each of peacock and comma butterflies, of which we had many last year.

Five-spot burnet moth

Drone fly

Both photos taken last weekend in rural Worcestershire, England, UK.

spiralsheep

- May flowers (but no mayflowers) and the lifecycles of lepidoptera and gall wasps: details in rollovers or click through to flickr.

Garden tiger moth, Arctia caja.

01 Garden tiger moth, Arctia caja, Worcestershire 05-14

Horse chestnut tree flowers, Aesculus hippocastanum, and horse chestnut leaf-miner moth, Cameraria ohridella. :-(

( Flowers, moths, and wasps, 9 more small images. )

spiralsheep

The most spectacular caterpillar I've ever seen in the flesh was a Pale Tussock Moth larvae (@ flickr) but I didn't have my camera. I did have my camera for the following four encounters, although three of them were moving fast enough to be difficult to cap. Ironically, it was the moth imago with wings that was still.

1 Caterpillar, Scarlet Tiger Moth, Callimorpha dominula, Worcestershire 04-11

1 Caterpillar, Scarlet Tiger Moth, Callimorpha dominula, Worcestershire 04-11

( 3 more small images. )

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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Entries tagged with insect: moth

Bugs :-)

A caterpillar and two moths

Five spot burnet moth

White plume moth

Five-spot Burnet Moth & Drone Fly

UK: may flowers, moths, and gall wasps

In which there are four caterpillars and a moth

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