Been a busy few days but put did the moth trap out in the garden last evening. Luckily it stayed dry and there were indeed a few although not lots of moths this morning. But on my way to the trap I nearly put my foot down on this large ugly slug- in fact there were two of them on the lawn. Despite being brown they are large Black Slugs. and these are molluscs and related to snails but do not have a shell. Its name is more attractive than the slug- Arion Ater Ater. It has rows of rough pimples and this one was nealry 12cm long.
On the outside of the trap was a Common White Wave- from the Geometridae family.
And inside the trap this strnage creature which I believe to be an Ichneumon Fly- although they are actually wasps. The adults visit flowers for nectar but the larvae are parastic on moth caterpillars so cannot imagine the moths were very thrilled to see this. There are over 1200 different types of this in the UK so it is not surprising that I am not sure which one this is - best guess is a Ophion Lutues but this could be way off beam.
A few different moths in the trap - one is waiting for some expert help- have amde a guess but am uncertain. This one though looks like the Orange Swift- part of a family of primitive moths wiht elongated wings that it holds vertically against its body whan at rest. These do not feed and have very short antennae which ticks the boxes.
So far so good- looks like another dry although not so warm night so will leave the trap out and who knows what may be there tomorrow - all part of the fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment