Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Monday 26 March 2018

First Garden Moths and Butterfly of the Year



I saw my first butterfly of the year - a Comma - this morning in the garden nectaring on bergenia.

Just a record shot (heavily cropped!)







I put out my moth trap for the first time last Saturday 24th March. Minimum Overnight temperature was 0 degrees centigrade but there were a few moths


Oak Beauty (Biston strataria x 1 (nfy)





Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi x 3 (nfy)




Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) x 1 (nfy) - pictured here with the other 2 Common Quakers.




A March Moth was seen on the bathroom floor a few weeks ago.

10 comments:

Midmarsh John said...

It been nice to read about the various butterflies which have been appearing recently. Yesterday there were also dozens of midges hovering in large groups in the garden.

Ragged Robin said...

Midmarsh John - Thank you - yes it is good to read of butterfly sightings and see some :)

Pam said...

I'm yet to see a Butterfly this year, I did see my first bee at the weekend though!

Ragged Robin said...

Pam - Thank you - only recently seen my first bee too! :)

Amanda Peters said...

Lovely to see the Butterfly and the Moths, the Oak Beauty is lovely. Checked my records and not had one before. No Butterflies but did see a queen Bumblebee in the garden on Monday. Apart from a few small Daffodils I have nothing flowering to feed the insects. The last bout of cold weather did a lot of damage to my plants, some will recover hopefully.
Amanda xx

Ragged Robin said...

Amanda Peters - Thank you - the Oak Beauty is rather special - have only trapped one or two in the past. Only have a few in flower here - camelia which bees seems to like, Bergenia which attracts all pollinators, primroses and primulas and the grape hyacinths and daffodils are just starting to flower. We used to have more Spring species but they seem to have disappeared over the years :( Hope your plants recover from the cold spell.

Rosie said...

Haven't seen any butterflies in the garden as yet but did see a couple of bees yesterday buzzing over the heather. Lots of midges too on our walk around the lake yesterday. Lovely markings on the moths you recorded:)

Ragged Robin said...

Rosie - Thank you. Starting to see bees here too - good to see insects starting to re-appear :)

Coquetnaturelover said...

Lovely photos! I know very little about moths but they can be quite attractive. I’ve not seen any butterflies yet although one sunny day this week my hellebore was buzzing with bees.

Ragged Robin said...

Coquetnaturelover - Thank you. Some moths can be really colourful and just as beautiful as butterflies. To be honest until I bought my moth trap I had no idea of the huge number of species you can attract. Even the duller brown ones when you study them closely have wonderful markings :) Good to hear the bees are returning :)