Low Moor and Oakenshaw Wildlife

Yesterday as the sun shone I conducted a butterfly survey at Raw Nook Nr and Caldene Fields.  A total of eight species were found which is relatively poor for mid summer.  The butterflies I expected to record but didn’t were the Small tortoiseshell, Common Blue, Peacock and perhaps Red Admiral.  The butterfly that appears to be doing very well is the Ringlet with a minimum count of 44 at Raw Nook Nr and 35 at Caldene Fields.

The white butterflies were both down in numbers and a poor count of 4 Meadow Browns at Raw Nook Nr was poor.

On a better note the first Gatekeepers (below) appeared with 1 at Raw Nook Nr and 2 at Caldene Fields.

The Straw Dot moth is enjoying the summer with a good count of 37 at Raw Nook Nr and 11 at Caldene Fields.

Two Poplar Hawmoths were at Caldene Fields last night.

The wildlife site just off Dealburn road at Low Moor is proving to be a bit special.  Although it is not part of my local patch (the 3 sites covered in this blog) I am recording and monitoring the fauna and flora as I believe the site has real ecological value.

During my last two visits I have been observing the local day time moths.  There are two species of Burnet moths the Six-spot and the Narrow bordered Five-spot which breed in the area

Narrow bordered Five-spot Burnet.

I have also found on two occasions in July a Blackneck moth which is not a common moth locally.

I have only one previous record which was at Caldene fields on 12/7/2016

According to Yorkshire Moths the Local status of the moth is described as: Scarce and local resident.

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A bit of good news in that yesterday I found two new moth species at Raw Nook Nr a Common Nettle-tap and a very handsome Nemophora degeerella.  At Caldene Fields I found a Eucosma campolilana. This bring the total species recorded to date in our area to 263

Nemophora degeerella

Yes it was just like the old days this morning at Caldene Fields with a Skylark in full song for about an hour. Sadly as I expected it couldn’t find a mate and drifted south.  Whereas, say twenty years ago the species was a regular breeding bird.

On a better note I found a beautiful Lime Hawkmoth at Caldene fields my second record of the at the site

Given the warmer weather I’ve noticed a slight increase in moths recorded.  Last week not one single moth was noted.  Whereas today there was 3 Flame shoulder, 1 Small-square spot, 1 Shuttle -shaped Dart and a Lesser Swallow Prominent (below) which is my 5th record.

Found a nice Poplar Hawkmoth in the moth trap this morning at Caldene Fields which is my ninth record to date.  Illustrating that the species is well established in our area.