One of the most under recorded groups of moths in the UK are the Tineidae, one of the "micro moth" families. Many of these breed in detritus such as old bird nests.I asked Matt Bell and Nick Carter if they would be so kind as to collect any old nesting material from the boxes at Hardcastle Crags earlier this year. I eventually ended up with a bin bag of assorted nest material. I have had this stored in a couple of special jars I constructed to see what if anything would emerge. The first emergence's were various flies and beetles which I released. But today the first moths have started to emerge with two individuals so far from each jar of a moth called Skin Moth (Monopis laevigella). The photo shows a typical example of this moth on my mate Ian Kimber website, its wingspan is only around 15mm and in length its only around 5mm, so it really is small. Now although a common species nationally and which I have recorded from Calderdale as an adult, this is the first confirmed breeding record from Calderdale and its a definite first for the Crags. So the first record of this moth as breeding species in Calderdale is down to the team from Halifax Birdwatchers who gathered the material, a first for Halifax Bird Club I expect ! If Nick or Matt will contact me and let me know who they wish to have down as named recorder for this record I will enter it into my records with myself as determiner. Cooperation pays and off shows yet another reason for the proposed website to cover all local wildlife not just birds.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Not a bird, but a local birders record !
One of the most under recorded groups of moths in the UK are the Tineidae, one of the "micro moth" families. Many of these breed in detritus such as old bird nests.I asked Matt Bell and Nick Carter if they would be so kind as to collect any old nesting material from the boxes at Hardcastle Crags earlier this year. I eventually ended up with a bin bag of assorted nest material. I have had this stored in a couple of special jars I constructed to see what if anything would emerge. The first emergence's were various flies and beetles which I released. But today the first moths have started to emerge with two individuals so far from each jar of a moth called Skin Moth (Monopis laevigella). The photo shows a typical example of this moth on my mate Ian Kimber website, its wingspan is only around 15mm and in length its only around 5mm, so it really is small. Now although a common species nationally and which I have recorded from Calderdale as an adult, this is the first confirmed breeding record from Calderdale and its a definite first for the Crags. So the first record of this moth as breeding species in Calderdale is down to the team from Halifax Birdwatchers who gathered the material, a first for Halifax Bird Club I expect ! If Nick or Matt will contact me and let me know who they wish to have down as named recorder for this record I will enter it into my records with myself as determiner. Cooperation pays and off shows yet another reason for the proposed website to cover all local wildlife not just birds.
1 comment:
Give the credit to Matt, he's done a lot with the nest box projects, now if it was a first for Britain it might be different!!
Thanks for the info, lets hope the various branches of natural history can work together more like this.
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