Thursday, July 12, 2007

A rarity!





Above - Red necked Footman.Atolmis rubricollis

Although I'm no expert, this is a rare moth up here, more usually found on the south or south west coasts. A forest species, this one came in off the beach at the lifeboat car park, Boulmer and dropped into the dunes at 8pm this evening. I caught it and released it into more suitable habitat at home after taking these photos. I think the first for Northumberland was as recent as 2004!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How unusual. Some friends of ours who live in Clacton, Essex have very recently taken a close up photo of a black moth known as an 1870 Chimney Sweeper Odezia Atrata, wingspan 23-27mm. You can find more information on the internet. Their photo shows very clearly the white tip on each wing.

Crystal xx

Stewart said...

Yes Crystal we get them up here too. They live in rough scrubby grassland areas where their lavae feed on an umbellifer called Pignut...