Wednesday, October 01, 2014

A death's head update amongst others...


Tonight we excavated the Death's Head Hawk-moth pupa from the soil after going to ground two weeks ago. Its about 65 mm long and if all goes well should emerge into the much sought after adult in a couple of weeks time. Watch this space...

Last night in the moth trap were a couple of year ticks -

A bevvy of beauties - Merveille du Jour x 2
Pandemis cinnamomeana a male note the white face and antennae.

4 comments:

Amanda Peters said...

I have come across the pupa in the first photo before when digging in the garden, I now know what it is...
And the moths in the second photo are beautiful , they look like lichen...
Amanda xx

Stewart said...

Hi Amanda, its unlikely that the pupa will have been this one. It is very rare indeed. There are other hawk-moth species in the uk that are much more likely to be the ones you have found...

Ragged Robin said...

Really looking forward to seeing the Death's Head Hawk-moth :) Well done on the MdJ - so envious :)

oldcrow61 said...

I've seen those pupa when I've been digging in the garden and never knew what it was. I've googled images of the moth and can't say I've ever seen one.