Sunday, 4 October 2015

Day 324 - Helpfully Dubbed Heart & Dart Moth

Heart & Dart (Agrotis exclamationis)
Hey everyone, today's Day 324 and before I start, I want to say that I did a quick calculation based on all the views I had so far and if my average stays the same, technically, I'll make it to 100,000 views! (If you're interested my calculation was  90736 / 324 = 280...280 x 40 = 11200...11200 + 90736 = 101,936.) So thank you to everyone out there who keeps reading my posts!

Anyway, on to today's post. You'll know that I went to the Nosterfield Open Day. It was their first open day but not their first moth trapping, this means that they are experienced. That's probably why I found so many different moths. Today I am going to carry on yesterday's theme of simple names. Today's little beauty is the Heart & Dart Moth. It was a bit livelier than some of the other form the Open Day so I didn't get many shots so just one good one today.


So, here are the facts:

  • The title says, helpfully dubbed, it's true! The Heart and Dart Moth has, on its wings, a Heart and a Dart.
  • They have been seen on an awful lot of different plants. Some of these include Strawberries, Turnips and Potatoes.
Couldn't even get a bugs eye view as it didn't hang around long!
  • They are night flying Moths and are attracted to light. Well, it wouldn't show up in the traps if it wasn't!
  • I'm guessing that they can also be disturbed at daytime and they can be seen flying, most commonly, from May to July.
  • This is when they are seen flying, the caterpillars are seen from the end of this season (May) to October.
  • They are found all over the British Isles: Ireland, the Isle of Man and even the Shetlands and as far up as the Orkneys.
  • They have what is a medium sized wingspan of 30mm - 40mm. I have seen quite a lot of moths this size.
  • They were first ever recorded, in Norfolk, in the year 1834. That's a very long time ago!
  • I love the latin name - exclamationis I guess refers to the dart bit of their common name :-)
Here are some links to more information:



Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

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