Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Insects in flight in controlled setup Page 16

Image Taken on 09 Aug 2010 at 11:37 Image of day on 23 Sep 2010

This 'Ruby Tiger Moth' fits the description but is much redder than any illustrations or other photos but it varies a lot with geography.

Ref: 20100923_da1_20100809_1137_189+1400_236_ft1 ruby tiger moth (phragmatobia fuliginosa) in flight with grass seed head (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 11 Aug 2013 at 11:16 Image of day on 01 Oct 2013

What we believe is a Ruby Tiger Moth montaged from 3 separate flights to make this impression.

Ref: 20131001_da1_20130811_1116_167+1112_150+1120_179_ft1 ruby tiger moth (q) in 3 flights (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 18 Aug 2012 at 13:58 Image of day on 29 Sep 2012

This Ruddy Darter is an intermediate sized dragonfly that will perch on a stick hanging out over the water as seen in the second image.

Ref: 20120929_da1_20120818_1358_032_ft1 ruddy darter dragonfly male in flight (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Aug 2019 at 13:23 Image of day on 23 Oct 2019

We caught this male Ruddy Darter Dragonfly while perched on a piece of Iris leaf, which accompanies it in the photo.
This is the BOTTOM view of the insect - the red top and sides of the abdomen is not carried through underneath - something we noted many years ago when photographing dragonflies in UV light on both sides. Details of this project are on the web site.

Ref: 20191023_da1_20190825_1323_098+1601_144_ft1 ruddy darter dragonfly male in flight (bottom view) + flag iris leaf (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 10 Jul 2010 at 15:59 Image of day on 21 Aug 2010

A 'Ruddy Darter' dragonfly caught over the sedge at Duck pond who we 'invited' in for a few minutes for some photos in flight.

Ref: 20100821_da1_20100710_1559_175+1635_192_ft1 ruddy darter dragonfly mature male in flight with hop sedge (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 12 Sep 2010 at 09:43 Image of day on 09 Nov 2010

We are fairly sure this moth is a 'Sallow'. We didn't get any one shot we thought told the whole story so here are two views on either side of a twig.

Ref: 20101109_da1_20100912_0943_127+133+0940_121_ft1 the sallow moth in flight - 2 views either side of hawthorn twig (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 29 Oct 2009 at 10:01 Image of day on 29 Nov 2009

We found we had another with much less obvious marks in orange. A completely normal variation according to the 'book'.

Ref: 20091129_da1_20091029_1001_185_ft1 the satellite moth (brown markings) in flight (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 29 Oct 2009 at 09:44 Image of day on 29 Nov 2009

Probably the last outing for the moth-trap this year only collected some 50 insects but some were new species for us. This moth gets the name Satellite Moth' from an interesting 'dot' pattern on the wing with two 'satellite' dots by each main spot marking.

Ref: 20091129_da1_20091029_0944_150+0909_029_ft1 the satellite moth in flight with blackthorn (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 16 Jul 2009 at 14:22 Image of day on 19 Aug 2009

A pretty creamy gold moth called the Scalloped Oak shown in flight.

Ref: 20090819_da1_20090716_1422_403+1453_476 ft1 scalloped oak moth in flight with hawthorn twig (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 15 Jun 2023 at 13:50 Image of day on 11 Aug 2023

The Moth trap catch this time was something between 200 and 300 moths - a more typical number than the thousand or so a few days earlier.
This is a Scorched Wing Moth caught in two moments of flight.

Ref: 20230811_da1_20230615_1350_110+1352_119+1518+329_ft1 scorched wind moth two flights with cranesbill (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 27 May 2017 at 11:22 Image of day on 18 Jul 2017

Another first for us, this time the Scorched Wing Moth.
We couldn't get it to fly for the camera, so here is our initial 'ID' pic.

Ref: 20170718_da1_20170527_1122_080_ft1 scorched wing moth (plagodis dolabraria) (crop on box)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 18 May 2009 at 13:23 Image of day on 08 Jun 2009

The female Scorpion fly doesn't have anything that suggests a scorpion. The face ends in a 'beak' pointing down and left here. The body is about 2 cm long.

Ref: 20090608_dc1_20090518_1323_037+1331_046 ft1 scorpion fly female in flight with blackthorn (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 22 May 2009 at 11:48 Image of day on 08 Jun 2009

But this is the male with a harmless (its said - we are not going to try it out) 'scorpion' tail complete with gap between the 'pincers'

Ref: 20090608_d01_20090522_1148_111+1124_035 ft1 scorpion fly male in flight with blackthorn (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Aug 2019 at 09:21 Image of day on 19 Oct 2019

Before releasing the Sexton Beetle out of doors (see above) we tried to get him to fly for us. But Beetles are generally reluctant to 'fly to order', and these are the best we got.

Ref: 20191019_da1_20190825_0921_127+0918_123_ft1 sexton beetle (nicrophorus vespillo) in flight & perched on vertical stick (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 24 Jun 2009 at 15:58 Image of day on 02 Sep 2015

From our archive of 6 years ago, here is an image of a Silver-ground Carpet Moth in flight with a Red Campion flower.

Ref: 20150902_da1_20090624_1558_212+1516_187 ft1 silver-ground carpet moth in flight with red campion flower (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Jul 2009 at 12:56 Image of day on 31 Aug 2009

This is the first Burnet Moth of any sort we have spotted here. They are day-flying moths but don't fly very readily. So we have made a montage of our guest doing the best flight we got and then fluttering on a teasel head (where we had found it).

Ref: 20090831_da1_20090725_1256_169+1306_223 ft1 six-spot burnet moth in flight and perched on teasel (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 06 Jul 2015 at 10:40 Image of day on 03 Sep 2015

Our first ever sighting of a Small Elephant Hawk Moth, along with a (non-small) Elephant Hawk Moth, gave us a chance to compare them.
The Small Elephant Hawk Moth is on the left, and the Elephant Hawk Moth is on the right.
This is a photo-montage but at exactly the same scale. They are not just different sizes of the same insect, but distinct species with similar colour palette but different colour patterns. Both are quite small 'for hawk moths' - you might imagine that anything called 'Elephant' was at the large end, but it is the appearance of the caterpillar as a brown 'trunk' that gives them their name.

Ref: 20150903_da1_20150706_1040_088+1116_183_ft1 small elephant hawk moth + elephant hawk moth (identical scale montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 06 Jul 2015 at 10:41 Image of day on 03 Sep 2015

This Small Elephant Hawk Moth was unusually caught twice in a single photo sequence. The camera fires 3 times at about 7fps to try to catch the insect somewhere in the frame. We have moved the top insect and duplicated the leaf by moving it upwards to avoid overlap.

Ref: 20150903_da1_20150706_1041_093+094_ft1 small elephant hawk moth flying from hawthorn twig @7fps 1+2 of 2 (vertically spread montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 17 Jun 2023 at 14:13 Image of day on 13 Aug 2023

The catch also included a few Small Elephant Hawk-moths. Here is a montage of this colourful not-so-little delight.

Ref: 20230813_da1_20230617_1413_301+300_ft1 small elephant hawk-moth in 2 flights (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 27 Jun 2009 at 15:30 Image of day on 26 Jul 2009

Among the hoards of Meadow Brown butterflies are a few Small skipper butterflies. Normally seen perched with the wings slightly raised & top wing partly hidden, this spread wings view explains the orange shimmer as they fly.

Ref: 20090726_da1_20090627_1530_013+1545_085 ft1 small skipper in flight with oxeye daisy (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

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