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Moths

A moth. Species unknown. Location, outside my window 14th November 2016.

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A moth. Species unknown. Location, outside my window 14th November 2016.
It's clearly ravening for your woollens, through the glass. Probably had a whole sheep for lunch.

My moth-name divining rod reacts within that list strongest to Obscure Wainscot (most probably because in my mind that's a partial invert of Translucent Transom)
 
One moth I particularly like is the vine sphinx, because its camouflage pattern looks so 3 dimensional.

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One that Forteans might be interested in is the black witch. They are quite large and sometimes mistaken for bats in the dark.
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In Mexico, folklore says these moths are an omen of death, but in the U.S. they are more often said to be an omen of money.

Once, not too long after The Silence Of The Lambs movie came out, I found a death's head moth in the laundry room. It was just sitting there minding its own business, but since I wasn't sure that my weird neighbor wasn't a serial killer, I ran inside and locked the door. :rofl: I was quite relieved to discover this was the moths regular migration path. Of course, if I hadn't seen the movie, I probably wouldn't have noticed the death's head pattern in the first place. :p
 
The Vine Sphinx looks quite similar to the Oleander Hawk moth which is a rare migrant species in Britain.
http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/daphnis-nerii/

The only Hawk Moths I have ever seen are the Elephant Hawk (raised some from caterpillars once), the Poplar and the Humming Bird Hawk Moth. And yes, we really did think it was a humming bird at the time, feeding on Honeysuckle flowers.

It would be nice to see a Death's Head but they are another visitor here so not very likely. Two nice facts about them are that they will steal honey from beehives and they squeak when disturbed.
 
The only Hawk Moths I have ever seen are the Elephant Hawk (raised some from caterpillars once), the Poplar and the Humming Bird Hawk Moth. And yes, we really did think it was a humming bird at the time, feeding on Honeysuckle flowers.

Came across this while sorting through some old photos today -

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Hummingbird moth in the lantana bush. :) They're so cute, aren't they? Some years we have a lot of them, but the last couple of years have been sparse, unfortunately.
 
Hummingbird moth in the lantana bush. :) They're so cute, aren't they? Some years we have a lot of them, but the last couple of years have been sparse, unfortunately.

That looks slightly different to the one’s we get in the UK, ours don't have any stripes. Here's one (not my photo)

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According to Field Guide to Moths of Great Britain and Ireland (2011) by P. Waring and M. Townsend I mentioned in a previous post, Hummingbird Hawkmoth numbers fluctuate greatly. 2006 was the last good year for these moths in Britain. There are suspected colonies of resident moths (hibernating and breeding) on the south coast and Cornwall but if you see one anywhere else is is likely to be a migrant from southern Europe or north Africa.

Not every moth in the book gets a section on folklore in it’s description but this one does. (As does the Death’s Head, naturally)

Hummingbird Hawkmoth:

Long considered a messenger of good tidings in Italy and Malta. A small swarm was reported flying over the water in the English channel, headed to England from France on D-Day, 1944.
 
I found a moth in the fridge the other day. Never mind how it got there, what is it doing not hibernating in the depths of January?
 
I found a moth in the fridge the other day. Never mind how it got there, what is it doing not hibernating in the depths of January?
There is a moth called the December Moth. Maybe a late one? Or it was trying to hibernate in some food packaging until you bought it. You know how moths go crazy around lights? Well every time you opened the fridge door...
 
There is a moth called the December Moth. Maybe a late one? Or it was trying to hibernate in some food packaging until you bought it. You know how moths go crazy around lights? Well every time you opened the fridge door...

I think it's probably because until today the weather has been unseasonably mild. I don't know the variety of moth it was, it was the basic brown, mottled little beast that we get most of the year round - just not in January! I'm leaning towards thinking it was brought into the fridge hiding on a milk bottle.
 
I found a moth in the fridge the other day. Never mind how it got there, what is it doing not hibernating in the depths of January?
When I was visiting my parents at Christmas, I found a moth caterpillar in the bathroom. Got up to pee in the early hours, saw this thing crawling across the floor. Weirded me out a bit, as it behaved like it had been 'discovered' and tried to do a runner to a crack in the wall. It couldn't get through, so it froze.
Why is it not hibernating?
 
When I was visiting my parents at Christmas, I found a moth caterpillar in the bathroom. Got up to pee in the early hours, saw this thing crawling across the floor. Weirded me out a bit, as it behaved like it had been 'discovered' and tried to do a runner to a crack in the wall. It couldn't get through, so it froze.
Why is it not hibernating?

I'm not sure any hibernate as caterpillars, they question should maybe be why hasn't it changed into an adult? Without a species ID it would be hard to speculate further.
I've noticed in recent years that some frog tadpoles in my garden pond never reach maturity, just stay as tadpoles before disappearing in the autumn, while about 40-50% do become small frogs.
 
Why is it not hibernating?

This site mentions some caterpillars hibernating, but doesn't mention which species.
http://animals.mom.me/happens-caterpillars-winter-9007.html
From the same site, caterpillars of a kind of Tiger Moth in the USA hibernating for winter.
http://animals.mom.me/woolly-caterpillars-hibernate-10405.html

Tiger Moths
https://www.britannica.com/animal/tiger-moth

If the one you saw was quite hairy it might have been one of these. Perhaps it was in your parents house accidentally and it was too warm to hibernate.
 
It wasn't a hairy caterpillar. It was brown, about 3.5 inches long and quite featureless.
 
Wow, that's weird.
This caterpillar I saw was long and thin. I haven't been able to find an exact match.
 
Dave, you've given me caterpillar moth advice in the past but ... are you, in fact, Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs ? .. :p (cheers for that btw)
 
Dave, you've given me caterpillar moth advice in the past but ... are you, in fact, Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs ? .. :p (cheers for that btw)

I don't remember giving you any skin care advice. Besides, I know where you live......:creepy:
 
I don't remember giving you any skin care advice. Besides, I know where you live......:creepy:
Find someone with moobs instead for your human skin waist coat Dave .. I'm far to skinny at the moment .. :creepy:
 
Just the thread I needed!

Does anybody know what species this little fella is? I've loooked in books and moth-related websites but no joy finding an exact match. Plus I'm being lazy.

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