Nature Diary: January 2011

In This Month In Previous Years:




January 2nd 1983 Mottled Umber (m) Saint Mary Cray - services display lights
The mottled umber moth is one of the UK's autumn/winter emergents and can be found almost anywhere that its varied food plant is to be found - birch. blackthorn, hazel, rose and honeysuckle, being the most prominent.


January 11th 1991 Pale Tussock (Eynsford, Lower Austin Lodge Cottage)
Something of a freak emergence, this moth is not due until May, but had perhaps pupated in the cottage. The moth larvae feeds on hop (Hop Dog), oak and birch and the imago normally emerges in May.

January 20th: Pale Brindled Beauty Moth (Sevenoaks Way - Prunus)
The pale brindled beauty moth is one of the UK's earliest emergents. The female is flightless and like the male emerges from a subterranean pupal chamber, resting on the tree awaiting the males attentions.

2006
January 20th: Red Admiral (Rookery-coppiced area)
January 22nd: Red Admiral (Bromley Common - veterinary clinic wall) The Red Admiral is a migrant to the UK, but in warmer winters it has the capacity to overwinter.

1982 January 31st: (Mild weather after substantial snow) Dotted Border Pale Brindled Beauty
Mottled Umber