I've just seen a beautiful butterfly or moth on the Japanese anemone leaves.
I fear it's taking a hammering in this constant rain but don't know what it
is or what if anything, I should do for it. It's wings are folded flat, not
spread and it has very distinctive black and white stripes on each wing with
a scarlet line down the middle of its 'back'. Anyone know what it is or if
I should put it in a jar with some of whatever it eats?

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article , Sacha
writes
I've just seen a beautiful butterfly or moth on the Japanese anemone leaves.
I fear it's taking a hammering in this constant rain but don't know what it
is or what if anything, I should do for it. It's wings are folded flat, not
spread and it has very distinctive black and white stripes on each wing with
a scarlet line down the middle of its 'back'. Anyone know what it is or if
I should put it in a jar with some of whatever it eats?

It's one of the tiger moths, probably Garden Tiger, which has bright
orange hindwings, which hardly show when the upper pair are closed.
There are one or two other tigers, including Wood, which have
black-and-white striped upper wings.

Have a look at:

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=2229
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1352
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4451
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4500

--
Malcolm

On 23/7/07 14:22, in article , "Malcolm"
wrote:


In article , Sacha
writes
I've just seen a beautiful butterfly or moth on the Japanese anemone leaves.
I fear it's taking a hammering in this constant rain but don't know what it
is or what if anything, I should do for it. It's wings are folded flat, not
spread and it has very distinctive black and white stripes on each wing with
a scarlet line down the middle of its 'back'. Anyone know what it is or if
I should put it in a jar with some of whatever it eats?

It's one of the tiger moths, probably Garden Tiger, which has bright
orange hindwings, which hardly show when the upper pair are closed.
There are one or two other tigers, including Wood, which have
black-and-white striped upper wings.

Have a look at:

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=2229
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1352
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4451
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4500

They're not quite it. With the wings folded, there is a white stripe right
down the back with a touch of the scarlet showing. There is one broad
triangular line either side of the head, from the edge of the wing to the
thorax with a broad white line below that which joins to a horiztonal white
line along the bottom of the wings. Between these two broad white lines,
there is a small triangle of white.
A bit of red is visible at the tail and the feelers are black & white too.
If that description is too muddly, may I email you a photo?
In the meantime, I've picked it and the leaf it's on and put them just
inside the open porch but out of the rain. When it wants to, it can fly off
with no trouble.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 23/7/07 17:05, in article
, "Sacha"
wrote:

On 23/7/07 14:22, in article , "Malcolm"
wrote:


In article , Sacha
writes
I've just seen a beautiful butterfly or moth on the Japanese anemone leaves.
I fear it's taking a hammering in this constant rain but don't know what it
is or what if anything, I should do for it. It's wings are folded flat, not
spread and it has very distinctive black and white stripes on each wing with
a scarlet line down the middle of its 'back'. Anyone know what it is or if
I should put it in a jar with some of whatever it eats?

It's one of the tiger moths, probably Garden Tiger, which has bright
orange hindwings, which hardly show when the upper pair are closed.
There are one or two other tigers, including Wood, which have
black-and-white striped upper wings.

Have a look at:

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=2229
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1352
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4451
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4500

They're not quite it. With the wings folded, there is a white stripe right
down the back with a touch of the scarlet showing.
snip

Sorry to answer myself but I think this is it, though I haven't seen the
wings open: http://tinyurl.com/2onb4q
This site says it's a protected species and is found in southern Europe,
Asia Minor and the Middle East, so I'm not quite sure what it's doing in
Devon!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Sacha, that's the 'Jersey Tiger Moth', although it is found throughout
much of Europe and beyond. It is quite frequently seen in S. Devon
and is a fairly common visitor to my garden - more so than any other
Tiger moth.

On 23/7/07 17:57, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Sacha, that's the 'Jersey Tiger Moth', although it is found throughout
much of Europe and beyond. It is quite frequently seen in S. Devon
and is a fairly common visitor to my garden - more so than any other
Tiger moth.

Thanks, David. Bizarre though it sounds, I don't remember seeing it in
Jersey. Perhaps I was just extremely unobservant or lived in the wrong part
of the island. Anyhow 'my' moth took off this evening from the porch and
will, I hope, survive this vile weather. Ray says he's seen them around
here from time to time but I never have. Why does the French site describe
it as protected, do you know? From all this, it doesn't sound rare or
endangered, surely?

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 24/7/07 07:11, in article , "Malcolm"
wrote:


In article , Sacha
writes
On 23/7/07 17:57, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Sacha, that's the 'Jersey Tiger Moth', although it is found throughout
much of Europe and beyond. It is quite frequently seen in S. Devon
and is a fairly common visitor to my garden - more so than any other
Tiger moth.

Thanks, David. Bizarre though it sounds, I don't remember seeing it in
Jersey. Perhaps I was just extremely unobservant or lived in the wrong part
of the island. Anyhow 'my' moth took off this evening from the porch and
will, I hope, survive this vile weather. Ray says he's seen them around
here from time to time but I never have. Why does the French site describe
it as protected, do you know? From all this, it doesn't sound rare or
endangered, surely?

Sacha

Dave is right that's it's a Jersey Tiger. It's an occasional migrant
from France which has successfully colonised the south coast of England.
This comes from the Field Guide to Moths of Great Britain and Ireland
(2003):
"Resident and suspected immigrant. Well established and quite numerous
along the south coast of Devon, from just west of Dartmouth to just east
of Bridport, Dorset. Extends inland around Exeter and to the edge of
Dartmoor, and there are also records from the Plymouth area. Single
examples have been recorded from further east, from Portland, Dorset, to
the Isle of Wight and Sussex. Some of these could have been immigrants,
but the pattern of records suggests that colonies have been established
ont he south coast of the Isle of Wight and near Rye, on the Sussex
coast. Widespread and abundant in the Channel Islands."

Definitely very unobservant of me - or a bad memory! Perhaps with
encroaching age I'm taking more time to stand and stare! It's such a
beautiful thing so I hope our visitor survived. We're very close to the
edge of Dartmoor, so that would account for it. We get hummmingbird
hawkmoths, too and last year one of the staff in the nursery saw a Large
Blue in one of the greenhouses, so I hope that comes back again.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'